Serving it up soft: American Ice Cream in Jackson under new ownership

A longtime Jackson eatery, American Ice Cream at 221 S. Hope St., is open for the season under new ownership -- but it's still in the same family that's owned and operated the establishment since the 1950s.

Kim Thompson, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Jack, likened the business to Wib's Drive In, calling it a Jackson staple.

"It's a place to hang out in the summer, and the Boy Scouts sell Christmas trees on the lot in the winter," Thompson said, and that's how it's been since her father-in-law started the company as a Dairy Queen franchise nearly 70 years ago.

In the late 1960s, Jack Thompson's uncle, Jim Thompson, bought the business, and in 2007, the name changed from Dairy Queen to American Ice Cream, Kim Thompson said.

She and her husband bought the company from her husband's cousin shortly after she'd mentioned last spring that 2018 would be her last year owning it.

"At first we thought 'That might be a good thing for us,'" Kim Thompson said, even though she acknowledged she's not been a business owner before, so this is all very new.

Kim Thompson said she and her husband have three grown children, who are helping with the business as they can, which is great, since this has been a family company for so long.

The first official opening day of the season was Feb. 13, Kim Thompson said, in keeping with the usual method of determining when to open: "Usually, as soon as the weather tried to get warm, with a few 50- and 60-degree days," she said, which typically has been mid- to late February.

The plan is to post promotions and alerts on the company's Facebook page, she said, "to see if we can keep the business up" during the late fall and early next winter.

After all, she said, other frozen-treat companies are open year-round. It's a goal, she said.

Other menu items besides ice cream remain popular, Kim Thompson said.

"People were asking if we were going to keep the hamburgers, and we wondered if they'd be popular enough," she said, but on opening day, more than 30 burgers were sold.

"I guess we'll keep them," she said, laughing.

But while they're keeping the core menu items, she said they're thinking about adding chili dogs to help draw in business during the colder months.

As to when American Ice Cream will be open, the hours will be 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., but as the weather warms up, "we'll be open later."

It's about tradition, she said. "We're excited."

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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