FAIRBURY - A new ice cream shop opened this month in Fairbury is bridging together multiple generations of a family with deep connections to the city’s restaurant industry.  

After working alongside each other at a restaurant in town for parts of nine years, this month Rod Schoenrock and his stepdaughter Jaden Siebe are celebrating the start of a new enterprise that is entirely their own.  

After they officially opened their doors for the first time last week, J&R’s Cones and Coffee celebrated the formal start of this family-based venture with a ribbon-cutting ceremony alongside the Fairbury Chamber of Commerce Monday morning.  

“It’s very family-oriented, which is nice,” said Jaden, the J half of J&R, with her own daughter, two-year-old Aurora, in tow. “It’s a place where she can come and be here all the time, my mom and my brother already came – it's just a nice, family-oriented place.” 

Schoenrock's career in Fairbury’s food service industry stretches back five decades, back to when he worked at – and ultimately owned – the Fairbury A&W with his mother in the 1970s and 80s. He then owned two other restaurants in town – Griffey’s in the 90s and Rowdy’s in the 2000s and 2010s – and he’s now realizing his dream of running his own ice cream shop with his own family alongside, hearkening back to those bygone days at the A&W. 

“Of all the businesses that I’ve done, the A&W was the most fun – it seems like people are never unhappy when they’re eating ice cream,” he said. “So we thought, it’s going to be small, just a few employees, someplace inside. We have a nice ice cream shop in town already [Classic Cones], but they don’t have any inside seating. I wanted to have some place that could be open year-round, they’re very seasonal. And I wanted to have a place where people could come in and sit down, enjoy themselves, wanted a place for locals to gather.” 

Rod and Jaden worked together for the better part of nine years at his most recent venture, Rowdy’s Steakhouse, a few blocks away on the other side of downtown Fairbury, where Rod was the owner and Jaden grew up rising through the ranks of the restaurant’s different roles.  

Rod stepped away from Rowdy’s last winter, citing burnout from spending parts of five decades in the industry. But soon, restless, he felt a pull to get back at it. He had wanted to start up his own ice cream shop for a while and he knew he’d need a partner, and he knew just who to contact.  

“I’ve always wanted to open up something and do something for the community, and just feel like there’s something else positive there that you can add,” Siebe said. “When he messaged me, I was definitely excited about it. It’s somewhere my kid can come play...it’s a lively place. It’s just nice, very comfortable, and heart-warming.” 

And it’s all come together very fast: the pair first began to seriously consider starting this shop in February, and, six months later, the ice cream is in the freezer, the cinnamon rolls are in the oven, and the grab-and-go salads are in the fridge out front. Finding a suitable space was a challenge, but ultimately they were able to move into a spot in Parklane Plaza on Fairbury’s C Street, a place that was once a supper club decades prior. Jaden took care of all the design and decoration, and Rod, he joked, simply cashed the checks. 

J&R’s first official day of operation was last Tuesday, and the cold treat shop has gotten off to a hot start: things have gone so well that Sunday night, the end of their first week, they were running low on a lot of the flavors. They know that demand will ebb and flow, especially as the cold Nebraska winter sets in, and there may need to be some adjustments to their operation as this year progresses, but regardless of how much they sell the pair says their goals are to provide a friendly experience for their customers, and a prime training ground for this family and their employees well into the future. 

“When I see people come in and they compliment the building and they say it’s really nice – it's a nice atmosphere, it makes them feel good to be in here, everything’s so pretty – that's what makes me happy,” Siebe said. “My goal is just to make everyone happy, feel comfortable...it’s definitely a place that I feel brings good vibes, good energy.” 

“The goal is eventually for Jaden to take it over,” Schoenrock said. “I wanted to get it started, to get it established for her, make it something for her to maybe pass on to her daughter at some point...that’s what it’s all about.”