🎙️ Scoops, Strategy & Small-Town Grit: The Sweet Rise of Golly G’s with Founder Joey Boykin

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
But at the same time it also once you understand that
you have to have it.
It also gives you the freedomto be more creative once you've
dialed it in.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
It's ice cream, right ?
I wanted something, though,that spoke to yesteryear.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hey team, jim Cripps here with the Charge Forward
podcast and I have a sweet treatfor you.
Today I have the founder andoperator president of Golly G's
Ice Cream and RapidMarkContainers.
Joey welcome to the show.
What's up, man?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Thanks for having me, Jim.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
We are very familiar with yourbusiness because it was like 800
yards from my house and ifyou're going to put a, put an
ice cream shop in pleasant viewand guarantee that we stopped by
, just put it 800 yards from thehouse that was our point.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
That's our reason in putting it.
There was like jim's close bylet's.
Let's put it here that's right.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
That's right.
Well, um, you guys and wetalked a little bit about this,
but you took what, what was, Iwant to say underutilized, to be
nice, an underutilized space,and that was your first location
, right?

Speaker 2 (01:14):
It was, yeah, back in 2016.
We had a boutique there.
It had been many other thingswhen we purchased it, we put a
boutique in there for a littlebit.
We outgrew that space, had thatbuilding there, and I had
always and we'll probably getinto this but I had always
wanted to own an ice cream shop,of all things.

(01:36):
There had been many other thingsin life and I had recently
realized how much I lovecustomer service and I'd never
worked in retail before and, um,we had done that a little bit
in the boutique and I hadrealized how much I love that
interaction with customers and Icombined that with this just
kind of strange affinity I hadfor ice cream, more so than most

(01:58):
people that I've had since Iwas a child and uh, and I've
always been an entrepreneur atheart.
Again, I'm sure we'll talkthrough that more, um, but it
just was an opportunity to dosomething that I'd always
dreamed of.
And uh, man, we, we just kindof took a risk on it and and
dream to dream and and uhstarted in 2000,.

(02:19):
That started about 2015,.
About 2016, early 2016,.
We opened uh and it and it'sbeen a heck of a ride since.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Well, it's amazing and, uh, you know, you guys have
built a great brand too.
I mean, everybody knows that ifyou stop by there.
One, you're going to have someamazing flavors which I'm sure
you hang your hat on.
But two, it's also a reallygood experience.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Well, I appreciate that and that's, and that's
that's super important to us.
I mean, and that's that's superimportant to us.
I mean, and we started with thebrand before the business even
that was.
You know, I guess I've alwaysmarketing has always been a big
part of my life I mean mydegrees in marketing and so I've
always been influenced thatthat your brand is, is, is a big

(03:04):
part of everything that you do,and it has to start there.
Um, sometimes people start witha really great product and and
build a brand around it.
Um, in our case, I I kind ofdreamt, dreamt up the brand.
Uh, first had some great help.
I had, uh, you know, mattBowling helped me with the
graphic design initially andwe'll talk about where the name

(03:26):
came from and those kind ofthings but making sure that
brand was on point, that thevisuals were on point, that we
had a good idea of who we weregoing to be as far as our
culture is concerned, within thecompany that's part of our
brand and then what it lookedlike, what the customer would
experience.
I kind of had all that in myhead before we even opened the

(03:51):
shop and so, as I was designingthose, I was saying what we
needed and all the products weneeded, those kind of things.
That brand helped shape thosethings.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, and the feel that I get from it and I'm
assuming this was intentionalbecause you started with the
brand, but it's almost thatnostalgic soda shop?

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, exactly, and that that was exactly my my
point.
I wanted something it's icecream, right.
I wanted something, though,that that spoke to yesteryear,
that that spoke to kind of thissimpler, better time of, you
know, the 1950s and 1960s veryretro feeling, um, something

(04:30):
that that communicated happiness, you know and a simpler time
too.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
It does yeah absolutely and.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
And so, um, we were, we were looking at at terms
through a lexicon of of termsfrom the fifties and sixties and
came across the term golly gee,like, like, it was like, uh,
leave it to beaverish, like,yeah, golly gee, you know, and
golly gee beaver, and uh, um,jenna, at the time, she, she

(04:57):
said well, what if you took thatand and turn that into like a,
a character, like a, and I waslike, hmm, so I said so we were
like so, golly G, like the G inin being possessive, like it's a
proper noun, like it's a person, it's a character.
So golly G became the character.

(05:18):
And then I shot that over toMatt Bolin, which was again my.
He's a, he's a branding geniusand he was like, give me about
he, like 30 minutes he had asketch of of the G, kind of the
smile.
That's kind of become at leastlocally iconic.
For, you know, amongst kidsthey see that they can't even
read yet they see that G with asmile on it and they immediately

(05:39):
think ice cream.
Oh, absolutely, so, um, thosethings, and that's that's kind
of the, that's kind of how wecame up with the name and the
and the beginning parts of thebrand and we've obviously built
a um built around that skeleton,but it's it's worked out well
for us.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
No, I love it and you , you do absolutely get that
feel because you've got thewhite floors, the white counters
, the white, the white subwaytile in the back.
It's just that kind of cleanand fresh.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
you're welcome here kind of a thing.
I appreciate that and you knowwe have, you know as part of our
brand.
We have and we'll talk aboutour core values.
But we have core values.
That really shapes all thosethings and they're posted in the
stores.
I love that.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
I love the fact that, um, you know you're showing the
customer who you are with theservice that you're providing
and the quality of the product,but then at the same time as
they're leaving, you've got thaton the on the wall right beside
the door at least in in the onein Pleasantview, that's where
it's at and so also tells themthe kind of the mission.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yeah, absolutely yeah , and we do the same behind the
counter.
So we make sure that differentintegral places with you know
that our, our employees alwaysknow those things.
They always they see them.
If they're making waffle cones,that yes, gosh, we need to do
this with excellence.
Or if you know they're helpingsomebody, gosh, that it's

(07:03):
service.
Are we?
Are we serving?
Are we serving here or am Ihaving fun?
I mean?
So again, I love to talk aboutour core values because it
shapes everything that we do.
It is the essential core of thebrand.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Well, and you can tell that also by the people
that work at your stores and byno means am I just trying to pad
your ego here, but for somebodyyou know, I had 500 team
members in retail and that smilebehind the counter makes your
breaks.
You, yeah, Plain and simple.
Well, it does.
And and your team just by andlarge, you, when you walk in

(07:39):
there, you feel welcome, youfeel like they actually want to
take care of you and you don'tfeel like you've burdened them
by showing up, which is howretail is these days.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
Well, let's start that starts with, and I've got
an incredible team that helps usidentify talent and for so long
, it's just gosh, you can almostjust have to take who you can
get in these entry-level jobs,but they do such a great job of
determining who.
Who are those kids?
Cause, let's just be honest,most of our, our employees, are

(08:11):
16, 17, 18 year old kids and alot of times, this is their
first job.
And, you know, something welook for is that ability to
engage with their eyes and smile.
If you can do that, that'sright.
Then we can teach you to doalmost anything else and, uh, so
we've learned, we've learned tolook for those things, and it's
worked out pretty well for us.

(08:32):
You know, there we've got someincredible kids who are going to
go on to do incredible thingsin life and, uh, I love that for
a while I get to, we get tohave them and get to get to um,
work with them and andmentorship?
Absolutely, yeah, that's a bigpart of it.
Yeah, so you know, we have inthe summertime, we have 120
employees and uh, it's, it's sogreat to get to know those kids

(08:55):
the best you can and, and youknow, have a, have at least some
part in role in their lives andand uh, you, you really grow to
care about those kids andthey're they're great kids.
And not all of them are kids.
I mean, we have adults,obviously, that work for us on a
long-term basis and do a greatjob as well, so sure, Um, and so
you know you started with thatone in Pleasant view 2016, and

(09:18):
then and then.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
Now you're three locations.
We've got three.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, um, we, uh, we have uh, 2017,.
We opened in in Clarksville.
We quickly realized that therewas a.
We had a, a review done by uh,a local publication in
Clarksville in late 2016, andClarksville found out about us
and it and it changed ourbusiness.
Yeah and uh it.

(09:42):
It was kind of overwhelming, tobe honest, and we noticed that,
you know, four out of 10, fiveout of 10, uh license plates
that were coming into our, intoour parking lot, were from
Montgomery County.
Yeah and uh.
So we quickly began to say, hey, what are the opportunities
there?
And and there, there was verylittle competition.

(10:02):
It was obviously a pretty bigdemand, and so we immediately
started looking at spaces.
I found the space that we'recurrently in in the Sango area.
You know, it's only 15, 16minutes on the same highway.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
On the same road?

Speaker 2 (10:18):
yeah, On the same highway up into what Clarksville
Highway turns into into Madisonstreet.
Up there in 41 a and uh, wefound a space there, um built
that out and by by June of 2017,we had opened up the second
location.
So pretty quickly.
Sure, yeah, and um, and so thatthat location has, from that

(10:39):
time on, has been our, ourbusiest location.
In 2019, we opened a smallplace in downtown Clarksville.
There's a city park that had aconcession area called Downtown
Commons.

(11:00):
We opened that spot.
It was kind of a walk-up spot.
Only it had a little bit of aonly it.
It uh, it had a little bit of adining room, but it was.
They had a ice skating rink inthe winter and a big park in the
in the summer, and it was, itwas a fun shop for a while, but
then, when um covet hit, yeah,that entire area just just died.
You know, there was no one goesdown.

