The Original Rainbow Cone will open a kiosk in Mt. Prospect Buona Beef
A 96-year-old South Side ice cream tradition is coming to Mount Prospect.
Customers at the Buona Beef on Rand Road in Mount Prospect soon will have a tasty dessert option to top off their hearty Italian beef.
The Original Rainbow Cone is opening in the restaurant at 861 E. Rand Road on Aug. 12.
It is the latest outgrowth of a partnership that began in 2018 between two third-generation families — the Buonavolanto family, which owns Buona Beef, and the Sapp family, which opened the original cone location in a pink building at 92nd and Western in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood in 1926.
That partnership has blossomed into an expansion of this South Side staple into the suburbs, including Lombard and Skokie. Plans are in the works for opening a location in the Algonquin area, as well.
Created by “Grandpa Joe” Sapp, who never was satisfied with just one ice cream flavor, a Rainbow Cone features five: chocolate, strawberry, Palmer House, pistachio, and orange sherbet.
Rather than scooped, the ice cream is sliced and layered, and it can be enjoyed in a waffle or sugar cone, dish or as a cake.
“We've coined the phrase ‘Life's too short for just one flavor,'” said Joe Buonavolanto, Buona Beef vice president of franchise and sales.
Although the Rainbow Cone represents tradition, the implementation of the concept bows to contemporary reality.
“Since COVID, the dining habits have changed,” Buonavolanto said. “And what we've done in some of our locations to the north is taken out our communal tables, and we've put a Rainbow Cone kiosk, which is about 250 square feet (and) allows us to put in a scaled-down version of The Original Rainbow Cone ice cream shop.”
The Mount Prospect location already has seen a preview of coming attractions. Over the past two years, Buona Beef has been bringing ice cream trucks to the parking lot of the Mount Prospect store, acting as a pop-up location.
“We had a lot of success there,” Buonavolanto said. “So we know that the people in Mount Prospect like it. Now we're just going to do a permanent one.”