1 00:00:02,470 --> 00:00:07,330 Come join us, explore the impact of small business here in rural Arkansas. 2 00:00:07,330 --> 00:00:12,970 What challenges would you face? Who can help you meet those challenges? How do you get in touch with others like you? 3 00:00:12,970 --> 00:00:18,340 This is Create Bridges, Arkansas. And we invite you to come cross these bridges with us. 4 00:00:18,340 --> 00:00:25,120 You're listening to the latest edition of our Create Bridges podcast series, Arkansas Small Business, Big, Rural Impact. 5 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:32,270 I'm program coordinator Murriel Wiley covering Sevier, Little River, and Howard counties known as our three CS region. 6 00:00:32,270 --> 00:00:34,720 We thank you all for checking out the newest episode. 7 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:42,400 And today we're chatting with our friend Tario Dansby of Angie's Snow Hat, featuring locations and Ashtown and Nashville, Arkansas. 8 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:44,290 Angie Snow Hut is a dessert shop. 9 00:00:44,290 --> 00:00:52,480 They offer shaved ice, delicious smoothies, slushies, rolled ice cream, plus hometown customer service for folks in the local community. 10 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:59,080 This Sweet Place to eat has been operating in southwest Arkansas for more than 20 years and still going strong. 11 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,890 They've got thousands of flavor combinations. They appear at local events. 12 00:01:02,890 --> 00:01:08,140 Plus they've got a social media presence, seasonal hours, and it's a great date night opportunity. 13 00:01:08,140 --> 00:01:14,260 Angie's is an example of how one small business can serve a community in many different ways. 14 00:01:14,260 --> 00:01:18,010 Thank you so much for chatting with us today, Tario. Thank you for having me. 15 00:01:18,010 --> 00:01:21,550 So we know you're a really busy person. You wear a lot of hats for the store. 16 00:01:21,550 --> 00:01:27,130 Plus, we're also wanting to learn more about one of the best smoothie places around in general. 17 00:01:27,130 --> 00:01:32,110 Can you talk to us about your role with this company and how Angie's Snow Hut all began? 18 00:01:32,110 --> 00:01:35,650 Well, Angie Snow has started about 21 years ago. 19 00:01:35,650 --> 00:01:43,840 My mom had a vision when she was a child that she wanted to own her own shaved ice shop and she made it a reality when I was about 13 years old. 20 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:56,080 From that time, I went from being a 13 year old kid to a manager, a worker, a somewhat small business partner, all before I turned 18. 21 00:01:56,080 --> 00:02:00,130 So it's been a very, very unique experience and I wouldn't trade it for the world. 22 00:02:00,130 --> 00:02:05,450 Even at just 13 years old, you were already working in the shop and like a manager role? Most definitely. 23 00:02:05,450 --> 00:02:11,110 We don't have a choice when our parent owns the shop. So let's talk about the locations. 24 00:02:11,110 --> 00:02:18,880 Ya'll have two as I mentioned, you've got the Nashville store right here in Howard County, plus the Ashdown store over in Little River County. 25 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:25,000 Now, no two small towns are going to be exactly alike and just one county line can change the whole vibe. 26 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:31,330 So talk to us about how you manage having two different stores and two totally different customer bases. 27 00:02:31,330 --> 00:02:34,690 Well, Ashdown, of course, is our first location. That's our baby. 28 00:02:34,690 --> 00:02:44,770 That's the one that we kind of do a lot of trying and a lot of experiments in. That location has been serving in that exact spot for a very long time, 29 00:02:44,770 --> 00:02:52,900 almost since we first started. It's kind of a staple in the community. And we actually got placed on the Ashdown-nopoly Board a couple of weeks ago 30 00:02:52,900 --> 00:02:56,710 because we are one the longest serving small businesses there. 31 00:02:56,710 --> 00:03:02,680 As far as the restaurants, that location, though, serves a lot of different challenges, 32 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,400 which is different from our Nashville location, which is a storefront shop. 33 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:10,210 Our Ashdown location is outside. It's a walk up location. 34 00:03:10,210 --> 00:03:15,820 No way to really shelter you from the weather. And that's one of the challenges that we've had. 35 00:03:15,820 --> 00:03:21,880 And with that location. And you'll be able to treat our customers no matter what the weather. When it comes to customer basis 36 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:26,800 that's one thing that me and my mom, which we're business partners, we have went back and forth. 