(11:20):
Yeah, it was.
So, um, and there was some,there was some issues with some
homelessness and stuff like thatthat my, I didn't feel like my
kids were really safe duringthat time, and so we we decided
to pull the plug on that, investinto a, into a food truck,
which we did Um and the sametime in in uh during COVID.
Um, you know we opened alocation in Greenbrier in

(11:43):
Robertson County right Uh 20,june 2020.
And uh, it's July of 2020.
We introduced the food truck.
So that's um.
That was kind of a really busytime for us and you know we've
been trying to keep up with thatsince um and it's helped us.
We've learned a lot, we.
We've helped us kind of developa, a growth strategy that again

(12:04):
, hopefully we'll get a chanceto talk through um and and some
fun things ahead of that as well.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
So well and uh, one of the things that that I
noticed that you did.
Uh, at least there inPleasantview you decided to do a
remodel and you used your foodtruck to keep that business
going, so that it didn't go dark.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yeah, that was.
That was imperative, really,cause that was, you know it, it,
when you, when you come to uh,depend on the revenue of of a
retail location to have to haveto kill it.
For a time being, we had to dosome updates and we had some
plumbing issues and stuff thatwe had to.
We had to address uh in thatold building, sure, and so it

(12:45):
was such a blessing to be ableto park that food truck out
there for three months and dothe work that we need, because
we had to jackhammer the entireconcrete floor up.
Oh yeah, so it wasn't an easyremodel, but that was a blessing
because we could still operateat 80% capacity in that food
truck, which was nice, right.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Well, and keep your people employed too.
Exactly, yeah, which was nice,right.
Well, and keep your peopleemployed too.
Exactly yeah, that was huge,absolutely.
And I did the same thing in thewireless space.
Uh, you know one of the things?
That if you're working as afranchise, uh, you have to do
their remodels every so manyyears and, uh, we did the same
thing.
I printed a or I didn't rent,but we, we got it a RV.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
Oh nice.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
And then and then we didn't rent, but we gutted a RV.

Speaker 2 (13:26):
Oh nice.
And then built it out as aretail store.
Okay, yeah, same, thing, walkin one side, walk out the other,
stay in business.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yeah, stay in business and our downtime was
not quite as substantial asyours was Typically.
In under two weeks I could flipone.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah.
But I also wasn't jackhammeringthe floor for the most part
Right Right, right, yeah, it was.
Uh, that was a trying time, butI'll tell you that was also a
really good time for my business, like during COVID.
You know, we really explodedduring that time and I I really
put that on the on the shouldersof the communities that were in

(14:03):
.
They, we were supported.
Like I mean, you know,shoulders of the communities
that we're in, we were supported.
I mean, there was a time whenwe had to shut down the dining
rooms and we were drive-throughonly.
There were twotwo-and-a-half-hour waits in our
drive-through In Pleasantview.
It was lines going down Highway41A for a quarter mile just to
wait for a milkshake or a or anice cream cone.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
I remember specifically that summer, uh,
while things were shut down, um,and the lines were crazy.
It was um, we rode, we werebikes.
Oh yeah, you know, obviouslyI'm not that far away from you
guys but it was kind of likeokay, well, the kids want to go
to college, he's great and wecan do that.
Yeah, we're going to ride bikes?

Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yeah, we did.
We had lots of people ridingbikes and that was kind of the
fun thing about COVID.
I think it reset a lot ofpeople's.
You know you got to do that,you got to spend time with your
kids and you got to ride bikeswith them.
And you know it forced us to be, you know, different than we
were Exactly, exactly.

(15:05):
You know different than we wereExactly, exactly.
And that's the same with ourbusinesses too.
It forced us to be differentand look at different, different
ways and different strategies,and I think we're better because
of it, you know.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Um, now it's not like you'rejust serving the same old soft
serve or dip that everybody elseis.
You guys have won some awardswith your ice cream, haven't you
?

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, we make all of our ice cream.
So we started doing that in2000, started the transition in
2017.
The first year we didn't havethe facility for it, we
purchased it from a localmanufacturer here in Nashville
and it was still good.
It was great Mike's Ice Cream.
I'll just give them a.
They're great Over there offSecond Avenue.

(15:45):
They do a great job.
They do they do?
Mike makes great ice cream but,yeah, we started making it when
we opened up that facility andstarted slowly making our own
and by the end of 2017, we werealmost 100% probably early 2018,
100% making our own, all of ourown ice cream.

(16:07):
And 2019, early 2020, we openedup an entire different
production facility where wemake all the ice cream.
So any of the, let's say, anyof the mix-ins, with the
exception of, like an Oreo orsomething like that, but we make
.
If it's a brownie, if it'scookie dough, we make all those
in our in-house bakery as well.
So, really, we really want tomake sure that that the product

(16:31):
you're getting is excellent.
That goes back to our corevalues, but it's it's uh, we
make almost everything.
Uh, handmade.
We hand chop everything.
We it's it.
I promise you it's made.
It's a labor of love, but itmakes a difference.
In the ice cream, we use localcream from Middle Tennessee cows
.
We're 14% butterfat, so you cantell a difference when you eat

(16:55):
it.
We have processes in place thatallow us to freeze the ice
cream really quickly so itdoesn't get icy.
So you're going to get a reallythe ice cream really quickly so
it doesn't get icy Sure.
So you're going to get a reallycreamy ice cream when you try
it.
So I think if you haven't triedit already, obviously you have.
But there's a difference thanthis or Baskin Robbins or you

(17:17):
know.
I mean those places are fine,Nobody, there's really not bad
ice cream.
I mean, most ice cream is leastpalatable, right, sure.
But I think I think I'm reallyproud of our ice cream.
You know?

Speaker 1 (17:28):
well, I think one of the things, at least for me,
don't get me wrong.
The flavor is great, uh, thetexture is great, but one of the
things that I notice is mostice cream gives me heartburn and
, for whatever reason, how theprocess that you guys follow, or
the fact that you're usinglocal products or whatever it is
, I do not have that issue withyour ice cream.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah, I don't know.
I mean other than we have areally clean label product, so
we try to.
There's not a lot of artificialadditives In fact, we're in the
process of eliminatingartificial dyes and things like
that.
That we're going to do over thenext year but it's a very clean
label product.
So it's cane, sugar and cream,for the most part, a natural

(18:12):
stabilizer, so there's not a lotin there to really mess with
your body too much.
So, yeah, it's a high-qualityproduct, it's a premium product.
It uh, yeah, it's, it's.
It's a high quality product,it's a it's a premium product.
Um, obviously we.
We charge a premium price for it, because it takes.
It takes a lot of money to toto make a product like that when
you're paying people to handchop cookie dough that you've

(18:35):
made yourself and all thosethings that you know.
That's, but that's, that's partof who we are, that's part of
our brand Sure, and of our brandsure.
And to answer your question,yes, we, we are nationally
recognized.
We.
We have won multiple blueribbons for some of our flavors,
which are recognized in the asthe in the you know, top one
percent of ice cream.
Uh, ice cream companies in theentire united states or north

(18:57):
america, as far as that'sconcerned.
Uh, for testing our ice creamfor quality taste.
Even I think bacteria counts,those kind of things.
That all goes into as part ofan ice cream clinic through the
North American Ice CreamAssociation and you're awarded
either a blue ribbon is the best, red ribbon and a white ribbon.

(19:20):
I've won all of those for ourice cream.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
So yeah's, it's something I'm very proud of.
So somebody out there iswondering what is the best
flavor at golly geez?
Yeah, that's a.
That's a loaded question, right?

Speaker 2 (19:34):
yeah, um, for my personal opinion, my my favorite
is the banana pudding.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
Oh, it's great I've had your banana pudding oh, it's
great.
I've had your banana puddingice cream and it's not like
anybody else's.
What makes it special?
It's pretty special.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
Shout out to Joy, my mom, joy Boykin, she makes the
best banana pudding from scratch.
She takes a double boiler andmakes her own vanilla pudding
and Nilla wafers and Cool Whipand all the things.
It's pretty special, but Iwanted to make an ice cream
based on that.
Her banana pudding, yeah.
And so we do the same thing.
We.
We take a real vanilla pudding,we take real vanilla wafers,

(20:14):
real cool whip, uh, and reallyright bananas, and we blend that
together and mix it into intoan ice cream and I'm I'm pretty
proud of it.
It tastes a little.
I mean, you definitely getbanana pudding when you, when
you taste it.
So there's nothing, there's noartificial banana flavor or
anything like that.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
it's, it's the real stuff I gotta tell you
artificial banana flavor is theworst like runts or something.
Yeah, it's or even in ice cream.
Yes, oh, who is it?
Checkers, checkers, makes abanana milkshake.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
That is just every chemical you can put into it and
sonic used to make bananamilkshakes with real bananas,
like you.
They'd blend them up and it wasgreat, yeah, but the last few
times it's they're using abanana flavor now and it is just
not the same.
I don't want any part of that,it's.
It's that chemical?
Yes, absolutely, yeah, so, yeah.
So banana pudding, that'sthat's if a lot of people would

(21:05):
absolutely yeah, so, yeah.
So banana pudding, that's if alot of people would have a
differing opinion in this.
You know, a lot of people wouldsay the cold brew crunch, or
our loaded we have an ice creamcalled loaded, we have, you know
.
But if you're asking me and I'm, you know.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
You know a little bit about ice cream.
Yeah, right, yeah.
Now what is the mostaward-winning flavor you have?

Speaker 2 (21:28):
Probably our vanilla.
Believe it or not, really yeah,it's probably won more ribbons
than anything else, so ourstrawberry is probably right
close behind.
So, vanilla, strawberry andeven chocolate.
Those three have won the mostribbons.
Yeah, I love it, excited, youknow, and if you can, if you can
make those three flavors, thoseare your like quintessential,

(21:50):
like the base that you can buildin for everything else off of
you.
Get those right.
I think you do pretty good witheverything else, yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Well, and I think sometimes too, especially when
somebody is visiting yourlocation for the first time,
they try to play it safe.
They're like oh, you can'tscrew up X, but it's for you.
It's not about screwing it upor not screwing it up, it's it's
about giving them a flavorprofile that they don't get
anywhere else.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Oh yeah, I mean, and it starts from the most basic
flavor, one of our number onecore values is excellence, and
so that goes.
That's the filter that when wesay, okay, we're going to make a
flavor here, it's not, it's notokay, that it's just okay.
Yeah, it's got it to me itdoesn't go out, unless it it,
it's excellent.
So, um, so we, we apply that toeven things like vanilla ice

(22:38):
cream or chocolate, you know,and, and a lot of people just be
happy with just havingchocolate ice cream, but I want
it to be the best chocolate icecream and and so, so, yeah, so
that that goes, that goes forall of our flavors.
But in particular, you starteven on those base levels, like
that, and I, uh, our, what doyou think our number one flavor

(22:59):
is as far as bestselling flavor?

