Tip Jars at Graeter's Allow Customers To Show Loyalties

Those who stop by Graeter’s Ice Cream in Northbrook over the next few days may notice one of the shop’s two tip jars has quite a bit more change piled up than the other.

That’s because one is decked out with a proud Chicago Blackhawks logo and the other is shamefully displayed with a lightning bolt on its side.

“I’ve never seen anyone put anything in the Lightning jar, except when the Hawks jar is overflowing,” said Maegan Duffy, store manager of the Graeter’s on Shermer Road - the only Chicago-area location of the fourth-generation, family-owned business with roots in Cincinnati.

The same tip jar discrepancy was shown when they had logos of the Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks facing off and before that, shortly after the business opened, with those of the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers - although no amount of tips in the Bulls’ jar then was going to help the team on the court in that series.

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It turns out having two tip jars with rival logos beside each other is nothing new to Graeter’s, Duffy says.

“It all started in Columbus (Ohio) because a lot of stores were close to Ohio State, and it was a fun way to get guests and staff involved with showcasing jars of the Buckeyes and their rivals, mainly Michigan,” she said. “The stores in Cincinnati do it a little differently. They use funny sayings such as ‘Tipping is not just for cows.’”

In Northbrook, Duffy says as long as interesting sports match-ups are taking place, the sports theme will stay.

“We have a few on staff here who went to Glenbrook North and Loyola (Academy), so we have those logos and will probably put them up after the Stanley Cup,” she said. “Those will be even more fun because they are extremely local.”

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But when sports become lame, customers will have the chance to choose between other general rivals or characters, like Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story and Dory and Nemo from Finding Nemo.

“We are always open for suggestions,” added Duffy, noting for a few days between the Hawks’ Western Conference Final win and Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals the jars had the logos of the Cubs and White Sox dueling.

“We didn’t even have those logos, but a customer made the suggestion and we went with it,” Duffy said.

In fact, the Cubs-White Sox tip-off is the only one that’s been somewhat of a split thus far. But with Northbrook being on the north side, naturally the Cubs had a little more support, Duffy said.

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Duffy, a native of Lincolnwood and a Niles West grad, had moved to Cincinnati and was working for Graeter’s there when she learned of the company’s plans to open in Northbrook.

“I had always wanted to move back to the North Shore, so I jumped at the opportunity,” she said.

The response of the community, even with similar establishments competing nearby, has been “overwhelming,” Duffy said.

“There are a lot more Ohio transplants on the North Shore than I anticipated,” she said. “A lot have told me they have had us there and knew they had to come here and check it out again.”

The difference from being at Graeter’s in Ohio and Northbrook, which - according to Yelp - has five different places to go for the popular summer item, is indeed the competition.

“It’s good to give people options,” Duffy said. “When people in Ohio think of ice cream, Graeter’s is what they think of. On the North Shore there are others, but we are proud of the quality product we have.”