Rainbow Cone ready for 21st Taste of Chicago
The Taste of Chicago won't open until Friday but crews at The Original Rainbow Cone in Chicago's Beverly community started preparing for the food extravaganza long before summer started.
"We have people in the store making the taster cups from May until (Friday)," said Mary Kate Bansley, a store manager and co-manager of the booth at Taste of Chicago. "Sometimes they make them up at the Taste."
(Jason Han/SouthtownStar)
Crews who work in four-hour shifts are layering the five flavors of the Rainbow Cone - chocolate, strawberry, Palmer House (a walnut-cherry vanilla combination), pistachio with pistachios and almonds, and orange sherbet - into four-ounce cups.
On average, the crews fill about 1,500 cups a day. The crew at booth No. 39 sells about 5,000 of the ice cream treats each day, Bansley said.
The Taste of Chicago, which started in 1980, will open at 11 a.m. Friday. While admission is free, food and drinks are sold by tickets only. A strip of 12 tickets costs $8 according to the city of Chicago's Web site.
The Original Rainbow Cone will be among 65 restaurants at the event that attracts about 6 million people annually to Grant Park from Friday through July 6.
Ticket sales end daily at 8:30 p.m. and the Taste of Chicago closes at 9 p.m., except July 3 and July 4 when ticket sales end at 9 p.m. and the event closes at 9:30 p.m. On July 6, the last day of the event, ticket sales end at 5:30 p.m. and the event closes at 6 p.m.
The ever-popular large rainbow cone is also available at the Taste of Chicago. But those are scooped on site, Bansley said.
"We have workers whose arms are very tired at the end of the night," Bansley said.
She said the crew at the Taste of Chicago goes through about 35 cans of ice cream each day. In addition to the classic summer treat, the booth also offers some other flavors such as cookie dough ice cream cones and butter pecan ice cream cones.
Two low-fat alternatives are also available this year. The Patriot Cone features vanilla yogurt, strawberries and blueberries in a waffle cone and the strawberry shortcake parfait consists of vanilla yogurt, strawberries and a vanilla cupcake.
Bansley said the booth will be well-manned with 22 people working on a slow day and 25 on a busy day. In comparison, the staff at the ice cream store is about six people on a slow day and eight people on a busy night.
"It's really different. It's a lot of fun. The kids have a lot of fun," Bansley said. "They all want 'Taste days.'"
Stephanie Gehring can be reached at (708) 633-5971 or sgehring@southtownstar.com.