A nearly 100-year-old Chicago ice cream shop is opening a location in Bradenton area
The Original Rainbow Cone Ice Cream Shop, a Chicago staple since 1926, is coming to the Bradenton area.
The planned franchise in the Lockwood Commons shopping center, 4414 State Road 70 E., would be one of the first outside of the Midwest.
The company’s signature Rainbow Cone features five stacked slices of ice cream: chocolate, strawberry, Palmer House, pistachio and orange sherbet.
The Palmer House flavor? It takes its name from the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago and includes New York vanilla with cherries and walnuts.
“To the rest of the world, Chicago’s food is all about deep dish, Italian beef and Chicago-style hot dogs. But to Chicagoans, there’s not always agreement on the food that unites us. Luckily there’s one dessert we can all agree on — say hello to the Rainbow Cone,” the company’s website says.
Rainbow Cones are iconic enough that the company and its history are featured on the official website of the Illinois Office of Tourism.
Joe Sapp was working as a Buick mechanic in 1926 when he opened the first Rainbow Cone ice cream shop, which survived and grew despite the Great Depression, wars and more.
Some of those staple events include Taste of Chicago and the Lollapalooza music festival.
Rainbow Cone is now offering franchise opportunities for free-standing stores with or without a drive-thru and a kiosk model — a slimmed down version inside a restaurant, airport, stadium or mall.
The Bradenton store would be between a Vacci pizza restaurant and a Chicken Salad Chick restaurant, which opened a year ago.
Although a sign is posted on the storefront announcing the planned Rainbow Cone shop, a proposed timeline for outfitting and opening the store was not immediately available.