Speaker 1 (23:02):
So just because of my wife and my wife, every time
she has a family member thatcomes in and we go to Golly G's.
She's like you've got to getthe Tennessee Fudge.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
So I'm going to say Tennessee Fudge.
Yeah, good guess.
But no, it's chocolate icecream, believe it or not.
Just a basic chocolate, Just abasic chocolate ice cream.
We sell that flavorsubstantially more than almost
any other flavor.
So, yeah, we're making.
We make 60 boxes of that a week, which is, you know, two and a

(23:32):
half gallons at a time.
So, yeah, we're, we make a lotof that of chocolate ice cream
that's a lot of chocolate goingout it is right.
Yeah, so yeah.
Chocolate, and then followed upby probably vanilla and
strawberry and cookies and creamcookie dough.
Those are probably your topfive.
Maybe cold brew crunchTennessee fudge comes in and out

(23:53):
of the top ten from times, butit's definitely just so.
You know, the audience knowswhat Tennessee fudge is.
It's a vanilla based ice creamwith these big chunks of swirled
fudge throughout it.
So yeah, swirled, uh, of thefudge throughout it.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
So yeah yeah, it's really good.
Um, my favorite is um, on theice cream side, it's going to be
your mint, your mint chocolatechip which you make it a little
bit different with is it cookiethat's in it instead of a chip.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
No, we have well.
No, we have well.
We make it different ways.
It depends on you know like.
But our standard mint chip is amint ice cream with chocolate
flakes in it.
So we don't use chips becausethey get hard, yeah, you know.
So we use a flake, a thinchocolate flake, semi-sweet
flake.
But we also make them with GirlScout cookies.

(24:41):
So, like thin mints, we makethat recipe with thin mints, or
Oreos sometimes, Yep.
So we kind of mix it up fromtime to time with with the mint
stuff, but for the most part, 80, 80% of the time, it's mint
chip.
That's in the case.
Okay, yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
It's.
I mean it's really good.
But uh, recently, uh, in fact,it was really the first
conversation we ever had.
Uh, big shout out to Don Napierout there.
What's up, don, for connectingus.
In fact, you were supposed tobe in the studio today, come on,
don, but he's got a big summermeet coming up, so he's knocking
that out.
But you guys created acheesecake.
Oh, yeah, and my wife and I wewere doing a date night.
We were at Hananoki and on theway back we thought all all

(25:26):
right, we'll stop get get alittle dessert right there in
clarksville.
Right there in clarksvillestopped at your sango location,
again on the same road as ourgolly geez yeah in in pleasant
view but uh, right there next tothe restaurant and popped in
trying to decide what I'm goingto go with, and I had a and I'm
not usually a cookies and creamkind of guy, but this cookies
and cream cheesecake lookedfantastic to you, didn't it did?

(25:48):
so I got, I got a slice of of itand my wife was like, yeah, I'm
getting one too.
Okay, great, nice.
And it was so good that shesaved the last chunk of hers and
took it home and the next nightcut it into three pieces one
for me, one for her and one forCastle.
How nice.
Because she was likeeverybody's going to savor this.

(26:09):
But then we had a conversationand you guys created that for a
very specific reason.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
Yeah, yeah.
So just to speak to our chief,so, as I said before, we have an
in-house bakery.
Incredible bakers, reallycraftsmen, incredible bakers,
really craftsmen.
They do an incredible job ofcoming up with recipes, of
making sure that we have a greatselection in our bakery case of
all times, that making thestuff that goes in the ice cream

(26:34):
.
They do all those things andshout out to Jeremy for heading
that team up.
But really talented folks,great at what they do.
And, um, they, uh, they came upwith a uh, with the prices of
eggs that a few weeks ago, werejust through the through the
roof.
Of course, our cheesecake is isone of our most underrated uh

(26:56):
products.
It's, it's.
I put our cheesecake up therewith any of the best cheesecakes
around.
So, uh, if you haven't triedour cheesecake, what are you
doing?
Go do it Right, it's fantastic,right?
Yeah, thanks, jim.
Um, but the uh.
One of the main ingredients inclassic cheesecake is eggs and
it takes a lot of egg, eggs, eggyolks in particular, and it

(27:18):
just got so expensive and youknow we don't want to have to
raise the prices.
I mean, it's already a seven $8piece of cheesecake, right,
it's a big, thick piece ofcheesecake.
Um, so he, he began to look atalternatives, uh, egg free
alternatives.
So that was actually a no bakecheesecake that we made from

(27:39):
scratch.
Um, that that didn't have eggsin it, and it again, it was
fabulous, it, it turned outfabulous, it turned out, it
turned out great.
And so we're we.
Uh, we always offer our classicnew york cheesecake.
We always offer a specialtycheesecake, depending on what,
what time of the year it is, orthe month you know, and that
kind of thing.
In that particular month, marchwas, was national oreo month

(28:02):
okay so we were featuring ourall things oreo and he came with
that cheesecake and it wasgreat and in fact we're probably
going to bring that back as ahave it on the shelf all the
time.
Oh, wow, cause it was that thatwell received.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
I was going to ask that I didn't know if I was a,
if I was an exception to therule there or if it really just
no it everybody.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
Uh, once they, once they they tasted that cheesecake
.
We couldn't keep them on theshelf, so we sold.
We sold a lot of thosecheesecakes over the over the
last month.
So you'll see that come back,come back through pretty soon.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
That's great.
Uh, I will tell you it is.
It is not great for my weightbecause, uh, I think I had three
pieces, uh, of that cheesecakespecifically that month that it
was around.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
You ought to work there, you know.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Now one of the things that brings people in and I
think it makes you guysdifferent is you have these
massive cinnamon rolls.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
Yeah, when did that come from?
That was part of my visionearly on, is you know?
The vision early on was to bean ice cream shop, but also to
serve really good coffee andhave items that were
complimentary of one anotherthroughout that.
So we began to look at we reallydidn't have the facility to

(29:17):
make donuts, we didn't have thefryers and things like that, so
something at the time youcouldn't really get in town
anywhere yeah was a was a goodcinnamon roll and um, so we, you
know, I had a my head baker atthe time name was, name was jen
and she helped us kind ofdevelop those, those recipes
early on and she developed thatthat big, you know, cinnamon

(29:41):
roll that proofs into this big,beautiful, you know, and and it
and it we kind of.
We kind of kind of I wouldn'tsay it put us on the map, but it
put us on the map before westarted making our own ice cream
.
So it was kind of our firstentry into these, you know, our
handmade things.
Um, was, was that cinnamon rolland it, you know, back in 2016,

(30:04):
you, you know, you'd bring apan of those out and people
would just want to take pictureswith them and those guys.
So, so early on, I really feltlike that.
I feel like you know thatparticular product and it's good
, it's great, it's delicious.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
It was like your viral product.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
It was.
It did Early on.
It was a thing that we had thatwas probably the most special
to begin with, and we've keptthat same recipe and now we've
got different icing options andwe have a specialty roll that's
based on whatever we're doingfor the month.
That's in conjunction with that, but we still sell a lot of

(30:39):
cinnamon rolls and a lot ofpeople still come to us just for
our cinnamon rolls.
Oh, I bet, I bet.
Joey, here in the last year ortwo you dove into another
business that is adjacent towhat you do, but in a totally
different it's in manufacturingspace, so tell me about
Rappamart Containers is wemanufacture and distribute

(31:04):
corrugated and paper disposableice cream containers all over
the world and it is just a smallmom and pop that started in
Mead by, uh, a couple and Istarted.
I Googled one day when Istarted making my own ice cream,

(31:26):
like where, where do you findice cream containers, ice cream
boxes?
And I went through like six oreight and finally came across
this, this place called wrapthem, our container, and, uh, I
started ordering.
He was the first to call meback and I started ordering from
this gentleman.
He ran the business out of hisgarage, made these boxes and as

(31:50):
we grew we became a moresignificant part of their
business and had a greatrelationship with them.
At some point his wife had an,an illness and they were at
retirement age and and he, basedon our relationship, he came to
me and said, hey, would, wouldyou, would you be interested?
And we're thinking about maybeselling the business.

(32:12):
Would you be interested in?
And and so I took, uh, my goodfriend, thomas gilson giesland.
Thomas giesland is one of mybest friends and he's great in
sales and just an incrediblepeople person never meets a
stranger and he was looking forsome opportunities, ways to

(32:36):
invest in some business.
And he and I flew up to justoutside, outside of cleveland,
into meadville, pennsylvania,and and met with randy and patty
and kind of heard their visionabout their business and what
they're wanting to do and umthey, they kind of made us a
deal that we couldn't refuse.

(32:57):
It was a great opportunity forme to have a I.
This was, this was again rightoutside of COVID, where supply
chain supply.
You know it was a challenge, itwas.
It was a challenge and it wasan opportunity for me to be able
to control some of that too.
What to the public would seemlike an insignificant thing the

(33:18):
box that you put your ice creamin was very significant to me
because if I, if I can't havethat, what am I going to?
What can I put in my?
How can I serve my ice cream?
So, just so the audience knows,we're talking about the, the
large two and a half or threegallon containers that, as we
make ice cream, comes out of thebatch freezer into the, into
boxes.
Traditionally, if you go to toBaskin robbins or a lot of you

(33:42):
know they're round containersand we do offer those round
containers, but what's uniqueabout our, ours is their
rectangle, in shape which allowsyou to offer more flavors in
the same case, correct?
yeah, so we, we uh, atraditional 16 hole dipping case
, which is very, very common.
I can get 24 flavors.

(34:02):
When I cut out the, the, thewasted space in between the
circles.
Yeah, so I can get 24 flavorsout of, out of a 16 hole cabinet
and and they're way moreergonomical.
They, they stack, they'reefficient in my walk-in freezers
and things like that.
So and I don't have to wash,rinse and sanitize those plastic
buckets.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
They're better for the and you don't have as much
waste either.
Because I'm thinking, and maybeI'm wrong on this, but like the
ones that say baskin robbins,they're like a uh a corrugated
tube.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
they are, they're, they are a, they're a tube.
Uh, it's not corrugated butit's a, it's a.
It's a cardboard nonetheless,like a fiber paper, and for
those particular ones you haveto have a machine it's about a
$25,000 machine that assemblesthat, that puts a metal ring or
a plastic ring on the ends tohold it together.

(34:56):
Sure, and that's not economicalfor a small business that has
one or two shops.
This is a great alternative.
It's earth-friendly Again, it'smore efficient.
It had not really beencelebrated in the industry.