37 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,910 Ashdown has a unique want and Nashville has a unique want. 38 00:03:30,910 --> 00:03:34,040 And it's our job to feel both. When creating a Nashville location, 39 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:40,000 we looked at what Nashville needed and everyone kept telling us, and we need a shaved ice shop. 40 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:47,200 So we tinkered back and forth with the idea. We set our mobile up here a couple of times just to kind of test out the crowd and everything went well. 41 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:52,450 So we went fast forward two years later to now we're here. 42 00:03:52,450 --> 00:03:58,300 This is our second year. Hopefully we'll be here for a very, very, very long time and Ashdown as well. 43 00:03:58,300 --> 00:04:04,600 I do hope that, too, because I'm a customer of Angie's, so I need ya'll to be here for a long time so I can keep coming back. 44 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:07,120 And I love that you noted about the differences. Right. 45 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:12,190 You were hearing different desires from your Nashville customers than you were hearing from Ashdown. 46 00:04:12,190 --> 00:04:18,460 And it sounds like you guys have really paid attention to that. Being in the shaved ice business we try to keep smiles on everyone faces. 47 00:04:18,460 --> 00:04:22,690 This is one of the happiest places you can ever walk into. Everyone comes in with a smile. 48 00:04:22,690 --> 00:04:26,170 We never get bad vibes when it comes to coming in the shaved 49 00:04:26,170 --> 00:04:30,730 ice shop. Everyone comes in smiling, everyone leaves smiling, and we want to keep that going. 50 00:04:30,730 --> 00:04:31,840 That's part of the business. 51 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:38,440 And listening to our customers is the reason why we have as many different selections which we're going to talk about here in just a minute. 52 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:41,080 Yeah, we are. You've got thousands of flavors. 53 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:45,970 Before we move on of that, I have another question that just kind of popped into my head and I was thinking about this. 54 00:04:45,970 --> 00:04:51,310 It's not just the Ashdown and Nashville locations. You guys will do pop ups at community events. 55 00:04:51,310 --> 00:04:56,920 I know for the Fourth of July, you guys came out for one of the events for the holiday in Little River County, didn't you? 56 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:02,060 How do you make that work? To go mobile and move around to different events? Being mobile, 57 00:05:02,060 --> 00:05:09,530 it's a challenge, that's another challenge that we have, because being small business owners, we don't have that many staff. 58 00:05:09,530 --> 00:05:15,800 So when you start to stretch your locations, you're going to need staff to be able to hold those locations. 59 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:20,480 And our mobile is actually the busiest location we have whenever we set it up. 60 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:24,680 Did the event at the Ashdown Junior High at the fireworks show. 61 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:30,590 And I can say the four hours we were there, we had at least 10 people in line for the entire four hours. 62 00:05:30,590 --> 00:05:34,220 And people don't really understand the work behind that. They think 63 00:05:34,220 --> 00:05:40,210 "Oh, you just pop up." You know, it's nothing to it. You know, nothing to get in your building there. 64 00:05:40,210 --> 00:05:47,030 That's actually very, very, very hard thing to do. And I commend anybody who has a food truck that goes and do things like that. 65 00:05:47,030 --> 00:05:51,320 Then I commend ya'll. Obviously, it's hard work. Speaking of hard work, 66 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:59,240 a lot of small business owners and store managers have to juggle multiple responsibilities. From social media updates to hiring staff, 67 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,910 ordering inventory. I just know there's a lot to do. 68 00:06:01,910 --> 00:06:06,230 Plus, sometimes you will get right in there and hop behind the counter and prepare the treats yourself. 69 00:06:06,230 --> 00:06:13,520 What is your personal secret to time management? Everyone who knows me it might not be the best question for me to answer. 70 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:18,260 Do you struggle with time management? I am terrible because I have so many different things going on. 71 00:06:18,260 --> 00:06:24,740 So my only way of keeping everything straight and keeping everything moving is just to keep going. 72 00:06:24,740 --> 00:06:27,680 That's one of the things that I kind of pride myself to be able to do. 73 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:35,640 If it takes 20 hours in a day to get everything done and it just takes 20 hours, it takes thirty two hours and it just takes thirty two hours. 