By Anelia K. Dimitrova
Jim Cook’s always busy.
That may be an understatement for the Cedar Falls transplant who hails from Texas, but has long made this town by the Cedar River his home and the home of his businesses.
“My mother always said I was going to be my own boss someday,” Jim says. “I did end up in business.”
Along with his wife, Jenny, and his business partner, Ken Syhlman, Jim co-owns one of the most popular ice cream treat destinations in town — the Cedar City Creamery.
This season, he and his team will be even busier as on Wednesday, they added a bit of sizzle to their business portfolio with a new venture – a food truck called The Grilled Onion Burger Shop.
It opened on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, right next to the partners’ brick-and-mortar store Cook’s Outdoors at 1910 Center Street, which sells kayaks, fishing gear, live bait and everything in between.
The Grilled Onion Burger Shop is here
Just before the first car rolled in on opening day, Ken had penciled the hours of operation on a white board. With the exception of Mondays, the food truck will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the rest of the season.
With its presence and its appetizing aroma the food truck adds vibe to the store’s parking lot.
You’ll never have to study the menu as it is pasted on the front of the truck. There, 11 colorful pictures of grilled chicken, hot dogs, beef burgers, along with combo meals with chips and drinks, all with grilled onion, of course, draw plenty of attention.
To kick off the food service without a hitch, earlier in the morning, Kim Syhlman, Ken’s brother, had already cooked a few main items on the grill stationed near the truck.
Right before opening time, Ken carried a sign by the road advertising the food truck, which, in short order, seemed to draw in a couple of road workers on their lunch break.
The food truck is the “hot” ingredient in the partners’ business ventures, while Cedar City Creamery, remains the signature “chill” one.
Cedar City Creamery: A wide choice of craveable treats and a slice of history
Once the site of an auto repair shop, the building of the ice cream store is perched at an intersection whose geometry brings together the trails, a railroad crossing and at least three roads in a small sliver of land.
Located at 110 Lincoln Street, opposite Gateway River Park, and next to the trail leading into Big Woods Lake Recreation Area, the ice cream store is the perfect destination for delightful frozen treats.
By popular vote it is one of the most beloved ice cream shops in the area.
Just ask local fans who swear by the taste and the quality of Ashby’s Sterling ice cream they can find here. For several years in a row, the 28 flavors in the store’s offerings have continued to hit the spot for ice cream lovers who have voted the business as the “Best” in its category multiple times.
Several certificates and plaques on the wall attest to that success and the most recent one, Best of 2024, sits right above the main counter, in the middle of the menu.
Jim relishes the awards, they are not just wall decor for him, but a reminder of the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.
He knows that they are earned one scoop at a time, every single day, with every single customer.
The doors opened in 2019 and during the pandemic, the drive-through window kept the business afloat. Since then, they have expanded their offerings and included a variety of in-store made ice-cream cakes.
Not just a spot for ice-cream treats but also a story about the Cedar Falls
The ice-cream shop is not just a spot to satiate your cravings for chilled treats.
Jim has made coming here an experience where one can mix the pleasures of the palate with sprinkles of history about the town.
Take for instance the name of the store — Cedar City is a nod to the area’s old name. A prominent sign near the intersection features the name of the business and the year it was established. In the small area underneath the sign, Jim has planted corn, which, once the stalks grow, will provide an Iowa feel to the space. An American flag flies high above it all.
Around the nearby shelter, where guests enjoy floats or flavorful ice creams four informational placards Jim installed tell the story of the space with the help of pictures he found at the Cedar Falls Historical Society.
In the direction of Gateway Park, he placed a photo of the Cedar Falls Iron and Brass Works, a company founded by Henry E. Olbrich in 1899, which once stood on the grounds of the park.
In the direction of the bridge, another photo shows the old railroad bridge, which was built in 1899. Also in that photo’s frame is the Klean Kwick Washing Machine factory, which was located in the Old Broom Factory building.
Another informational placard, called Main Street Bridge, depicts an image from 1988, when the then 86-year-old Main Street Bridge was closed for traffic and torn down the following year to build the new bridge.
On the north side of the shelter stands a another placard commemorating the Illinois Central Depot, which burned down in 1997, the casualty of fire sparked by a passing train. That site is also memorable because President William McKinley gave a speech here in 1899.
Jim says many customers enjoy walking around and looking at the placards.
He takes pride in having built the shelter, which first started as a patio with tables, but the scorching summer sun compelled him to add a roof. He then built the posts for the placards, as displaying them gives his customers and his business a sense of belonging in place and time.
So if a stranger asks Jim today what he does for a living, he will answer that he owns the Cedar City Creamery in town.
He had a vision and it worked.
“You’re gonna have to sell a lot of ice cream,” the owner of the auto repair shop told him when Jim bought the building.
He was right. Jim has done just that. The store goes through 20 tubs of ice cream a week.
“We are open seven and a half months of the year, you do the math,” he says.
Even though he was banking on it, Jim was surprised by how much people really love ice cream.
“They like it a lot,” he laughs. “More than I ever thought.”