(35:19):
Not many people had known about.
It was again.
He was doing it on his onnotebook paper, keep an
inventory on a on notebook paperand very rudimentary,
rudimentary, um, you knowbookkeeping and things like that
, um.
And so we were able to takethat kind of move it into the

(35:39):
more modern times with, you know, developed a website that
people could purchase on andkeep up.
Scale it, yes, scale.
We were able to scale itExactly.
Partnered with QCIS there inPleasant View to help us with
our basically fulfillment andstorage.
So they help fulfill andprocure the orders from the

(36:02):
corrugated plants, storeeverything, and then they even
help us ship it out.
So we're able to send themorders.
They're able to processeverything and it's a really
good win-win for both businessesand it's really scaled our
capacity.
We've increased substantialrevenues and profits over the

(36:24):
last two years.
We started going to trade showsand just really showing people
what we have and what we have tooffer, and I've been fortunate
to do several of these podcastsbased on that alone, yeah, and
in the industry-specificpodcasts and stuff.
So it's been a great business.

(36:47):
It's something I don't have tohave just super involved in.
I can help with things here andthere.
Thomas does a great jobhandling our customer service
and handling our sales calls andI help with product development
and handling our sales callsand, um, I, I help with, you
know, just product developmentand and the bigger picture stuff
.
Um, you know we're, we'redeveloping new products, trying

(37:10):
to be innovative in the industryand things like that.
It's been, it's been fun andthrough that I've I've really
developed even more deeperconnections within the ice cream
industry because I'm servingmostly ice cream shops, which is
things so well?

Speaker 1 (37:23):
and you know one of the things that I see there if
I'm an, if I'm a shop owner, whywould I not switch from the 16
to the 24?

Speaker 2 (37:33):
Yeah, Well, I mean, some people are just
traditionalists and they'repurists and they, they, they.
You know it's.
There's a perception that it'scheaper to wash and rinse and
sanitize a plastic bucket.
But the time you're payingsomebody let's say you're in
California and you're payingsomebody $17 an hour to wash-

(37:54):
buckets all day, yeah.
It's not cheaper at all.
It's cheaper just to buy aone-time use product.
Throw that away, let it rotaway in a landfill somewhere and
you don't have that kind ofworry, plus, like you said,

(38:16):
being able to be more efficientWith your space.
Yeah, with your space, andthat's especially when small
space is like what we have inmany cases.

Speaker 1 (38:22):
I mean Well, I've got to believe that a lot of your
small ice cream shops they'vegot one cooler.
Yeah Well, how many more peoplewould you get if you had an
expanded?
You know what does that add?
It adds 50% more flavors, from16 to 24.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Yeah, in, even, in, even in a walk-in freezer or
even a chest freezer whereyou're storing it, you're at
least 25 percent more moreefficient product.
Yeah, with, with, just cuttingout those corners you know, yeah
, so that's huge.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
It makes sense.
Yeah, that's cool.
Well, I mean, you don't thinkabout innovation in an ice cream
shop but here we are I exactly.
We're talking about doing morewith less.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
It's super niche too, and which I I kind of love
niches.
I think that there it reallyhelps you hone in and focus on
what you do, and it's a it's a,it's a space I'm super familiar
with and I'm, I'm like it or not, I'm, I'm, I'm seen as an
expert in that industry, and soit that helps, as I'm saying,

(39:24):
hey, check these boxes out.
Oh, it's, that's the, the gollygeez guy.
And so there there's somecohesiveness there too.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
You know, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
Yeah, it's, it's.
It's worked out well.
It's been a big blessing in inmy life in the last couple of
years.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
That's cool.
Well, man, keep doing it, and Ithink it's a great compliment
to golly geez.
You know it, being on thefringe of the business that
you've got and at the same timeyou being seen as an expert in
that world, can do nothing buthelp.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
So absolutely Way to go, man.
Yeah, it's fun.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
Cool.
Now, one of the things that wetalked about earlier and I think
is critical for somebody thatis running a business is a lot
of people they do what they dobecause that's how we've always
done it Right.
And you kind of alluded to thefact that in recently you guys
have pivoted, whether it be withhours or optimizing your menu,

(40:16):
those types of things.
What would have been somecritical moves that you guys
have made?
Yeah, that's a good questionand we have.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
As a business owner, you have a vision that you have
from early on of what you wantyour business to look like, and
sometimes it's hard when yourealize that maybe not all that
vision works.
Sure, works, Sure.
And so from 2016 until, youknow, 2022, we've been, we've

(40:46):
been very successful at at whatdoing what we we've done well,
but you also come to realize,gosh, this is not quite as
profitable as it should be.
You know we we've got someincredible sales, but you know
we we've got some inefficienciesthat are obviously leading to,

(41:08):
um, you know, to some uh, toless profit than we should have.
Sure, and so you know, I justtalked through some, some
consultants, with someconsultants that that came in
and looked at my business modelsand basically we were paying
employees from 6 am to 11 pm.
That's a long time to be openright.

(41:29):
Yeah, in addition to yourproduction crew and we looked at
our hours in particular that,from being open from 7 am to 12
pm, accounted for about 28percent of our labor and only

(41:52):
less than 15 percent of oursales.
Yeah, so as much as it painedfor me to look at that and say,
gosh, but that's not, that's notwho I want us to be.
This, as much as it pained meto look at it and say I just
couldn't refute the numbers.
And so we made the difficultdecision to rebrand it from Goli
G's Coffee Ice Cream and Sweetsto just Goli G's Ice Cream,

(42:15):
because our sales, year-round,70% of our revenue, comes off of
scooped ice cream.
There you go.
So that showed us what themarket's telling us, who we are,
and to fight against that isjust.
You know it didn't make senseand so, just in an attempt to

(42:35):
become more efficient you know,listen to the market we did that
rebrand to Discoology's icecream.
And, yes, it cream and it, yes,it's affected our coffee sales
and yes, it's affected some ofour bakery sales.
Um, but we've become way moreprofitable over the last year
and a half since doing that.
So it was, it was a hard pillfor me to swallow.

(42:57):
But it now, hindsight, I canlook back and and I'm I'm, I'm
really glad we did that becauseit's the way moving forward,
it's the way you know, it's theway as we expanded new markets
and things like that.
They're never, those people arenever going to know us as a
coffee shop.
Now we still, we still, westill sell, sell coffee and we
still do those things well, butit's just not.

(43:18):
You know, we, we dance with theone that brought us here and
that's ice cream.
So that's our focus movingforward.
We're primarily an ice creamshop that we obviously do bakery
and coffee and those things aswell.
We got out of the lunchbusiness, we got out of just
doing the things that maybe wejust kind of did, but that

(43:41):
wasn't the stars of the show,and now we focus on the things
we do really well Cut our hoursfrom 7 am to now.
We don't open until noon, andthat cut out a lot of labor.
And obviously we have somepeople that spent some mornings
with us that they hated that andI hated that for them too Sure.

(44:02):
Some mornings with us, thatthey, they hated that and I
hated that for them too Sure.
But a year and a half later, Ithink everybody's adjusted and
there's no way we could go backto that.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
Well, kudos to you for using the data and and
listening to what your customersare really telling you at
volume.
Right, not that there wasn'tsomebody there at seven o'clock
in the morning, but sure Um, somany businesses will hold onto
that with a death grip, to thedetriment of everybody there.
And really your employees arecounting on you to make

(44:30):
absolutely business decisionsand you know so way to go with
that.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
Well, and and I, you know, like I said it, it wasn't
easy for me to let go of myself,and I have.
I have some really great people, some wise people around me
that that have helped support meand show me like, hey, I really
think this is, you know, and um, and it's important to have
those, those folks, those peoplein your ear that you trust, and
, and uh, and, and they, theyhelped, they helped guide us in

(44:57):
that direction.
So, uh, yeah, it was, it was abig move for us and, again, it
was a positive move in the longrun for sure Now, uh, this is a
little bit of a fun one.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
Uh, we did touch on it a little bit earlier, um, but
especially you and Don, youguys, every once in a while
we'll go on.
I don't want to call it abender, cause that's not a
foodie bender like a burgerbender.
Yeah, and go have a meal overthe course of five different
restaurants or six differentrestaurants.
Where did that come to play?
Or is that just that happenedby accident?

(45:26):
That's kind of a Don thing.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
Don and I have been friends for gosh Don forgive me
if I'm wrong here, but probablysince 2018, 2019.
And Don was always a greatadvocate for our small business
for always coming in.
He always loved the cheesecake.
You know, Don's just a greatguy.

(45:48):
He's never met a stranger, heknows everybody, he does, he
does and such a cool guy and wereally developed into a
friendship.
He actually came in and helpedus with some marketing for a
while.
Yeah, did a great job with someof our social media and things
and, just so the audience knows,don owns a business called

(46:11):
Import Alliance where they do alot of car shows and things like
that.
But anyways, he's a great guy.
He has some really interestinginterests, but food is one of
those right, and we share anaffinity for really good food.
I don't know if you call usfoodies, but we, we, we love, we
love unique and and really welldone food.

(46:33):
So we'll go into east nashville, for instance, and we'll we'll
have a burger night where we goand we'll we'll go to four or
five different burger spots andwe'll split a burger at each
place and kind of critique thosethings We've we've talked about
maybe turning that into apodcast at some point, or.
But you know we're going to dothis.
We do the same thing with pizzaor with, you know, just trying

(46:54):
like one bite at each.
You know one dish at each, eachrestaurant in a, in a, in a
area.
I think I'll do it with tacos,not too long.
Yeah, we did, yeah, absolutelyso, we, we, it's a fun time and
you know, hell, I'll do it withsome ice cream, with a nice,
with ice cream or somethingsometime.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
You're right, yeah, so well, that's one of the
things that I noticed on yoursocial media.
That I think is really cool isand I get that you're in that
space but I love that you giveshout outs to the places that
you visit that you like theirice cream oh, yeah, I'm not.

Speaker 2 (47:25):
I mean, I, I make good ice cream.
I think some of the best icecream.
Right, I'm a little, um, biasedthere, yeah, a little biased,
but uh, I also have there'sincredible ice cream.
Even in this city we've gotsome incredible places and, uh,
I've got friends and, and you,you know, sure, there's
competition, but it's not reallylike that.
We, we, you know, in that, inthis industry, for the most part

(47:47):
, there's there's really greatsupport uh, amongst again,
amongst business owners who areunder, who are facing the same
same challenges and and triumphsand everything that we, we,
both, we have.
And so when I'm in other cities, or even when I'm in Nashville,
I love to support and and andand taste and see what people
are doing well, and how does itcompare to what I'm doing.