74 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:44,760 That's how it happens sometimes. I've had a lot of mentors that have basically told me that key to success doesn't really involve sleeping. 75 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:47,870 I don't know what to tell you, how you got to get your rest to be successful. 76 00:06:47,870 --> 00:06:52,160 No, I never heard that from anybody because I got to roll with the punches. 77 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:56,300 You never know when things might happen. Things might pop up, 78 00:06:56,300 --> 00:07:03,230 things might change with everything changes to where you have to change your schedule or being flexible and just being able to keep going. 79 00:07:03,230 --> 00:07:13,610 Don't let nothing get you down. Keep going, keep moving forward. It's my only key to time management that I feel like I'm qualified to share. 80 00:07:13,610 --> 00:07:20,720 I respect that. But you said something about 32 hours in a day and I'm just wondering where are you getting these extra hours? 81 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:26,630 Because I only have twenty four hours in the day and I need to sleep, otherwise it's dangerous for the society, honestly. 82 00:07:26,630 --> 00:07:32,990 So you're saying that sometimes you'll just go without sleep? Well, sometimes that's a best deal. 83 00:07:32,990 --> 00:07:37,220 Sometimes like let's say this past weekend I had a event with my nonprofit. 84 00:07:37,220 --> 00:07:40,430 I also had a lot of marketing stuff. I had to get done with both. 85 00:07:40,430 --> 00:07:46,340 I actually have some T-shirts I have to make for my nonprofit, as well as getting my mobile together for the Fourth of July. 86 00:07:46,340 --> 00:07:51,020 So it's Saturday or Sunday. It's kind of a blur, man. You really do it all. 87 00:07:51,020 --> 00:07:54,230 That's incredible. And we are going to talk about your nonprofit here in a moment. 88 00:07:54,230 --> 00:07:59,600 But I'm talking a little bit about how Angie's offers more than just snow cones and smoothies. 89 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:05,210 I know you guys have healthy choices too. Your menu, has many different items and flavor combinations. 90 00:08:05,210 --> 00:08:13,280 And I was wanting you to give the listeners a rundown of what you guys have available and how do you come up with ideas for what makes your menu list? 91 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:19,820 Our last count was sixteen hundred and around eighty different flavor combinations for shaved ice. 92 00:08:19,820 --> 00:08:25,550 With that, we owe all that to our customers. Customers come and give us feedback, give us suggestions. 93 00:08:25,550 --> 00:08:30,260 We go in and we try to figure it out behind behind the scenes and then we'll, you know, 94 00:08:30,260 --> 00:08:34,190 put some new flavors out. Along with our snow cone flavor, shaved ice flavors. 95 00:08:34,190 --> 00:08:39,020 We have specialties, things like homemade ice creams and cookies and cream. 96 00:08:39,020 --> 00:08:43,190 Some of the classic things you get at different places. They come in sundae style. 97 00:08:43,190 --> 00:08:47,660 We try to blend that in with out shaved ice style and give it a different look. 98 00:08:47,660 --> 00:08:54,950 We also added smoothies, health smoothies, as well as what we call cream smoothies, which is a little bit less healthy. 99 00:08:54,950 --> 00:09:00,350 The healthy smoothies is something that I personally was involved in because I'm a smoothie guy. 100 00:09:00,350 --> 00:09:05,240 You know, I own this shop for a long time for us Ashdown, but I still buy. 101 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:10,160 I probably spend fifteen, twenty hours a week at Tropicals, even with me on a smoothie shop. 102 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:17,300 Those smoothies is something that I'm just personally invested in. And no matter where I'm at, I don't wait till I get back home for one. 103 00:09:17,300 --> 00:09:19,250 And I know a lot of people like that too. 104 00:09:19,250 --> 00:09:26,660 So we wanted to add that to the repertoire when parents come in, because we know, Mom, sometimes they're watching this, they're watching that. 105 00:09:26,660 --> 00:09:34,010 We want to give them option, too. So being able to listen to that and knowing that the mom is the one spending the money, not the kids, 106 00:09:34,010 --> 00:09:40,970 and being able to add something to give them to give them a option or something that's very real important to us. 107 00:09:40,970 --> 00:09:43,370 I did notice that you've got something for everyone. 108 00:09:43,370 --> 00:09:49,490 Your menu will include something that's crazy, filled with candy and all these awesome designs and it just looks super cool. 109 00:09:49,490 --> 00:09:55,610 And the kids love those. But then you've got the nutritional facts and the healthy smoothies like the the Auntie G's green juice. 110 00:09:55,610 --> 00:09:59,840 I love that one. And it includes the calories and the sugars with it. 111 00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:02,570 So like you said, you really do have something for everyone. 