If one scoop is good and two scoops are better, it stands to reason that if one business is good, then two are the best. At least that’s what Dave LaBelle the owner of Two Scoops Ice Cream Parlor & Coffee Café in Anna Maria thinks.

LaBelle’s eight successful clothing stores, Two Sides of Nature, have been keeping him and his wife, Mary LaBelle, busy for some time. When the opportunity of opening a café next door to one of his shops presented itself two years ago, LaBelle was more than ready for his next venture.

Two Scoops is known for its 32 flavors of homemade ice cream served in a variety of configurations ranging from the traditional single or double scoop in a cup or on a cone to something called the No Banana-Scoops Split. Only McClain’s Homemade Ice Cream is used and delivered four times a week. They also sell ice cream to go by the pint or quart, shakes and malts, and you can top your ice cream scoops with Reeses, Oreos, Snickers, sprinkles and many more sweets.

But Two Scoops has much more to offer than ice cream. its menu includes a variety of casual dining choices, which are served all day until nine at night, at value prices.

Two Scoops is a breakfast hot spot on the Island where you can choose a Two Scoops McMuffin or McBagel, Belgian waffle, a gourmet bagel, French toast or eggs with sausage, bacon and toast. Barnie’s Coffee is served as well as lattes and espressos. Sub sandwiches, club sandwiches, croissant sandwiches, gourmet bagel sandwiches wraps and hot dogs are also on the menu, along with chili and the Two Scoops big hit – chili dogs.

Its cookies, muffins and brownies are baked on site, and bagels and bread products are delivered fresh daily. Two Scoops also has candy and popcorn as well as carrying an assortment of gourmet food items like Tortuga Rum Cakes and white chocolate pretzels.

LaBelle’s 11 employees are always attentive to customer’s needs with Ruth Mercer overseeing the day to day operation of the café as if it were her own. In addition, LaBelle’s mother works one day a week, and you can find his daughter, Britney LaBelle, there when her college schedule permits, and soon his other daughter, Taylor LaBelle, will also be behind the counter. Two Scoops is a family affair and LaBelle considers the entire staff to be part of the family.

Dave LaBelle says Two Scoops is a fun place where the customers come in with a smile and everyone just smiles back. With an ice cream cone in hand, the shimmering Gulf of Mexico across the street and the sun turned on high, there isn’t too much not to smile about. Two Scoops – toooooo delicious!

Two Scoops

Ice Cream Parlor
& Coffee Café
101 S. Bay Blvd.
Anna Maria
941-779-2422
Open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily

For the last few decades, investors have tended to think of government bonds to produce income and provide safety of principal and stocks to provide growth of principal value. The recent explosion in bond prices and decline in stock prices has flipped this idea on its head, at least in some ways.

The fear-driven flood of money into U.S. Treasury bonds has driven yields down as low as just above 2 percent a few weeks ago. Recently, 10-year bond yields were back to about 2.5 percent, meaning an investor buying these bonds today would earn 2.5 percent annually until the bond matured.

Obviously not a great reward, but with the guarantee of return of principal at maturity backed by the U.S. Treasury, scared investors were, and still are, accepting safety as a higher priority than profits.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned here in the Sun that the decline in stock prices had caused the dividend yield on the S&P 500 Index to move over 3 percent, a significant premium over the recent 10-year bond yields cited above. Now, make no mistake, it is not my intent to imply that common stocks provide anywhere near the safety of U.S. Treasury bonds. I do believe, however, that it is time for investors to step back from the trees, so they can now see the forest. Blinded by fear in recent months, investors have sold more volatile investments, depressing prices, creating opportunity.

Coca Cola, the large soft drink and snack company, has been paying an uninterrupted stream of dividends since 1893 and has raised its dividend in each of the last 45 years. The stock presently yields about 3.3 percent. For longer term investment capital, you can earn a higher income stream, have the chance for an increase in that income if Coca Cola keeps raising the dividend and the chance for price appreciation of the shares, which we believe chance for price appreciation of the shares, which we believe is inevitable given enough time. By the way, this is not a recommendation to buy Coca Cola stock, unless it is part of a diversified plan of owning many quality companies.

Could something unforeseen go wrong at Coca Cola, causing it to reduce the dividend? Yes, that could happen. That is why I recommend a very diversified approach to investing in common stocks, even those which seem solid at the moment. Again, the concept of buying dividend-paying common stocks is not a replacement for a common sense allocation to bonds for safety of principal.

But there are also times when it seems to make sense to venture out of our fear and look at companies which are inexpensive compared to historical measures and which have weathered past hard times successfully. There can be no guarantees of the success of any one investment, but we believe a well thought out plan, owning companies that have succeeded over time, makes a lot of sense.

The other side of this analysis is the general belief that there is zero risk in a 10-year bond. As long as it is held to maturity and the issuer, the U.S. Treasury in my example, is in business, then there is little risk to principal. But between the purchase date and the maturity date, a 10-year bond could easily decline in value 20 to 30 percent if long-term interest rates go back to more normal levels. An investor forced to sell that bond well before maturity, for whatever reason, would find there can be risk in bonds when bought at very low levels of interest rates.

Tom Breiter is president of Breiter Capital Management, Inc., an Anna Maria based investment advisor. He can be reached at 778-1900. Some of the investment concepts highlighted in this column may carry the risk of loss of principal, and investors should determine appropriateness for their personal situation before investing.

Tom Breiter is President of Breiter Capital Management, Inc., an Anna Maria based investment advisor. He can be reached at 778-1900. Some of the investment concepts highlighted in this column may carry the risk of loss of principal, and investors should determine appropriateness for their personal situation before investing.