The Ice Cream Man

Brock's ice cream stand in its first location 

Brock got the idea over a year ago that he wanted to run a homemade ice cream stand in Wicker Park. I cannot tell you how much time and effort I initially put into killing this idea in its crib. "How can you keep the ice cream cold enough? Will people want to buy drippy ice cream? Do you realize how much this is going to cost, and how much you'll have to sell it for? Why can't you just do a fancy lemonade like other kids." 

With my obvious opposition, Brock just continued his plans with his classmates, and they were INSANE. By the next time I caught wind of the ice cream stand plan, Brock and two of his friends had an agreement to pool all of their saved-up allowance together, go to home depot, and buy lumber and wheels and hinges to construct a collapsible rolling shed out of which they would serve ice cream. They had building plans and everything. 

I was not about to watch Brock blow a year's allowance on a wooden monstrosity that would take four people and an hour to bring to the park, so I finally realized I had to fully support (and steer) the ice cream stand. I was able to convince Brock that first he should do a test run as cheaply as possible: absolutely no capital investment. What if the ice cream doesn't sell? What if it does sell, but you find out you don't like selling it at all? Would be a shame to build a structure that you can't use for anything else. And why start your business in a completely unnecessary financial hole? Let's just use what mom and dad have lying around. 

Once he realized I was actually trying to help (not stop) his stand, he listened to everything. Well, everything except my recommendation for a crowd-pleasing flavor. Brock was deadset on Szechuan Orange. 

Here he is heating the custard that is full of Szechuan peppercorns and lots and lots of orange zest. 

and chilling in an ice bath afterwards. 

Brock did 99.9% of the work: zested the oranges, crushed the peppercorns, separated all the eggs. The only time I helped was when a hot pan had to be poured into a bowl while whisking. The resulting ice cream was DELICIOUS!!

So here we are at Wicker Park in our first location: just outside the playground. We thought this would be perfect as it's in sight of all the families and kids. 

The first 10 minutes were super slow. Not a soul approached or even looked over. I tried to convince Brock to yell out, "Homemade ice cream for sale!" He looked at me like I was insane. Yell at random people?!?! How could that work? He tried it once. They looked up, smiled, and kept walking. "See Brock. That's the worst thing that can happen. You get smiled at. Try again." He tried a few more times. Still no takers. We decided to switch locations. 

Brock's first customers!

We moved south about 100'. This put us out of view of the playground, but way closer to the main park entrance/exit. Lot's of actual traffic! Ok, these first customers are kind of cheating. That's our backyard neighbors, and I texted them to come buy ice cream. It's still a sale. 

Brock's best friend and business partner Theodore shows up to help out with sales.

And the sales keep coming...

Once we were in the new location, it took Brock and Theodore about an hour to sell out. Brock was now adamant about proper sales strategy. "You just have to yell out 'Homemade Ice Cream' and the people will come buy it!" Everything went swimmingly. His flavor choice was a monster hit, with everyone surprised to hear the flavor and delighted to taste it. With sales and tips, they brought in just over $60 in that hour, with about $20 going back to ingredients and serving supplies. Brock sure knows how to prove me wrong. 

We haven't been back out again yet. Perhaps we packed our summer too full of scheduled activities. But Brock learned a ton about costs and sales and planning that day. And I learned not to be such a naysayer.