Chelsea Howell, who has owned the Michigan ice cream shop Modern Cone for more than a decade, says two customers started snapping photos last week as she carried her 6-month-old son behind the serving counter to put him down for a nap. The county inspection that followed, according to a TODAY.com report from Oct. 20, 2026, cited no violations.
The record is short but plain. TODAY.com obtained documents from the Macomb County Health Department, and the inspection report says “no violations were cited at the time of the complaint investigation.”
A busy shop and a baby who needed a nap
Howell told TODAY.com she started Modern Cone partly so she could be a stay-at-home mom. Two years ago she became a mother, and she adapted the business around family life. The shop, she said, is open seven days a week, sometimes for 10 hours a day, and the demand from the community is heavy, with plenty of that demand aimed at her personally.
Because of that schedule, Howell sometimes brings her children, ages 2 and 6 months, to work while she oversees operations. Her mother, who is co-owner, entertains the kids in a booth at the 1,000-square-foot shop. When naptime arrives, Howell lays them down in the tiny back room…