by Dennis Dalman
Daryl Schaefer loves to see familiar faces in his newly opened ice-cream shop, The Wandering Cow, in downtown St. Joseph.
“This shop is only 500 square feet,” he said. “I call it a small and cozy shop. Our family has lived in St. Joseph for 13 years so we know a lot of local people, and it’s always good to see them when they come in.”
The shop, located at 14 College Ave. between La Playette and Jolie Olie’s, opened for business June 17. The Wandering Cow is a “family affair” because Daryl and Heidi Schaefer and their three children (ages 17, 12 and 8) all help out. In addition, the Schaefers have two Wandering Cow ice-cream trucks they drive to various events in the summer.
The shop employs seven part-time workers, as well as the Schaefers.
The Wandering Cow offers 16 flavors of hand-dipped scooped ice cream. The most popular are the ones called Cookie Dough, Birthday Cake, Oreos and Cotton Candy.
“Kids just love the Cotton Candy one,” Schaefer said.
The shop also serves up 17 flavors of shaved ice.
Another specialty is their “Cow Pies,” which are ice-cream sandwich cookies made right on the premises.
Schaefer said his wife had long wanted to start up an ice-cream business – thus their two Wandering Cow trucks started about a year ago. The shop in St. Joseph is their first brick-and-mortar form of the business.
The Wandering Cow’s business hours are from 2-8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 2-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
“The Wandering Cow” recently opened in downtown St. Joseph. In the forefront is one of the shop owners’ two ice-cream trucks that make stops at summer events throughout the area. The shop is owned by Daryl and Heidi Schaefer of St. Joseph.