112 00:10:02,570 --> 00:10:09,770 Yes, ma'am, I went and I kind of modeled that after the smoothie place is now. No one's create new ideas now everything is reused, 113 00:10:09,770 --> 00:10:15,620 everything is you know re-researched and spent, put a little spin to it and make it your own. 114 00:10:15,620 --> 00:10:21,890 And that's one thing that we figured that people wanted. So we tried to bring it to them, along with healthy ice cream. 115 00:10:21,890 --> 00:10:29,150 And we have a flavor of ice cream that is less than 10 carbs and less than 100 calories that we're coming out with very soon. 116 00:10:29,150 --> 00:10:34,850 We've heard people tell us, man, ice cream is good, but it's just too thick sometimes too sweet for me. 117 00:10:34,850 --> 00:10:40,040 I might be on this type of diet, on this type of a cut-back. We want to be able to. We've been in the lab. 118 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:44,300 It's taken us about six months, but I think we finally came up with a good recipe. 119 00:10:44,300 --> 00:10:49,760 I love that you say that I need to get in the ice cream lab. The last time I was in the lab, it was biology class in college. 120 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:55,160 I need to get in the ice cream lab. That's why we call it behind the behind the counter is the lab. 121 00:10:55,160 --> 00:11:01,100 I love that I'm moving on. I know Angie's Show Hut is open seasonal hours. 122 00:11:01,100 --> 00:11:07,400 And it seems like the covid-19 pandemic hit just around the time that the weather was warming up last year. 123 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:09,380 How did COVID affect your business? 124 00:11:09,380 --> 00:11:18,110 And have you guys been able to get back to normal this summer. Well along with everyone else, covid was a huge punch in the gut for us. 125 00:11:18,110 --> 00:11:22,280 We had been open just nine months before covid hit. 126 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:25,970 Everything was going good. And of course, like you said, the weather was changing. 127 00:11:25,970 --> 00:11:29,690 And of course, the winter months is not our best month. And we understand that. 128 00:11:29,690 --> 00:11:37,160 We just getting ready to get open back up and boom, they hit us with covid regulations and guidelines and restrictions. 129 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:41,690 And that really does put a damper on that, not only our business, but our whole area. 130 00:11:41,690 --> 00:11:50,270 As far as this whole shopping center is like a ghost town, this entire shopping center. Now, things have started to somewhat get back on track. 131 00:11:50,270 --> 00:11:53,780 People are doing a lot of traveling, which is when they leave Nashville. 132 00:11:53,780 --> 00:11:58,760 Of course, they're not here to visit our shop, but I think that's going to die down here soon. 133 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:02,630 And things should be getting getting back starting next summer. Yeah. 134 00:12:02,630 --> 00:12:08,960 The further we get away from COVId, the more things go closer back to normal, the more that you guys will experience normalcy, too. 135 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:10,430 I totally believe that. 136 00:12:10,430 --> 00:12:17,240 So in addition to all the hats that you wear for the shop, you're also very active in the community with fitness and youth sports. 137 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:23,840 Can you talk to us about your life outside the store and how you manage to juggle so many different ventures all at once? 138 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:27,410 With my life outside the store is busy. 139 00:12:27,410 --> 00:12:36,530 One thing that I came up with as far as my life about six, seven years ago is to start going back to what drives me, what's my passions. 140 00:12:36,530 --> 00:12:45,050 I've worked in many industries from nuclear power to being an electrician to working with athletes, professional athletes, 141 00:12:45,050 --> 00:12:51,770 with being a football player in college, to there's a lot of different hats I've wore over the years. 142 00:12:51,770 --> 00:12:57,830 And one thing that kept getting me, no matter how much money I made, was waking up and not being happy, you know, 143 00:12:57,830 --> 00:13:04,340 waking up and not wanting to go to work, waking up and not wanting to do something anymore, no matter how much money that was paying me. 144 00:13:04,340 --> 00:13:10,160 So I had to figure out what I really wanted to do. And what I really wanted to do was get back to my community. 