(48:09):
And it's always a way for us toto reimagine what we're doing
or to to say, yeah, this, youknow, I think we missed the mark
here, or, man, I feel likewe've got a better product here.
And I think it's important todo those kind of things and
develop relationships with thosebusiness owners and have a
camaraderie and share things.

(48:30):
I mean, I'll share secrets tomy recipes and stuff like that
with people and you know, justbecause you know so many people,
so many people have helped mealong the way, so many people
have have done that for me alongthe way and given me just
little things here and therethat that has.
I mean I wouldn't be where I amwithout that.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
Yeah, so one of my, one of the sayings that I cannot
stand is you know, somebodysays they're self-made.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
I'm going to call BS on just about every single
iteration.
I am not self-made.
I'll go ahead and tell you that, yeah, uh, if it wasn't for the
support of so many people, somany people, and some there's
some big ones, but so manypeople that, uh, that have
showed me and helped me alongthe way, have written checks for
me, have, um, you know, havehelped me in design or push me

(49:24):
in it from one direction toanother direction, and, and you
know, had those influences on me, I would.
There's no way we'd, we'd behere right now.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
So, yeah, so who, besides Don and your mom and
obviously a supportive family,family who would you point to
and say was a great mentor alongthe way?

Speaker 2 (49:46):
family who would you point to and say was a great
mentor along the way?
Um, well, I'm a part of the uh,the north american, um, north
american ice cream associationand they have mentorship
programs within that association.
It's trade association that,and man, it's been so just
people amongst in in that, inthat community, they've shared
so much and they've guided,helped guide so much, they've

(50:07):
taken me under their wing.
There's, you know, that kind ofthing.
So I don't know that I canpoint to one specific and say,
hey, this is the person that'sbeen my mentor, but so many
people as part of that program,absolutely as part of that
program.
Carl Chaney from Chaney's up inBowling Green, um, you know, he
was instrumental early on.
Mike from Mike's ice cream Um,you know, and, and then I get to

(50:32):
do the same thing now, um, I'm,I'm, I'm now kind of one of
those people that that peoplecome to and I, I love to sit.
I mean, that's one of thethings I love.
I don't make a dime off of it,sure, but I love to sit down and
talk to people about theindustry and help guide them in
ways and avoid pitfalls that Ifell into and those kind of

(50:52):
things.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
Well, I think too along the way.
I mean, don't get me wrong,there's absolutely a nod to
giving back in that regard.
But at least in my world.
Maybe it's the same in yours,as I'm feeding into somebody
else, it's sparking new ideasfor me.
So I, selfishly, I give ideasbecause I know that it's going

(51:13):
to spur something else in myself?

Speaker 2 (51:14):
Oh, absolutely I've.
I've recently been a part of a.
It's a, it's a co-op or it's a.
I guess it's a cohort maybe ofof the really the top 25 ice
cream shops, privately owned icecream shops in the United
States.
I fortunately get to be a partof that group.
That's amazing, yeah, and wewe've.

(51:36):
We've had a, we've developed akind of a support group,
camaraderie community, where wehad a little conference, where
just a intimate time of usgetting together and getting to
know one another and spending aweekend together and just
bouncing ideas off one anotherin that community, even in an
even smaller community, to havedeveloped relationships that

(51:57):
have been invaluable in our endto this day.
I mean, I, I use on a, on a, ona very consistent basis.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
So well, you know as you get um deeper and deeper
into your business.
As you get better, there alsobecomes a much smaller group
that you can actually takeadvice from.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
Yeah, yeah, because, exactly Because you know, I, I
can look back and see, you know,for these people that are just
starting out, if I can see whereI've been, where I've been
there and but but there's justnot a lot of people that are,
there's just not a lot of icecream shops that they have three
or four or five, six, eightlocations that you can kind of

(52:37):
say, ok, where am I going,what's this going to look like?
Say, okay, where am I going,what's this going to look like?
And so it is.
Yeah, as you kind of go up thepyramid there, the sample size
gets smaller and smaller.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
Sure, Well, what is next for Golly G's?
What are you looking to do inthe future?

Speaker 2 (52:52):
Yeah, so I'd say the last 18 months has been less
about growth and more aboutprofitability, making sure that
we're we're profitable, we'renot having to.
You know, you know it's a veryseasonal business.
So, just in true transparencyhere, you do really well in the
summer and then you just kind ofhold on in the winter, sure,

(53:14):
right, uh, from from November toMarch it's just like you know,
you hold on for dear life andthen then it's, then you get
back to true bell curve.
You know you hold on for dearlife and then then it's, then
you get back a true bell curve.
You know it starts building upagain.
So we want to make sure thatwe're sustainable year round and

(53:34):
that that profitability isthere year round.
And we've we've made again alot of these changes we've made
have really helped ensure thatwe're we're really close to
getting over that hump, close toto getting over that hump, Um,
but we, we definitely have a, a,a growth strategy that includes
um.
We we've been, we've developedover over the last couple of
years, developed a lot ofsystems, but systems in place
that could easily, uh, replicatethe DNA of the business into

(53:58):
possibly other owners through afranchise system.
Uh, obviously, new shop.
You know other locations, um,um, you know, so we're wanting
to um and we'll go through eachone of these.
But, uh, even doing some somewholesale opportunities on our
pints and and things like that.
So, um, I would love to maybeopen one more corporate location

(54:22):
middle Tennessee, here, prettyclose.
I think we have the capacityfor that in our current
production facility, probablylooking at somewhere in maybe
North Clarksville, somethinglike that.
So we're testing some marketsup there, but we also have quite
a bit of interest in somefranchising opportunities.

(54:42):
And we also have quite a bit ofinterest in some franchising
opportunities no-transcript withpotential franchise owners.

(55:10):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
And really set the stage for this is what your
payroll percentage needs to be.
This is what your rent yes, Allthese things so that they can
have an expectation of if you dothe right things, if you grow
your business appropriately.
This is how long it takes toget profitable.
This is how long it takes toget your ROI, those types of
things.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
And I have, and again talk about strengths and
weaknesses.
I tend to be more on thecreative, free spirit side.
Sure, I've never been a reallike numbers guy, just kind of
you know.
But I've realized in the lastthree or four years I need to be
, I have to be if I'm going tobe the CEO, if I'm going to be
the it's going to run this shipI have.
That has to be important to meand it has become important to

(55:52):
me.
So I've, I've, I've, I've reallynerded out on on different
metrics and things like that,that the number stuff they do
matter.
The amount of your labor, youknow what can I afford to pay an
hour in labor versus whatanticipated sales are going to
be?
And I mean all these things.
And, and I've, I've really alot of people have given me some

(56:17):
tools and we've developed sometools, spreadsheets We've.
We have a spreadsheet foreverything now and it just kind
of it runs our, they run ourworld.
We have a spreadsheet foreverything now and it just kind
of runs our world, they run ourworld.
We have an order guide thatbasically tracks the expense in
real time of every bag of flour,every egg, and as those prices

(56:41):
change in real time.
I can look at our cost of thescoop of ice cream and see how
it's affected, what's our COGS,what's our cost of goods on that
particular scoop, all thosethings.
And it helps us see where weare on pricing and that kind of
thing.
Stuff like that's been huge forus, yeah, but I've got those
tools developed now.

(57:01):
Stuff like that's been beenhuge for us, but I've got those
tools developed now and uh, soit it helps us really kind of
kind of move forward with withmaking sure that we're the all
these metrics metrics are wherethey need to be as we kind of
look see what's next.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
So, and again, I'm not trying to pad your ego here,
but you are light years aheadof so many that are, you know,
at around a 10 year mark.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
I mean cause.
That's where you're.
You're yeah, nine years nowyeah.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
And usually uh, in fact Jack Daly says this the
best I think I've ever heard itis that most little league teams
are run better than most smallbusinesses.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
And the reason being is you know so many business
owners, rightfully so.
If you're an entrepreneur,you're going to fly by the seat
of your pants to some degree,but you really have to make that
transition of where you eitherhire people to dive into the
data and then you make decisionsbased on the data, or you have
to learn it one of the two, andit's usually a combination of

(57:59):
the two together but really todial in the way you run your
business and, being the creativeside, it feels like you're
being collared into something itdoes absolutely, but at the
same time it also once youunderstand that you have to have
it.
It also gives you the freedom tobe more creative once you've

(58:22):
dialed it in?

Speaker 2 (58:23):
Exactly, yeah, and that's what we've really tried
to invest in those.
It really comes down to systems, to those systems that allow
those things to be monitored, tobe forecasted to all.
Those numbers are.
As much as I hate the numbers,they're so important to our
success, and I can make the bestice cream in the world, but if

(58:46):
we can't get it to the market inan efficient way, what's it?
I mean, what's the point?
Right, you know we're going togo home.
I'm going to have to go getanother job somewhere, right?
So you know we've got to havethose systems in place.
We've worked really hard and Ican't just put it on myself.
I've got a great team that haveslaved over these things and

(59:11):
some great consultants and justpeople within the industry that
have shared their tools andtheir secrets.
And, hey, I've been there.
You know, I've got 20-somethinglocations.
Now, this is how we got there,sure, and so again, there's a
few of those people, but thosepeople have been very, very,
very gracious to share thosethings with us.
So, yeah, I mean, I'm excitedabout where we're going.

(59:35):
We're not there yet, right, westill have, we're still climbing
that hill and there's stillchallenges ahead of us, but
we're quickly, quickly gettingourself into a place where we
can take the next step.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
Yeah, that's awesome man that is awesome.
Now, kind of throughout thisprocess you know you've grown
from probably just a coupleemployees to now what?
Around 80?
.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
We have, depending on the time of the year, in the
winter time we keep around 80,um, and and then in the
summertime that that blossoms upto 120, 130, you know, based on
seasonal employees.

Speaker 1 (01:00:15):
You know, sure, well, just from a volume standpoint,
exactly, absolutely.
So what's been the biggestemployee challenge maybe that
you've had so far?

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
Just, the right people.
Sure, I mean, that's the.
I think that's every.
Every business's challenges ina, in a workforce, is making
sure you have the right peoplein place, and 80% of our, our
workforce are teenage kids, andwe've we talked about this is
that, is that you know teenagekids.

(01:00:44):
This is that is that you knowteenage kids.
They need guidance.
They need you know they're.
A lot of times it's their firstjob and and there's good ones
that do a great job, and thenthere's some that need a lot of
work, and identifying those isthe is the challenge, and making
sure that you're a place thatthe good ones want to come work.
You've created a culture wherethey're like you know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
I want to work there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
Obviously, the master at that is Chick-fil-A Sure and
you know, I think that we do apretty good job of that.
And again, a lot of that'sbased on you know the people I
have in place in leadership thatknow exactly what we're looking
for.
We know the type.
We know what to look for inpersonality.

