CLEVELAND - Cleveland-based East Coast Original Frozen Custard has added fruit-flavored sorbet to its menu of delicious fountain treats. The new lactose-free, fat-free frozen dessert features popular fruit flavors and is available at the company's Lyndhurst and Fairview Park stores.

Ivan Platt, co-founder of East Coast Original Frozen Custard, saw the need to develop a frozen treat that all of his customers could enjoy. Says Platt: "One of our long-time employees who makes custard every day cannot eat it. She is lactose-intolerant. I kept thinking about her and others like her who cannot enjoy our delicious frozen custard."

Platt discussed the idea with Bob Olgin, his business partner of 23 years. Olgin experimented with a fruit-flavored sorbet "to get the ingredients just right." He mixed fruit purees such as blueberry, lemon, mango, orange, raspberry and strawberry with other ingredients, coming up with the perfect recipe for their new frozen treat.

“We now have something for everyone,” says Olgin. He is working on a coconut sorbet that should be ready soon and experimenting with other flavors to introduce over the summer.

Lactose intolerance - the inability to digest and absorb lactose - is very common. An estimated 30 to 50 million Americans are lactose intolerant, according to the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse. Some ethnic and racial populations are more affected than others, with Native Americans and people of African, Asian and Hispanic descent among those most affected.

East Coast Custard’s new sorbet is made fresh on the premises – just like East Coast’s signature vanilla custard, the basis of its old-fashioned fountain treats, sundaes and shakes.

In 2007 MyFoxCleveland recognized East Coast Original Frozen Custard as the Best Ice Cream Shop in Cleveland, www.myfoxcleveland.cityvoter.com/cleveland-hot-list.

Founded in 1985, East Coast Original Frozen Custard has corporate offices at 5235 Fairfield Oval, Solon, OH 44139; phone 440-498-9828, fax 440-498-7445. www.eastcoastcustard.com. East Coast's stores are located at 1257 Pearl Rd., Brunswick 44212, 330-225-7835; 18900 Lorain Rd., Fairview Park 44126, 440-331-2609; 5618 Mayfield Rd., Lyndhurst 44124, 440-461-7690; 7577 Mentor Ave., Mentor 44060, 440-946-2595; 6240 Pearl Rd., Parma Heights 44130, 440-842-7003; 13200 Shaker Square, Cleveland 44120, 216-921-3070; and 33633 Aurora Rd., Solon 44139, 440-914-0037.