CHICAGO — It's been a sweet summer for Chicago's ice cream parlors.
Thanks to the extremely hot weather that just keeps on coming, cool desserts have been flying out of the door at ice cream parlors, frozen yogurt shops and Italian ice stands up and down the city.
Some shop owners say they're having their busiest summer in years. And that influx of business may continue into the fall, if recent forecasts are any indication.
"It's easily the busiest it's been in the last three or four years," said Mike Vincent, owner of frozen yogurt shop Yoberri, 2224 N. Clark St., which has been operating in Lincoln Park for six years. "A lot of people have been eager to cool off."
At Scoops Ice Cream in Bridgeport, Stacey Sieloff hasn't had much time to rest.
"It's been pretty hectic," the 30-year-old ice cream maker said of her last week serving up banana splits, double scoops and waffle cones at 608 W. 31st St. "Yesterday I had a group of like 20 people come in. With the heat, I've been so busy."
The popular two-person ice cream shop had a wildly busy Labor Day.
"I don’t think we had a five-minute break between all the customers we had," Sieloff said. "There's only two of us."
The same goes for Justin Gonzalez, manager of old-school ice cream parlor Bobtail Ice Cream in Lakeview.
"This is one of our best summers in the last four or five years," said Gonzalez, who has worked at the neighborhood staple since 2010.
He said Bobtail is seeing huge crowds that would normally come out on weekends come out in droves on weekdays.
Labor Day weekend was especially busy at Bobtail.
"It felt like we served all of the city of Chicago," Gonzalez said with a laugh.
At Molly and Myles Ice Cream Shop, 4802 N. Central Ave., in Jefferson Park, the demand for Superman ice cream has gone crazy, owner Steve O’Brien said Wednesday.
But his tiniest customers aren’t the only ones looking for relief.
“When it gets hot like this, our adult milkshakes are our big seller,” O’Brien said, adding that the best seller is a banana ice cream and rum milkshake. “I hope the heat lasts for a long time."
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