(01:01:27):
Can they?
Can they look you in the eyeand and engage with you?
Those things?
Just that's.
That sounds really simple.

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
Yeah, but it's not these days.
So many, so many, and I'm notmad at them or anything it's,
it's really it's ourgeneration's fault for not
raising them differently, butthey can't hold eye contact,
they can't walk up and shakeyour hand with any confidence.
Those, those types of thingsare just lost.
Yeah, on some.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
Absolutely, and so, yeah, and so we look for that.
That's.
That's something that we need,that we need to see, and, again,
my team does a great job ofidentifying those people and
people that have a good workethic too.
That's one thing is, you can bereally good with people and
have a really lousy work ethicand you'd rather be over on the

(01:02:16):
side talking to your friends ortexting with your friends rather
than, you know, busting yourbutt to serve the customer.
That's right.
So you know, again, those arethe biggest challenges and
keeping the drama out of with it.
We have a bunch of teenage girlsthat keeping the drama out of
the the the store you know, wehave, again, great leadership in

(01:02:37):
place of finding those people,identifying those people, making
sure they feel valued and umand compensated for their
talents, and that bleeds downinto into how they influence,
how they manage those kinds ofthings.
So that I mean, that's again,there's not a magic sauce or a

(01:02:57):
magic formula other than we justtry to make sure we have the
right people that fit ourculture.
When they don't fit our cultureand they don't fit those those
core values, it's pretty evident.
And make sure we have the rightpeople that fit our culture
when they don't fit our cultureand they don't fit those core
values, it's pretty evident andwe have to make the quick
decision to.
You know, we didn't get thisone right.
We wish you the best.

Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
Absolutely, and everybody's not going to be the
fit.
No absolutely not.
The other thing too is you knowand this is my theory on after
hiring I don't know 2,000, 2,500people over the last 20 years
and I have to go ahead and tellyou up front this analogy sounds
pretty rough when we getstarted, but I look at new hires

(01:03:35):
as hitchhikers.
Okay, yeah, think about ahitchhiker that's willing to pay
for gas.
So imagine we are in Barstow,california, about to get on I-40
and somebody's got their thumbout, they've sent their resume
in, whatever that looks like.
A lot of times people will hirepeople they like yeah, and

(01:03:57):
that'll get you somewhere, butit ain't going to get you all
the way there.
You really have to be willingto ask the tough questions to
find out are you going the samedirection?

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
Because it could just be cold and they want to get
into a car or you know they needmoney.

Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
So they've got their resume out there and they can
fog a mirror and they seempleasant and addressed.
Okay, so, all right, we got youon board here.
But really what you got to askis, where are they trying to get
to?
And for me, the reason that'sso valuable is somebody can
interview really well and I'd belike, oh my gosh, I'd love to
have them.
But if they're not going thesame direction that I'm going,

(01:04:34):
it doesn't make any sense.
So if they get in because theyneed a job and they were dressed
appropriately and I bring themon board, but I didn't ask the
right questions in order to findout that they're wanting to go
to Alaska and I'm going toTennessee the further we drive,
the more aggravated they getthey.
I see it as them beingungrateful because I've given

(01:04:57):
them a job, and so there's thistension that builds and nobody's
happy, right.
But if, if I really askedenough questions to find out
that, okay, they're going toTexas, I'm going to Tennessee,
okay, it makes sense for us toride together, yeah.
They're going to get some skills.
They're going to they'regetting benefit along the way,
sure, but it also gives us anappropriate kind of separation

(01:05:22):
point, so that I'm not under anyfalse pretenses.
They're going to be here withme forever, right, and?
And they're not either.
They're getting ready for we'recoming up.
We see the exit numbers.
Okay, well, we're getting closeto where you're going to get
off here, and and everybody wins.
But so often, um, they're justtrying to get somebody on the
books, or they're, oh, and seemgreat.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
Great, but did you dive in far enough to figure out
how they win other than thepaycheck?
It's more than just a warm body.
That you know I can, you know Ican.
This guy I can.
I can pay him $9 an hour.
But this guy here, you know I'm, I'm gonna have to pay him 11.
So I'm gonna go with a $9,.
You know, even though he was,he's wanting to go to Utah
instead of Texas.
Right, that's right, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
Well, and I see in your business, it could be that
somebody is trying to learn theskill of interacting with people
, right, you know, or whateverthat is Like.
How do we you're trying to goto?
What are you going to collegefor?
What do you want to do in lifewhich I get for a 16-year-old?
that's a tough question toanswer right, but then paint the

(01:06:25):
picture, for well, here's how Ican help.
Yeah, if we decide that it's agood fit, well, these are the
things you're going to learnhere at golly geez, yeah, and
that way they're.
They're kind of checking thoseoff the box Like, oh, I'm
learning these things.
It's not like I'm just showingup and dipping ice cream, right,
sure, um, but so many timesbusiness owners get that wrong
because they're in a panic ofgetting somebody on now or, and

(01:06:45):
then they end up having to firethem, or they just worse than
that.
They let them stay there.

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
And there was a time, there was a time right after
COVID, where it almost got tothe point where we had to almost
take what we could get.
But unfortunately, I think thatwas the way with everybody, for
in that 2021 kind of maybeearly 2022.
Things have loosened up fromthere substantially now, sure,

(01:07:15):
but there was a time where Imean, we just couldn't get
people, like we were in dangerof not being able to fulfill
shifts, and I was working thefloor, I was you know that kind
of thing which I hadn't done foryears, and and just because we
couldn't couldn't find people.
So, um, fortunately we're in aspace where we can.
Now that we can, we can be waymore particular about about who
we hire and that.
That.
That changes.

(01:07:35):
That changes our business forsure.
Oh, it really does, absolutelyyeah.
But that, that's a great analogythough.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
Great analogy.
You know we have to haveinterests outside of work, we
have to have hobbies.
I hear you're into cars.

Speaker 2 (01:07:52):
Yeah, I love old cars .
I have a couple myself, my dad,something my dad and I have
done all of our lives.
As long as I remember, my dad'salways been into street rides
which are old, modified carspre-1948.
So he has a 1940 Chevyconvertible, which is beautiful.

(01:08:15):
I've got a 1970 Roadrunner thatI'm caring for someone but I
get to drive it Um.
And then I've got a 1947, uh,uh, 1947 Ford coupe as well,
that kind of a hot rod.
You know that's got a big motorin it but it doesn't look great
.
You know it's fun though, uh.

(01:08:37):
So we go to the car shows andwe just it's something me and my
dad have been able to do foragain all of our lives.
And you know, I've, I've, I'vegot a great camaraderie amongst,
amongst some of those car guys.
That again it's something, justsomething I love to do with him
.
And and through his love for it,it's become a love for me too.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
And that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:08:55):
Yeah, it's great, I love doing that.
Um so, yeah, that's fun Big.
That's fun Big, big, big.
One of my hobbies.

Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
Yeah, yeah, I'll have to introduce you to my dad,
because he is usually at those.
In fact, mom, mom just recentlytold him the garages are full,
oh yeah, nice.
He's got 14 bays and it's nowmaxed out.
He added a.
In fact, we went up toCincinnati to pick it up.
He added a 68 Chevelleconvertible oh nice, just to

(01:09:27):
pick it up.
He added a 68 chevelleconvertible.
Oh nice, uh, just, I guessseptember 396, oh yeah, yeah, um
, and it's, it's fantastic.
And then just recently, in fact, uh, young ladies, uh podcast
that released last week, um bbprint co up in, uh,
hendersonville, did some justamazing graphics on the side of
this car.
So he wanted some stripes, buthe didn't want regular stripes.
And as we were talking throughit, I said you know, what do you

(01:09:49):
?
What do you envision?
He goes I envision there beinga flag in it, but you can't see
it as you get right up on it.
And I took it to a place inClarksville and they just they
could not fulfill the request.

Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
I couldn't get the vision yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:02):
And when I started talking to Amber and Anthony up
at BB Print Co, they blew mymind.
They were like, well, what ifwe just did it embossed?
And I was like what do you mean?
And they were like what if youcouldn't see it until you got up
on it?
Because it was actually raised.
Oh wow, and I couldn't even getthat in my head.
I was trying to figure that out, and so they made a sample for

(01:10:25):
me and I took it and within ahalf of a second my dad was like
, yes, that that was it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
Yeah, what did he put it on what car?

Speaker 1 (01:10:33):
Uh, so it's on the 68 .

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
Oh, it was on the 68.
Yeah, so it's a red red 68 andit's got.

Speaker 1 (01:10:45):
I want to see it.
I'll show you a picture of it.
Um, but it's got.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
Uh, these black uh stripes on it that have the
american flag.

Speaker 1 (01:10:49):
How cool.
Into it.
So it's.

Speaker 2 (01:10:50):
It's crazy I want to see it.
Yeah, I'm sure.
I'm sure I've ran into him upat cruising, grooving or
something like that, you know,because we're wearing a lot of
those things.

Speaker 1 (01:10:57):
So yeah so uh, but yeah, they're.
You know they're kind of thesame.
It's.
You know a lot of a lot of ourmilitary veterans and yeah, so
you know they're a lot of more40s.
Dad's really more in the 50s.
He does have a 48 ford pickup,yeah, um, but then, uh, he's got
350 and he's got a 55 chevy and57 chevy and then a 57 nomad

(01:11:22):
nice, nice so it's fun.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
It is fun, oh, I love it, and I love to go on cruises
and we go to Louisville everyyear to the Street Ride
Nationals.
That's one of my favorite timesof the year to spend with my
dad and some of his friends.
We just have a blast.
So, again, that's something Ilove.
Yeah, if you're tinkering.

Speaker 1 (01:11:41):
Do you know, Jeremy Jensen?
I don't think so.
He's the snap-on guy there.
He lives off Boat Factoryactually, oh okay, and he and
his dad both race quarter mile.

Speaker 2 (01:11:52):
Oh, do they Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:11:54):
So they're big in that race scene, yeah, but
they've got some fun stuff too.
I bet I'll have to introducey'all.
Yeah, absolutely we need to.
Uh, well, you know this lastpart, we have a little bit of
controversy and so I'm nottrying to get anybody canceled
here, but what is the truth thatyou think is worth saying that?

