T-R PHOTO BY RUBY F MCALLISTER — Kassidy and Greg Tessendorf pictured in front of their new seasonal ice cream shop located at 413 Main St. in downtown Reinbeck.

REINBECK — The Milk House was certainly the place to be on Saturday, June 2, in downtown Reinbeck.

The new Main Street seasonal ice cream shop owned and operated by Reinbeck residents Kassidy and Greg Tessendorf held its grand opening over the weekend to rave reviews, long lines, and a wholesale clean-out of five different flavors. Over 47 gallons of ice cream went out over the first two days.

“The lines were crazy both days. Sunday started slower and then didn’t stop from 1:30-5. Vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, cookie dough, and birthday cake all sold completely out,” Kassidy said. “We thought we went overkill with the extra and it was good to know we didn’t!”

In the lead-up to the shop’s opening weekend, the Tessendorfs found a spare moment to chat about their new business as they worked to unpack boxes, fill up the cooler, and bring order to a new business’s necessary chaos — all with their almost-one-year-old daughter Rooney in tow.

The Milk House is located at 413 Main St. in the former Fountain on Main restaurant, which also served ice cream once upon a time. But while locals might be used to stopping by the space for a bite to eat, the Tessendorfs’ new shop will be serving strictly ice cream treats including hard serve ice cream, shakes, malts, banana splits, and a few baked goods, Kassidy said.

“We’re not touching that,” Kassidy said of the restaurant’s kitchen. “Not yet, anyway.”

In addition to ice cream, The Milk Shop also sells home decor. For those familiar with Kassidy’s former Cedar Falls brick-and-mortar shop Lotus + Lou Interiors — which, after closing, returned as a pop-up shop in The Milk House building during the 2022 holiday season — the items are similar.

“When we moved [to Reinbeck] it just got to be too much — having small kids, a new baby, I couldn’t be there all the time,” Kassidy explained of her decision to close Lotus + Lou.

In addition to baby Rooney, the Tessendorfs also have a three-year-old son Porter.

But Kassidy’s desire to still operate some sort of small town business — both she and Greg hail from Pearl City, Ill., a tiny rural village located southeast of Dubuque — just wouldn’t be quieted even amid the din and babble of her two small children.

Combined with her husband’s summers off from teaching junior high/high school English for Gladbrook-Reinbeck and his childhood spent growing up on a dairy farm, the signs all seemed to point to this next adventure for the Tessendorfs.

In addition to her work as a small business owner (Lotus + Lou still has an online presence) and her current 9-to-5 as Community Main Street’s event and promotion coordinator in Cedar Falls, Kassidy does boast some hands-on experience that should translate to operating an ice cream shop.

“In high school, I scooped ice cream at the gas station, does that count?” Kassidy posited while laughing.

She further joked that in addition to his dairy farm background, Greg’s experience includes a lot of time waxing school floors over the summer and ice cream/malt shops are certainly prone to a sticky floor. But jokes aside, keeping Reinbeck’s downtown alive and vibrant with another family-friendly offering seems to be at the core of why Kassidy and Greg made the decision to open The Milk House.

“There’s something unique to a small town. We love a small town,” Kassidy said.

Giving local junior high/high schoolers a chance at a first job also played a part, Greg added.

In the months since announcing the new business, The Milk House has garnered a large, enthusiastic following online. A survey the Tessendorfs shared in late April to help stock their ice cream menu received over 300 responses.

The most popular flavor?

“Vanilla,” Kassidy said while both she and Greg chuckled.

They were, of course, never going to not stock vanilla.

As it stands now, The Milk House serves up eight different hard serve ice creams — including vanilla — but might move up to 10, Kassidy said.

Ice cream can be scooped into a waffle or cake cone or a dish — vintage glass or otherwise — or made into a malt, shake, or banana split. There is also a non-dairy ice cream option, and oat milk can be used in place of cow’s milk to make the shakes or malts.

So of all the choices out there, what flavors do a pair of small town ice cream shopkeepers prefer?

“I like anything with chocolate and brownies,” Kassidy responded.

“I like a classic flavor pecan,” Greg said — a flavor The Milk House finally added on Friday.

The Milk House is located on the north side of Reinbeck’s downtown Main Street next to Nana Rosa’s Pizza. The shop is open from noon to 8 p.m., Tuesdays through Sundays, with plans to close sometime in September for the season. For more information, visit the shop’s Facebook or Instagram page.