Farewell
Have you taken vacation this summer yet? We haven't. We tend to wait until the end of August to leave as a family for seven to 10 days. We started this tradition in 2022 and it marked a new milestone for us as business owners—we could leave during a portion of our peak season and things would still keep going. Inevitably, something crazy happens while we're gone but somehow we figure it out.
Yesterday, I worked with our catering team to serve ice cream at the New York Public Library (NYPL) 3rd Annual Ice Cream Party, which was created to promote literacy among kids 4-12 years during the summer. Among other prizes, kids get to celebrate their summer reading and writing accomplishments with free ice cream at NYPL’s main branch! This year they got to choose from three Sugar Hill Creamery flavors and none of them were vanilla. Here I am with a NYPL staff member who happens to work at a branch near our house.
Ice cream operators across the country experience this very thing while they vacation as well. Usually, it's a freezer that goes down overnight or there's some major plumbing issue that creates a hazardous environment for customers and employees. I've read about these very scenarios in my different group chats with my ice cream operator friends. As we prepare for our trip, Nick and I are bracing for what our absence will bring us. A friend pointed out that given the number of stores in our care, the probability of something happening is higher; perfect!
We started this business to be able to work on our own terms, which it has afforded us to a degree. As we've grown, I'd be lying if I didn't say that the business has been working us, which was not the vision. But, with growth and no organizational leadership, being stretched thin was par for the course.
Nico gets a hole-in-one playing sidewalk golf with a neighbor while we waited for the bus.
At the beginning of the year, Nick and I were talking about how to work smarter, not harder. We concluded that we needed to close our Brooklyn store, which we did today. In an effort to synchronize and simplify our lives and business operations, we knew this was the right decision.
Our hope is that with this direction, we'll be able to lean deeper into what we've built in Harlem creating more brand equity synonymous with this historic neighborhood, family, memorable ice cream, and everyday luxuries. We received a big grant earlier this year from the Northeast Dairy Innovation Center to do a brand refresh and I'm so excited to dive into that work so that we start our next season coming in hot!
As we prepare for our time away, I'm reflective about our journey thus far, the position I'd like to see our company in next year at this time, and the potential crises that await me as soon as I board that plane.
Pray for me!
Ms. Doris’ podcast trailer is live. Subscribe!
Oh, and while we're on the topic of prayer, you can subscribe to my mom's podcast Let's Pray with Ms. Doris and send in your prayer requests to letspray8810@gmail.com. Episodes will drop this fall and we can't wait. I ask Ms. Doris aka my mother to pray for me all the time and I can't wait to share her with all of you.
Petrushka
Your Local Ice Cream Lady & Life/Business Coach