(01:12:15):
Uh, we, we call this sectionthings we think, but do not say.
things we think but do not saysay and so like for me, um, one
of mine is performance mattersand we should be keeping score.
I mean us not.
Keeping score does our children, does everybody around us a
disservice, because somebody isgoing to win and somebody is
going to lose.
And if you're teaching thatwe're just here to play and

(01:12:37):
don't get me wrong, I'm notsaying there's not- a space for
that.

Speaker 2 (01:12:38):
No participation trophies, no participation
trophies.
I agree completely.

Speaker 1 (01:12:43):
Yeah, so what's something in your world where
you're like you know what.
Somebody needs to hear this.

Speaker 2 (01:12:55):
Man, that's hard, that, as much as I love my
business and as much as men thatwere driven to perform and to
succeed, it's not the mostimportant thing, absolutely Um

(01:13:16):
can't lose sight for what you'reworking, yeah absolutely.
I mean cause, cause it.
That's, that's not the why youknow it's, it's, it's what
drives us, but it's really the.
The driver is what we're doingit for and that, and for me it's
it's it's my girls, it's myfamily, um, and that I'm never

(01:13:36):
going to work.
I'm just letting my response my, my, my personality is I'm
never going to be the guy thatworks 70 hours a week.
It's just not worth it to me.
Yeah, I would much rather spendtime with my girls, watching
them grow up and um, and yes, Icould probably make more money

(01:13:57):
if I spent more time in theoffice or in the lab or all
those things.
But it's just, it's just notthose.
That's not, it's not the mostimportant thing to me.

Speaker 1 (01:14:07):
That's right.
Well, especially raising kids,you know, um, you're not going
to get that time back.
You don't get it back.
And I think, I think,statistically, parents are
around their kids.
It's almost like 16 of the 18years they're in your presence,

(01:14:30):
and then from 18 to the end oftheir life, it's an equivalent
of one year, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:14:36):
That's hard man.
It's gut-wrenching to thinkabout.
Yeah, absolutely so.
Yeah, I mean, like I said, Ithink, if I mean, and there's
those guys out there and I'mjust not one of them, the CEO
types that have to be super,super driven and work is the
primo part of their life, andthey get rewarded with that,

(01:15:01):
with a certain sense of success,but for me, um, that that's not
me.
I'd, I'd, I'd much rather um,enjoy my life and and do a do as
well of a job as I can, movingmy company forward while
maintaining that balance.
Yeah, yeah.
So I don't know if that reallydoes.

(01:15:23):
Is that kind of what you werelooking for there?
But that was the thing thatfirst came to mind.

Speaker 1 (01:15:27):
Well, you know, I was that person you know if we
backed up uh 2015, 2016, 27,especially 17, especially when.
I was working 70 hours a week.
Um, you know, 2019, I wasworking 70 hours a week and
building a house.
2019, I was working 70 hours aweek and building a house.
I was working 110 hours a week.
Yeah, for sure.
So then I decided I didn't wantto do that anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:15:52):
It was our reality.

Speaker 1 (01:15:53):
yeah, yeah absolutely so there's something to be said
for understanding why it isthat you go to work every day.
And it's easy, it is real easyto lean in on the numbers in the
bank account and say that's whyI'm successful.
But at the end of the day, yoursuccess is going to be measured
by what life experience you hadand you know how you obviously,
how you provided for yourfamily.

(01:16:13):
But yeah, you know, once theneeds are met, then it's about
the time that you've spentcreating memories for sure,
absolutely, absolutely.
Um, if we were going to throw auh charity bowling event and
you had to pick four teammembers to join you on the lanes
and the whole point was togenerate it buzz and interest,

(01:16:37):
and these people could be peopleyou know they can be people
throughout history that haveeither lived in or no longer
living anybody on this planet orthat ever was on this planet,
um, could be on your team.
That's a loaded one, it is.
It is four, four people, fourpeople, and we've had all kinds
of crazy things I mean um.
Yes, there's nothing is offlimits.

Speaker 2 (01:17:00):
Okay, um, um wow, um, you know.
I mean, I guess if we seekingto, to to win the tournament
here, are we going to win thebowling term.
I guess that's the goal Plusthe, the notoriety and the
exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:17:16):
It's a combination of winning and the notoriety.
I'm gonna go ahead and put Godon my side, so I'm gonna.

Speaker 2 (01:17:25):
I'm on my side, so I'm gonna.
I'm, you know, big jc, we'regonna, we're gonna have.
I think I think my man, jesus,would be a, a, uh, a pretty good
bowler.
He'd, that's right.
Probably break some of your,your backwards bowling records,
if you know if you tried, youknow but no, you know, for all
that to say, I mean my, my faithis a very important part of I.
I can't I can't put it make ananswer like that without you
know my belief in Jesus as myLord and Savior.

(01:17:48):
And so Jesus is riding with mewherever it is, whatever.
Whatever team I'm on, soobviously that's my number one,
you know.
I mean, I think for just kindof notoriety, and you know a of
celebrity and and pop.
Yeah, you got to put donald jtrump on that team.

(01:18:08):
I mean, I mean just like him orhate him.
He's going to bring the, he'sgoing to bring the views, he's
going to make sure that, uh,that the, the team is being
pushed forward and uh, and we'regoing to be winners.
You know that it.

Speaker 1 (01:18:20):
It's going to be fun too.

Speaker 2 (01:18:21):
It's going to be fun for sure, for sure, gosh, man
Gosh, that's a tough one outsideof that.

Speaker 1 (01:18:32):
Somebody you'd like to hang out with.
You're just like man.
I think it'd be cool to hangout with that person.

Speaker 2 (01:18:36):
Yeah, somebody that I haven't hung out with that I
think it would be good to tohang out with.
Maybe um, I don't know JoeRogan, maybe, yeah, yeah, he's
on my list, like if.
I was, I mean I think I think,joe, I mean just the, just the
how curious that guy is, thequestions he asked, how I mean I

(01:18:57):
, I I really admire, admire himand his ability to just kind of
balance and ask great questionsand obviously do what we're
doing now on a, on a, on a justa super successful basis and uh,
and I love his interests he's,he's not afraid of of anything.
So you know, we can talk aboutaliens one minute and then you

(01:19:20):
know comedy or or you know MMAor something like that the next
breath.
So I think that'd be a funconversation and get somebody to
at least be help beentertaining while we're, while
we're bowling, um, and then youknow, probably gosh, um, I would
say I don't know, I think maybelike Nate Bregazzi, or somebody

(01:19:45):
like that, nate Biggin.
Nobody said Nate Biggin, yeah,theo Vaughn or somebody like
that, to kind of give us alittle bit of fun on the back
end, to kind of keep usentertained the whole time.
I think that would be fun.

Speaker 1 (01:19:56):
All right, last one is now.
You've got to pick acommentator who's going to give
the play-by-play to keepeverybody fired up.
I guess I'm going to have to gowith Jim Nance.
This is the Master's Week.

Speaker 2 (01:20:08):
Jim Nance, you know we could.
I don't know if he'd firepeople up, but he would bring a
level of class that wedefinitely would need with that
bunch.
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:20:18):
I love it.
That's cool.
What's a piece of advice you'dgive to somebody right now that
maybe is thinking about startinga business?
Maybe they've done a little bitof planning, maybe they've got
the brand kind of figured out,but, man, they are shaking in
their boots about actuallypulling the trigger and stepping
out on their own, leaving theirnine to five or whatever that

(01:20:41):
looks like.

Speaker 2 (01:20:44):
I would say just make sure you believe in your vision
.
Know your vision well and don'tbe afraid of your vision.
Don't let people talk you outof your vision.
Know your vision and thenpursue that vision with, with
tenacity.
Um, and because you have toprotect that vision as well, um,

(01:21:04):
and make sure that that yousurround yourself with people
that are going to help you,protect that and push you, push
you forward, encourage you.
I mean, encouragement is such ait's such a big thing.
Um, because, like you said,there's so many naysayers, like

(01:21:24):
when, when you heard that wewere opening an ice cream shop
in the middle of a rural town incheatham county, you probably
like I don't know how that'sgoing to work out.

Speaker 1 (01:21:32):
There's a lot of that for me, honestly, it was the
building, yeah, which I thinkhas worked out great for you
guys.
Oh, it has, yeah, but in in myhead, you know, because several
other people were like oh, we'regoing to open a shop there,
we're going to do burgers, we'regoing to do this, we're going
to do that, and it just nobodyever brought it to fruition.
So, really in the back of myhead I was like, oh, it's just
somebody else popping off, andthen you guys have just

(01:21:55):
absolutely crushed it.

Speaker 2 (01:21:56):
Well and again, having people that believe, that
can catch your vision andbelieve you and support you.
A support structure is the mostimportant part, and what that
looks like from one person thenext can can be vastly different
.
It could be monetarily, itcould be just emotionally, it
could be, or all the above, yeah, and, and having that support.

(01:22:19):
I can't imagine going into anew business environment,
starting something new, withouta really substantial support
system.
Uh, as a part of that, findingpeople within that industry that
are, that are not greedy, thatare not selfish, that are that
are they just want to see peopledo well because people have

(01:22:41):
done the same thing to them.
Yeah, and those people existout there in every industry,
maybe some more than others.
Sure, in my particular industrythat again, like I said, that
that's been, that's been aprevailing resource throughout
my nine years that we've donethis yeah and uh, find those
people.
Join the, those tradeorganizations, get involved and

(01:23:02):
learn what you as much as youcan early on, and some of it you
just can't learn, you just haveto experience.
Sure.

Speaker 1 (01:23:09):
Well, you know, one of the things that I think that
business owners I mean, it'sjust one of those things you
need to realize is, as you'rebringing on team members, what
that ideal team member lookslike.
Cause, let's just be real, thesame person that works at a call
center and can deal withrejection 500 times a day, or

(01:23:30):
goes uh is is in collections.
Yeah.
It's not the same person thatserves ice cream.
It's not the same person.
Now.
Or cupcakes that make.
That is there to make peoplefeel good about this environment
, where they decided to stop totreat themselves.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:23:45):
Yeah, absolutely, you have that.
That's part of your vision,right, as you're developing that
.
I mean, that's the.
When you decide that you wantto go into business, the very
first thing that you should dois have a vision for what that
looks like.
Yeah, and that vision maychange over time.
It has.
For me, you know, it's beenforced to in some ways, but for
the most part it's stayed thesame.

