COOK — Summer visitors heading north through Cook can now pick up leeches, minnows, and a double scoop of Superman ice cream in the same stop along Hwy. 53.
Northwoods Snackle Shop, opened this spring by Paula and Dave Dundas next to their Northwoods Bait and Tackle business, has quickly become a busy stop for both locals and travelers looking for a summertime treat.
The idea for the business started with a simple craving after dinner one evening.
“We both work like a lot of people do,” Paula said. “One night we get home and we have dinner and David goes, ‘I would really like an ice cream cone.’ And we looked at the clock and it was 6:45. And we were like, where do we go to get ice cream now, it’s getting too late. He said, ‘That’s it. We’re opening an ice cream shop.’ And here we are a year later.”
Dave said the idea moved quickly once they decided to pursue it.
“We saw an opportunity and we decided, let’s give it a shot,” he said.
Now in its first summer season, the Snackle Shop offers Cedar Crest hard scoop ice cream, soft serve, shakes, malts, root beer floats, and specialty sundaes from a newly constructed building beside the bait shop. The shop is open seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays.
Paula said they felt confident opening the business because of the support they’ve found in Cook’s business community.
“This is a really great community,” she said. “The business community is awesome up here, and we knew that if you put up a product that people are going to support you.”
Dave echoed Paula’s comments about the support they’ve received from other local businesses.
“You support the community, they support you back,” he said. “Everybody supports everybody. I don’t feel like there’s a competition anywhere. It’s definitely just supporting each other just to be successful.”
The shop quickly became busy as summer arrived and local students celebrated the end of the school year.
“Yesterday, last day of school, it was awesome,” Paula said. “There were kids running all over. I was in the bait shop, and you could hear the laughing, and everybody’s just excited to have ice cream and be celebrating summer.”
The couple said Cedar Crest and its regional distributors helped simplify the process of opening the shop, despite neither of them having prior experience in the ice cream business.
“You call them up and say, ‘Hey, we got a scoop shop going on,’ and they’re like, ‘Well, how can we support you?’” Paula said. “They want you to succeed.”
Along with classic flavors, the shop carries rotating Cedar Crest specialty flavors and a growing list of customer favorites.
“Pirates Bounty is a very, very good flavor,” Paula said.
The caramel-based ice cream includes brownie chunks and candy pieces, while Superman, another popular flavor, combines strawberry, vanilla, and blue raspberry ice cream in bright red, white, and blue swirls.
The shop also offers rotating seasonal flavors, including a Fourth of July “Firecracker” ice cream that includes Pop Rocks candy.
The shop’s menu extends well beyond cones, with shakes, malts, sundaes, floats, and blended drinks.
One specialty sundae features brownies supplied by neighboring Rose Cottage Bakery, located directly next door to the Snackle Shop.
“We teamed up with our neighbor at Rose Cottage, and we have a Rose Cottage brownie sundae,” Paula said. “It’s a brownie with a scoop of ice cream and some whipped cream on top.”
Then there’s the Pike River Flowage, a blended root beer float named after the Pike River dam near Tower.
“We call it the Pike River Flowage because the water coming over the dam looks like root beer,” Paula said.
The Dundases said they were also fortunate to quickly find employees for the business, including local students and family members.
“We have a really, really great crew in the ice cream shop,” Paula said.
Dave agreed.
“We lucked out,” he said. “They’re professional, they’re courteous, they’re gonna help you, and they’re gonna make sure you leave happy.”
The Dundases said they are already looking at expanding their dairy-free offerings and adding more options in the future. For now, though, they are simply enjoying seeing people gather outside with cones and sundaes in hand.
“Start your fishing trip with an ice cream cone,” Dave said. “If you don’t do so well on your fishing trip, you come back and drown your sorrows in an ice cream cone.”