145 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:16,430 And coach kids, train kids and help them grow up to get to have a good example in their life. 146 00:13:16,430 --> 00:13:23,450 That, coupled with snow cones, was an excellent combination because, of course, kids and snow cones go together. Down in Ashdown 147 00:13:23,450 --> 00:13:31,340 I started a nonprofit about five years ago to help provide sports activities for kids. That has turned into me 148 00:13:31,340 --> 00:13:38,420 starting out with just one sport - basketball. To now I have five sports and probably over one hundred and twenty kids that I train coach, 149 00:13:38,420 --> 00:13:44,030 mentor in some shape, form or fashion throughout the year. That's going to eventually turn into a trade school, 150 00:13:44,030 --> 00:13:48,380 hopefully. I'm working on a couple of projects and I started in the area to help 151 00:13:48,380 --> 00:13:53,120 provide a good training apparatus for young adults to help get them on the right track. 152 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:55,600 You know, sports is my way of getting them in. 153 00:13:55,600 --> 00:14:01,340 And after I get them in and get them thinking a certain way, that's when I try to push other ideas on their brains. 154 00:14:01,340 --> 00:14:10,520 So just kind of see if we can develop them. I think it's awesome that even after juggling everything you have for the store with inventory or, 155 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:17,390 you know, all the different hiring and staff, and then you also are juggling two locations on top of that. 156 00:14:17,390 --> 00:14:23,240 And you also have this nonprofit, and yet you still just are encouraged to keep going, keep going, keep pushing. 157 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:31,050 So it seems like a theme for Angie's Snow Hut. It is not only balance and juggling multiple things, but it's also perseverance. 158 00:14:31,050 --> 00:14:34,040 Don't don't stop. That's one thing you learn when you play sports. 159 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:37,640 No matter what happens in the middle of play, you have to finish finishing as everything. 160 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:41,780 So as long as you keep going, don't let anything stop you because things are going to happen. 161 00:14:41,780 --> 00:14:47,480 You know, COVID happened. But we didn't close the shop. You know, you might be walking and break and ankle but still got to get to your car, get home. 162 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,990 You know, you got to keep going. Oh, nothing can stop you if you just keep that mindset. 163 00:14:50,990 --> 00:14:54,800 It seems like things that to me are such a big deal are so not for you. 164 00:14:54,800 --> 00:15:00,380 I'm like, this man is going thirty two hours straight and not sleeping, broke his ankle and still walk to the car. 165 00:15:00,380 --> 00:15:03,720 And I'm over here like I got a hangnail. Oh, no. 166 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:12,740 Oh, no, call the ambulance. But I love your perseverance and I think that also factors into my next question here. 167 00:15:12,740 --> 00:15:19,490 I find it notable that you're doing all you do for Angie's Snow Hut and you still maintain your involvement in community workouts, too. 168 00:15:19,490 --> 00:15:24,260 But you're also leading all of these efforts as a known figure in the local black community. 169 00:15:24,260 --> 00:15:30,050 Can you share with us what value that you feel black owned businesses bring to a small town? 170 00:15:30,050 --> 00:15:34,250 I'm going to actually change the small town, to a community, 171 00:15:34,250 --> 00:15:41,600 because towns can sometimes have little borders to it, but communities seem to flow a little better to me. 172 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:50,870 One thing I have noticed with everything going on politically, socially is at the end of the day, we all love each other no matter what. 173 00:15:50,870 --> 00:15:54,140 It's something that brings us all together and whether it be the snow cone shop, 174 00:15:54,140 --> 00:15:59,550 which does it for our 98 percent of the people in our community. Whether it be a sporting event, 175 00:15:59,550 --> 00:16:11,150 whether it be a, you know, coming to congratulate or or to honor someone locally in the community that everyone is touched, touched a lot of people. 176 00:16:11,150 --> 00:16:17,720 It's always something that brings us together. Being the shaved ice shop, the place, the smiles, the place that no one leaves unhappy. 177 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:22,550 It's kind of helped us be a pillar and understanding that it's more important 178 00:16:22,550 --> 00:16:28,010 things out here than fighting more important things than being different. 179 00:16:28,010 --> 00:16:32,780 We all want to come together and I want to have fun and I want to enjoy our time together. 180 00:16:32,780 --> 00:16:39,680 And the shaved ice shop has helped a lot of people do that here lately. It's something that me and my mom and I really noticed and took heed to. 181 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,340 And we want to keep make sure we keep that going. Because I've been here before, 182 00:16:43,340 --> 00:16:50,090 Right? And I've seen everyone from, like you're saying, the mom on the diet with three kids all eating the, you know, the smoothies. 