(01:24:08):
I mean, it's evolved, but forthe most part to the core, those
core values, those things.
It shapes the business.
And so having that vision is apart of that vision.
Knowing what does what does itlook?
What does the customerexperience look like?
Yeah, how do I get there?

(01:24:30):
How does that?
How do I hire what person do Ineed?
What personality profile, whatyou know, even, what, what
should they?
How are they dressed?
All those things, all thosethings.
The sky's the limit.
You can think those things up.
We have imaginations and that'show we we develop these visions
.
And and what would it look like?
What would, what would it looklike for you if you were to walk

(01:24:52):
into that ice cream shop?
What?
Who would you want to serve you?
How would you want to betreated?
Those are the things that youask as you develop that vision
and and come up with that.
Okay, this is the idealcandidate for somebody that
scooping ice cream for me.

Speaker 1 (01:25:07):
So yeah, cool, all right.
So somebody out there is isplanning a trip to Nashville,
and I did not tee you up forthis one, so come out left field
.
So somebody is planning a tripto Nashville and they want to
know where they need to go forthe best burger, the best taco.
Obviously, they're going toGala G's for the best ice cream.

(01:25:29):
What would you say is say bestburger Nashville.

Speaker 2 (01:25:35):
In Nashville man, I tell you that Redheaded Stranger
has a green chili burger.
Red Headed Stranger has a greenchili burger.
That is not necessarily yourtraditional cheeseburger that
you get at a lot of places.
They've got some great burgersright.

(01:25:59):
But man, that burger Redhead,stranger, it's got a homemade
green chili on it.
It's just a really unique butextremely delicious burger.
Best taco, taco, taco.
There's a I don't even know thename of it.
I don't even know the name ofit.

(01:26:19):
There's a?
Um, there's a food trucktrailer right outside of of um.
There's a gosh, what's the nameof it?
There's a Tiki bar right inEast Nashville.
Um, there's a.
Again, I'll have to.
I'll have to look that night.
What, what that is.

Speaker 1 (01:26:38):
The name of it is uh, but they have a pop the name of
it in the video.

Speaker 2 (01:26:41):
They have a case of Berea, okay, it, the name of it
is uh, but they have a pop thename of it in the video.
They have quesabria, okay, thatis, I mean, true, traditional
quesabria, um, with the consommeand um, it's, it's it.
And I shout out to don again.
Don, put me on this place, it'sit's, it's one of my faves.
Redhead stranger also has areally good uh, taco as well.
Uh, believe it or not, but yeah, I think, just on the spot,

(01:27:08):
taco Mamacita has a great steaktaco.
I enjoy the tacos at Superica,so there's a lot of great
options out there.
I do love tacos.
Okay, best barbecue.
Oh, yeah, this is a passion formine.
Okay, all right.
Yeah, I love burgers.
I love tacos.
This, this is a passion formine.
Okay, all right.
Yeah, I love burgers, I lovetacos, but, but barbecue is a
passion of mine.
In nashville, I I feel likethat martin's in belmont okay

(01:27:38):
that it's.
I don't know if it's theircooker, but their brisket in
particular at that location isprobably one of my favorite in
Nashville.
I do like you know there's somepretty good.
I do like Kerry Bringle's placeover in the Nations, Smoking

(01:28:02):
Oasis it's good as well.
It's one of my faves.
Um uh, there's a place inspringfield that's really good
called willie mays now theirownership group changed.

Speaker 1 (01:28:11):
It has um, and I noticed their flavor changed
they it, it has, it's not again.

Speaker 2 (01:28:18):
I want to be careful because, I, I love, I love.
It's still good, I love thatplace it it is, and they've
worked through some changes.
Okay, I feel like, if you, ifyou haven't been there recently,
it's it went to a time where itkind of dipped down as they
were changing some processes,the cooker and and maybe even
modified some recipes.
I think it's it's getting backup to where it was.

Speaker 1 (01:28:38):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:28:50):
I need to go back by there.
Actually you don, and I don'tneed.
We need to swing by there,absolutely we'll do that.
Um, what about a southern, justa good southern flair?
Yeah, what's a what's a goodone, for I mean, you can't, you
can't, you can't go wrong withloveless.
That's good.
Yeah, I say, you know, I'mactually gonna go have hot
chicken here in a minute I wasgonna ask you hot chicken, so
which, which, which one?
well, the original princess,which can't beat that.
It's right down the road herenow, but the original one that
was over on ewing lane was, Imean, it can't be replicated,

(01:29:12):
even this one here.
I mean it's good sometimes yougotta.
It depends on who's cooking itand when you catch it, and that
kind of thing I heard they'renot using the cast iron.

Speaker 1 (01:29:21):
That's right.
That's that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:29:22):
Yeah, so that that changes things for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:29:23):
And I understand that .

Speaker 2 (01:29:24):
Sure, I mean yeah, yeah, but uh, for just like if I
was just going to tell somebodyhey, go have a great consistent
experience, go to Hattie B'sright there on right there on

(01:29:45):
detail, they do.

Speaker 1 (01:29:45):
They've got the best processes.
Yes, um, consistency is so.
Do they have the best flavor?
I still prefer, princess, yes,flavor.
Are you?
Uh?
Are you hot or man?
I'm a mild.
Are you a mild?
You know, I would rather.
For me, it's not as much aboutthe heat as it is enjoying it.
And, and to be just totallytransparent, I don't like to
touch food with my hands.
Yeah, but I will for hotchicken, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:30:03):
Yeah, you got bone in .
I guess Bone in you got to gobone in, yeah.
So, yeah, I'm, I'm at atPrince's, I'm, I'm a medium at
um at Hattie B's.
I'm hot, yeah, yeah.
So, but yeah, I do like Boltons.
I've only had Boltons a coupleof times, but I mean, I don't

(01:30:28):
know, I like the flavor profilea little bit more in Hattie.
B's and Prince's.
But I mean, yeah, I love goodfried chicken.
Yeah, especially with theNashville Flayer, that hot.

Speaker 1 (01:30:43):
And there's plenty of bad ones.
So, if we're as we're, talkingabout these, three.
I mean, we're talking about thecream of the crop.
You know, I think some awfulones.

Speaker 2 (01:30:50):
There's so much, so much out there that's labeled
hot chicken Nashville hotchicken, which is not even close
.
It should be a crime, it should.
There's a, there's a place.

Speaker 1 (01:31:08):
Is it?
There's a place is it calledreds or something, over in uh
centennial park now it used tobe.

Speaker 2 (01:31:10):
I I'm just wondering if that place is good.
I just drove by it.

Speaker 1 (01:31:11):
You talk about the one that's on that like the edge
of central park, I mean of, uh,yeah, it used to be a barbecue
place, yeah, um, if it's thesame one that's been there for
five or six years, we ate overthere right after they opened,
really, and I will the.
The chicken was good, but theshowstopper was, and I had to
quit going because it was toogood.
Was their fruit tea?
Oh, I'm a fan.
I mean, it was one of thosethat just you couldn't stop

(01:31:33):
drinking it.

Speaker 2 (01:31:34):
Yeah, so much sugar in it, oh my gosh, it was
fantastic.

Speaker 1 (01:31:39):
Well, Joey, thank you so much for coming in having a
spirited conversation with me.
Um, it's been a blast man.
Yeah, yeah, and I got one lastquestion.
It gets a little more serious,but have you put any thought
into how you want to beremembered?

Speaker 2 (01:31:55):
I, uh, yes, I mean, I think every, every person, at
least every man you know thinksabout what's what's their legacy
going to be.
Sure, say, every man you knowthinks about what's what's their
legacy going to?
Be sure, and I, I hope it's notabout ice cream.
I hope maybe people remember Imade good ice cream, but I hope
my legacy is that, um that Iloved well, that I loved my love
, my family well, I loved mykids well, and that I was always

(01:32:19):
a source of um safety andsecurity and love for them, and
that those around me um feltloved and um that I was a kind
person, caring person, Um, thosethings, those things are more
important to me that I, that I,I had a, you know, an impact on
the, on the kingdom of God, thatI, I, I did the things that I

(01:32:44):
was obedient and and and helpingum show people the, the thing
that's changed my heart and andand what Jesus has done for me.
And so those are the thingsthat I think matter, matter most
to me, and hopefully that whenpeople think about who I was,
you know, 50 years from now, umthat those are the things that

(01:33:07):
that come to mind.

Speaker 1 (01:33:09):
Yeah, that's awesome, man.
Well, and I can tell you I meancause this is the first time
we've actually met that we'veactually shook hands, absolutely
.
And uh, but your reputation,you know, precedes you Well
thank you.
You know, people speak veryhighly of us.

Speaker 2 (01:33:22):
Don's a pretty good judge of character, yeah maybe
We'll see he does hang out withboth of us but thanks so much
for coming in.
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:33:32):
And, at the same time , providing such a great place
in our community.

Speaker 2 (01:33:35):
Well, again, it's my pleasure and that means a lot.
It surely means a lot.
You can, you can, measuresuccess in so many ways, but how
your, your community, receivesyou and perceives you and
supports you, says, says a wholelot, and I take that a lot of
pride in that.
So, um, but thank you forsaying that, thank you for
having me.
This has been a great time andwe'll have to do it again

(01:33:57):
sometime, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:33:59):
Well team, you heard it here on the charge forward
podcast.
Join him in the studio.
Mr Joey Boykin of golly cheese,ice cream and wrap them are
containers.
Hopefully you took somethingfrom this episode that either
inspired you to level up yourbusiness or maybe inspired you
to step out on on that, thatidea or that, that thing that

(01:34:21):
you've been wanting to do onyour own or maybe to just shop
locally where somebody like Joeyis serving your community,
providing a great place forpeople to learn and work, and
serving their community withfantastic treats or some type of
other service.
Until next time, I'm Jim Crippswith the Charge Forward Podcast.
We'll see you soon.
Team is Jim Cripps here withthe Charge Forward Podcast.

(01:34:42):
I just want to tell you I loveyou, I appreciate you soon.
People have been through theways that they were able to
improve their life so that youcan take little nuggets from

(01:35:05):
theirs and help improve yourstory and be better tomorrow
than you were today.
I hope that this is the toolyou needed at the right time and
that you find value in theamazing guests that we bring
each and every week.
Thanks so much and don't forgetnew episodes drop every
Thursday.

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