Sunnys Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop opened on the main street of Odell about five years ago.
Kris Staab moved with his family from Lincoln into the small town and immediately started looking for properties to open an ice cream store.
“We have a very good premium ice cream product,” he said. “It’s a soft-serve mix, but the flavors I make myself other than the standard vanilla, which is the base. We have strawberry, lemon, mint and a lot of others. We have a large variety.”
In addition to the many flavors, Kris also makes homemade brownies and cookies for ice cream sandwiches. He makes ice cream cakes and pies in almost any flavor, but said he sells Reese’s peanut butter the most.
“My favorite flavor is vanilla with caramel sauce, or in the flavored ones, probably lemon with cherries. I have a guy that I work with that orders quarts of lemon and blueberries. He’s infatuated with it,” Kris said.
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Dolly, Kris’ wife, has made some dairy-free options with coconut milk and said lemon raspberry was her favorite. Their daughter, who is also dairy-free, prefers peach or raspberry. There hasn’t been enough demand to sell the dairy-free options at the store, however.
The store has a variety of frozen products, but will also make malts, shakes, floats and sundaes, as well as dippers frozen with butterscotch or chocolate chip. Kris said he rotates the flavors in the machines every few weeks.
“We do twists, too, with chocolate mint being the most popular,” he said.
There are also a couple of sandwich options on the menu, with the baskets being served with ice cream for dessert.
“When we first opened, we had a huge menu with hamburgers and hot dogs, but that was when we had some high school-aged kids that helped out. Now that it is just me, mostly, it just wasn’t feasible,” he said.
The building was a restaurant and ice cream store in the ’60s.
“A customer told me that it was her grandma’s restaurant,” he said.
The store is open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. from April until usually October each year. Kris said he likes seeing people.
“If I’m here, people will buy ice cream. I enjoy seeing people from the area and really, I get a lot of people from all over. We appreciate all of our customers and strive to give the best customer service,” he said.
Kris has also done special events like weddings, school and community activities, and church picnics. He also offers a free cone with the reading program at school.
“It encourages the kids to read, so that’s a good thing, and they don’t expire,” he said.
Decorated with paintings of ice cream treats done by high school students in an art class, the ice cream store offers a sense of nostalgia in the small town.
Follow Sunnys Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop on Facebook to see the opening date and flavors available throughout the season.
