WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. — A half-century ago, Glen Johnstone had a simple problem: not enough customers were crossing the railroad tracks to shop at his White Bear Lake grocery store. His solution: an ice cream shop that turned into one of the area’s most enduring small businesses and, eventually, a model for community giving.
Glen and his son, Keith Johnstone, opened Cup and Cone in 1973 as a draw for Johnstone’s Dairy and Grocery. The soft-serve concept worked. Keith went on to run the shop for 35 years before selling it in 2008 to his own son, Rick Johnstone, who was teaching mathematics at the Academy of Holy Angels at the time.
Today, Cup and Cone, located at 2126 4th St. in White Bear Lake, is as much a community organization as it is a restaurant. Rick Johnstone, now the shop’s head chef, credits his education background for shaping how he manages the business and the people who work in it…