183 00:16:50,090 --> 00:16:56,240 But then you've got the retired couple that's on a date and then you've got the high school friends that are in here after school. 184 00:16:56,240 --> 00:17:01,160 And you also have somebody like me who's just a single, busy working professional. 185 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:05,090 Right. And it doesn't matter what the race of the person coming in. 186 00:17:05,090 --> 00:17:09,020 It doesn't matter that, I mean, it matters that Angie Snow Hut is black owned. 187 00:17:09,020 --> 00:17:15,770 But I think what you're saying is Angie Snow Hut is a place where it doesn't matter what walk of life you come from, 188 00:17:15,770 --> 00:17:17,780 you can just enjoy something delicious, 189 00:17:17,780 --> 00:17:23,940 nutritious, and spend time with your family and get to know the people that own the shop and have a great experience. 190 00:17:23,940 --> 00:17:24,620 Most definitely. 191 00:17:24,620 --> 00:17:32,330 My mom is going to talk to you until you can't talk to you know. She's going to make sure you're comfortable, going to make sure you're happy. 192 00:17:32,330 --> 00:17:36,680 You're going to make sure you leave smiling. So that's kind of the things we make sure we rely on. 193 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:43,340 You mentioned your mom a couple of times. Shout out to her real quick. What is her name? Her name is Marsha Austin. She is Mama Bear. 194 00:17:43,340 --> 00:17:47,990 She is the person with the dream to have the dream that's kept this going. 195 00:17:47,990 --> 00:17:56,310 Even when I go off in college and say I don't want to ever do snow cones ever again, she's the one to kept everything going and and really persevere. 196 00:17:56,310 --> 00:18:02,990 That's my example. And now here you are, speaking of perseverance and continuing to go and push for more, 197 00:18:02,990 --> 00:18:07,610 they say third time's a charm and that might be true with smoothie shops too. A little 198 00:18:07,610 --> 00:18:15,410 birdie told me something about plans for a third location of Angie Snow Hut and possibly a drive through with that, too. 199 00:18:15,410 --> 00:18:21,170 Can you speak on matters or no comment? No press on that right now. We can speak on it to a degree. 200 00:18:21,170 --> 00:18:25,820 Yes, we are looking at expanding. DeQueen is a location that we've talked about. 201 00:18:25,820 --> 00:18:30,710 Camden is also a location. New Boston as well. We think in DeQueen to probably be first. 202 00:18:30,710 --> 00:18:37,520 And we have been experimenting with trying to figure out how to constantly build a food truck that 203 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:43,020 has a drive thru window that's strictly drive through because we understand the convenience of how, 204 00:18:43,020 --> 00:18:48,170 you know, no one really wants to get a car these days. And we understand because we're in the same boat and I feel the exact same way. 205 00:18:48,170 --> 00:18:52,880 So being able to convert a unit that way, which a lot of people have not done, 206 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:56,570 but I think we're going to have to figure it out and have something very special for DeQueen. 207 00:18:56,570 --> 00:19:04,040 So if anybody can do it, Angie's can, because like I said, the theme of this episode seems to just be balance and juggling. 208 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:08,060 So a third location, you probably already have it figured out and it hasn't even opened yet. 209 00:19:08,060 --> 00:19:13,080 Oh, yes, most definitely. Most definitely. It's always on paper everything's down, everything. 210 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:18,470 So I fully respect that. Well, since you guys seem to have it mostly, if not all figured out, 211 00:19:18,470 --> 00:19:25,670 I wanted to know if you have any advice that you could give to someone who has a vision for a specialty food shop or dessert shop like this, 212 00:19:25,670 --> 00:19:32,780 and they want to open a business of their own. Research. When we started this, I can remember when I was young, when I was twelve, 213 00:19:32,780 --> 00:19:37,100 thirteen, before she even bought the business, she went around and we talked. 214 00:19:37,100 --> 00:19:41,000 I never forget going and visiting right before, two weeks before she bought it, 215 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:46,190 going and visiting like eight shaved ice shops just to go and see and get the vibe. 216 00:19:46,190 --> 00:19:51,800 And I can remember my mom doing that very, very vividly. Research is the biggest thing in the food industry. 217 00:19:51,800 --> 00:20:00,320 Also, understanding the business overhead is something that is drastically that will end your business if you don't have it under control. 218 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:11,650 We have both. Situation from our trailer type cabin type style in Ashdown to our store front here to pull up and our mobile unit, 219 00:20:11,650 --> 00:20:19,030 we have three different fashions and I can honestly tell you that they have to be ran totally separately, totally differently. 