Many people don’t warm easily to the thought of eating an ice-cream cone in the midst of winter. Evanston’s ice-cream shops are using everything from daily quizzes to specialty drinks to show they’re still cool.

“We have hot items too!!” reads the chalkboard outside Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop, 1634 Orrington Ave.

The announcement is just one way manager Timothy Jackson said he tries to draw business during the winter.

The Evanston Creamery, 1301 Chicago Ave., relies on its steady customer base to warm up winter sales.

“We don’t do a lot of gimmicky stuff,” owner Nina Donnelly said. “We pretty much stick to our guns and rely on our core customers to be faithful.”

One way the store keeps customers coming back is its question of the day. Customers who can answer it — Tuesday’s was “Where was Elvis born?” — earn a free scoop of ice cream. Donnelly said some customers make a point of coming to the shop just to test their trivia skills.

The Marble Slab Creamery, 940 Church St., feels the chill, too. Assistant Manager Martha Hoffmeyer said the store’s business is down about two-thirds during the week, though business on the weekends remains strong.

To make up for the drop in sales, the store offers catering services at events such as bar mitzvahs and business parties. The store even brings a portable marble slab to the events.

“It definitely supplements what we’re missing in summer walk-in trade,” Hoffmeyer said.

Store owners and managers say the frigid weather changes customers’ attitudes toward frozen treats.

During the winter more customers buy pints to take home instead of getting individual cones, Jackson said. The Ben & Jerry’s glass-paneled pint freezer faces the front of the store, and potential customers walking past the shop can see the pints of dessert available for purchase.

The store also sells hot beverages and ice-cream cakes, encourages customers to add toppings or purchase a drink and offers special discounts.

On Saturday the store offered a dollar off sundaes and frozen drinks in honor of the Northwestern-University of Illinois basketball game.

Even with these specials, Jackson estimates his business is down 25 to 30 percent this winter, a drop he calls typical for ice-cream stores.

At the Evanston Creamery sales of chai tea, hot chocolate and cookies tend to constitute a larger part of the shop’s business during winter, Donnelly said. Affogato is another drink particularly popular in the winter. Donnelly describes the drink, which means “drowned” in Italian, as “coffee drowned in ice cream.”

Attracting customers to ice-cream shops in January isn’t easy, but one of the keys to drumming up winter business seems to be reminding customers that the doors to the shops haven’t frozen over for the season.

“Just because it’s 20 degrees outside,” Jackson said, “we’re not closed.”