Environmentally conscious ice cream cart debuts in Elgin
If you go to Festival Park in Elgin, now you can get ice cream that is nut-free, mostly free of artificial colors and with spoons and cups made of biodegradable or recycled material.
Cook's Ice Cream is a startup owned and operated by Jennifer Cook of Elgin, who sells Ashby's Sterling Ice Cream, based in Michigan, in cups and cones, along with floats, prepackaged snacks and beverages. Her cart is stationed by the water splash pad on the north side of the park.
She's tweaking her hours, generally noon to 6 p.m., after a soft opening Memorial Day weekend.
Her business choices stem from her core values and concerns as a mother, she said.
"I wouldn't want to give anyone's children what I wouldn't give my own children," she said.
Her nephew has a life-threatening peanut allergy, hence the decision to go nut-free, she explained. She also hopes to set up a recycling collection.
Anyone who books her ice cream cart for parties and other occasions can select their own menu, she added.
Cook is a former high school English teacher who stayed home to raise her children for six years. She has taken business classes at Elgin Community College, graduated from the Elgin Area Small Business Academy, and took a business plan writing class through Fox Valley SCORE.
At first, she wanted to open an ice cream shop, but realized the startup cost was prohibitive. That's still her long term goal, she said.
"I needed to make sure the market would support the endeavor before I made sure I was all in," she said.