Posted on: Wednesday, July 28, 2004

The scoop on cones

By Renee Enna
Chicago Tribune

Abbott did it for Costello. Sonny did it for Cher. Behind every star is the straight man, humbly standing in the shadow of his glitzier partner. A lot of foods play this role too — pie crust, hotdog buns and dry vermouth spring to mind. But our vote for best supporting actor in a classic food combination would have to be the cone.

Granted, it's no mystery why the ice cream gets top billing. Even the cheapest vanilla doesn't need a cone to dazzle its fans. But the cone most definitely depends on ice cream to get any attention at all. Who eats a cone by itself?

"When people ask me what I do, I say we make ice-cream cones," said Joe George, president of Joy Cone Co. in Hermitage, Pa., one of the country's oldest cone manufacturers, dating to 1918.

"They say, 'Oh.' And I know what's going on in their minds: People are very surprised to learn that there is a factory devoted solely to making ice-cream cones."

In the past few years, things have started to look up for this silent — albeit crunchy— sidekick that celebrates a centennial this year: 100 years ago it teamed with vanilla ice cream at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

Before the cone became a sensation on the Pike (the fair's boardwalk), explained Suzanne Corbett, culinary historian with the National Park Service in St. Louis, "it was not considered polite to be walking around eating in public." Then came the fair with its many hand-held foods, including the ice-cream cone. "It changed the way everybody thought," she said.

The cone may have helped change perceptions, but for many years nothing much changed about the cone. Unlike ice cream, with its gazillion flavors, varying percentages of butterfat and myriad add-ins (from pecans to gummy worms), cones have spent much of the last century playing the same old tune: Will you have a sugar or a cake cone with that scoop of double-espresso- chocolate-walnut?

"It's been looked at as a peripheral item," said Sam Weiner, president of EdgeCraft, which makes waffle-cone makers for home kitchens. "The cone is sort of a holder; that's why it was invented. But as with many things, as people have become more enthusiastic about a food, they become enthusiastic about every aspect of the food."

These days, whether you're at ice-cream parlors or grocery stores, consumers are getting more choices: Commercially made waffle cones have paved the way for waffle bowls — Joy Cone started selling these in supermarkets two years ago — as well as cones dipped in chocolate and sprinkles; this is true in ice-cream parlors as well as the supermarket.

"Waffle cones really caught on in the 1980s, and I think it coincided with portions starting to get bigger," said Maria Feicht, director of brand excitement (yes, that's her official title) for Baskin-Robbins, an ice-cream chain that dates to 1946.

"The cone has evolved into something different," said Jerry Sherwood of Windy City Sweets in Chicago, where hand-dipped flavored cones are a feature at nearly $2 extra. "I think palates have changed. People don't mind paying extra, because they're getting what they want. We've gone from selling a dozen or so (dipped cones) a day to upwards of 125."

The artisanal approach also extends to waffle cones being made on the premises, a process that happily returns full circle to the hand-made cones of the World's Fair. More than 20,000 ice-cream shops across the country use equipment from Peoria-based CoBatCo, which manufactures waffle-cone makers, mixes and related equipment for the industry, said Brian Fiddes, national sales manager.

"The waffle-cone business is one that is growing for us by leaps and bounds," Fiddes said. "In the last 15 to 20 years, there's been a big interest from some of these new chains that have come on the horizon. They don't want to take a premium ice cream or custard product and put it in an inferior product." The aroma of the cones baking helps draw customers, too.

In addition to the waffle-cone makers it launched in 1983, CoBatCo sells machines that let shops make waffle bowls and "triple-dish" waffle bowls for banana splits and macho sundaes.

Now hand-made cones are an option for home cooks. Three years ago Chef'sChoice introduced the WaffleCone Express. Its success inspired the PetiteCone Express, which makes smaller cones geared to savory fillings. Both electric appliances are variations of waffle irons and pizzelle irons, which produce a wafer-thin Italian cookie.

"Initially, like any new product, it takes a little bit of time to get it integrated into the mainstream," Weiner said.

"After about a year or so, (the WaffleCone Express) started blossoming." He would not give specific sales figures, but said that the appliances are selling in the "tens of thousands" in the United States.

Clearly, the cone's time has come. And not just because of its 100-year history as backup to ice cream.

Think of the cone, said Joy Cone's George, as an environmental steward: "We're the ideal food container. When you eat the cone, you eat the package. It's ecologically a very sound container. The ice-cream cone is a very convenient treat."

And for that, credit goes to the cone.