Duree Westover, 47, and Jenny Rossetti, 39, were friends before they started The Yak Shack and Sugar Sugar Handcrafted Ice Cream Sammies. They’d met “years ago through girls’ club soccer,” Westover says.

They saw a chance to feed hungry kayakers coming off the river at Boise’s new whitewater park and people out on the Greenbelt and the Boise River.

“Grab-and-go food service ... is so long overdue for this highly trafficked area,” Westover says.

So they hired four part-time workers and a full-time “master griller” to create and serve locally sourced cuisine — think chef-made backyard-grill fare and summery sides — and sweet, creamy treats.

“Come in wet or dry,” Westover says.

Sugar Sugar is a separate but related business, devoted to the art of ice-cream sandwichery. Westover says the treats include homemade ginger cookies with guava cheesecake ice cream; chewy meringue cookies with lemon citrus ice cream and blueberries; chewy chocolate cookies with salted caramel ice cream and about 70 other flavor combinations made with single-batch ice cream.

The women hope to eventually get the ice cream sandwiches in local stores’ freezer cases for retail sale. Westover answered questions.

Q: Do you have any big plans?

A: Those amazing Simplots once again have astounded our community by donating and developing the 55-acre Esther Simplot Park [slated for completion in a year or two].

This pristine plot of real estate will wrap itself around the Boise Whitewater Recreation Park and the Yak Shack’s front door. We plan to create a full-service Yak Shack restaurant — you know, brick and mortar — to coincide with this Esther Simplot grand opening.

Our expanded restaurant will feature delicious, unpretentious breakfasts, lunches and dinners, and [we have] ideas such as local microbeers, regional wines [and] area musicians for the weekends.

Beyond this season, we will be remodeling a building on Idaho River Sports’ property, currently used as a boat rental unit.

Q: What did you do previously?

A: Jen is a Boise State University graduate, holds a master’s degree in physical therapy and works in that profession. [I am] an entrepreneur at heart, having successfully owned multiple businesses and currently in management for a technology company.

Q: What led you to open this business?

A: Jen has been catering for years, is a passionate foodie and for years has dreamed of expanding. I [and a few glasses of wine one summer evening in Garden Valley] helped encourage Jen to chase that dream and take her talent to the next level.

Q: What challenges have you faced, and how have you met them?

A: Timing, with the area’s improvements — widening of 30th Street, creation of the Simplot Park, the enhancements to Quinn’s Pond, future phases of the Whitewater Park.

We have the financing, but determining when is the best time to begin construction of the actual building for the full-service restaurant [was a challenge]. We have opted to proceed in a temporary building with a modified menu that we will be evolving and refining.

Audrey Dutton: 377-6448