220 00:20:19,030 --> 00:20:26,410 You can't run one like this the same. So being able to understand and understand your limitations, being able to understand, you know, 221 00:20:26,410 --> 00:20:33,920 what it is you're trying to achieve and then becoming good at it, don't be second to anything when it comes to being good at what you do. 222 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:38,020 And we think we think we're the best shaved ice makers this side of the Mississippi. 223 00:20:38,020 --> 00:20:41,510 But at the same time, we still try to learn every single day. 224 00:20:41,510 --> 00:20:47,960 I still research. We still go to the lab and we put big hours and just trying to figure out new stuff, 225 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:51,280 trying to figure out how this works with this, how this goes with this. 226 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:57,370 So being a constant learner is something I give 100 percent credit to never stop learning. 227 00:20:57,370 --> 00:21:02,560 I don't give up, keep going. Something's bad going to happen, I promise. So I don't go into it thinking it's not. 228 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:10,900 I totally respect it and appreciate it. Is there anything else you would like to add or any other suggestions you have for small businesses out there, 229 00:21:10,900 --> 00:21:15,430 small business owners or store managers who may be listening right now and you just want to tell them, 230 00:21:15,430 --> 00:21:24,910 you know, some advice or just anything you think they should know. But don't let the everyday grind overwhelm you. Of course everyone who started 231 00:21:24,910 --> 00:21:28,420 a business probably started with that way, with their flow chart, 232 00:21:28,420 --> 00:21:30,190 with the CEO being up top. 233 00:21:30,190 --> 00:21:37,780 And then they're going to break down into the CFO and your operations executives and and everyone who fills that out nine times out of ten. 234 00:21:37,780 --> 00:21:42,550 It's only one or two names on that show. It might be twelve boxes, but only one or two names. 235 00:21:42,550 --> 00:21:44,830 It's a lot of different hats that you have to wear. 236 00:21:44,830 --> 00:21:54,760 But if if you develop that plan and if you start knocking those boxes off and replacing those boxes with someone else every single week, 237 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:59,230 month, year, whatever, that timeline you give yourself, everything seems to work out. 238 00:21:59,230 --> 00:22:05,050 One thing that we struggle with is social media. That's one thing that me and my mom are dinosaurs, too. 239 00:22:05,050 --> 00:22:08,260 Even though I'm young, I'm still a dinosaur to social media. 240 00:22:08,260 --> 00:22:14,680 And one thing that we've learned to help us get our name away from that box is incentivise our work is to do it. 241 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:21,010 We have 17, 15, 16, 17, 18 year olds here who are champions in tick tock. 242 00:22:21,010 --> 00:22:26,830 Yeah. And things like that. Get the Young people on it - that's a very smart business tactic. 243 00:22:26,830 --> 00:22:32,200 You've got to figure it out at some point when you're up at three o'clock in the morning trying to make Facebook posts, 244 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:38,890 you realize let's use some of this young talent that we have because young people can do anything if you get them the right tools. 245 00:22:38,890 --> 00:22:43,990 I've learned that through working with kids, I can do anything. They're very, very, very intelligent these days. 246 00:22:43,990 --> 00:22:48,230 So give them parameters, giving them rules to go by and they know how they can get it done for. 247 00:22:48,230 --> 00:22:49,330 So I love it. 248 00:22:49,330 --> 00:22:57,070 And social media may be like a whole nother job, but if anybody can juggle it on top of everything else, I think Angie's Snow Hut can wish me luck. 249 00:22:57,070 --> 00:23:01,780 I wish you good luck with everything. And thank you so much for your time. 250 00:23:01,780 --> 00:23:10,180 We so appreciate you, Tario. And we thank you all for listening to the Create Bridges podcast series, Arkansas Small Business, Big Rural Impact. 251 00:23:10,180 --> 00:23:13,750 That is it for today's episode twice as 252 00:23:13,750 --> 00:23:22,840 Ice. I'm program coordinator Murriel Wiley. For more information about this or any Create Bridges podcast or more about Created Bridges in Arkansas, 253 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:29,140 visit uaex.uada.edu/createbridges. The Create Bridges 254 00:23:29,140 --> 00:23:36,430 Small Business Big Rural Impact podcast is made possible by a Wal-Mart Grant to the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, 255 00:23:36,430 --> 00:23:52,632 Cooperative Extension, Community Professional and Economic Development Unit and White River Now Productions.