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“Be good, be clear, and be current.” That is the mantra of Philip and Sibs Harrell, homeowners of Sundae Scoop, a mom-and-pop ice cream store in Virginia Seashore, Virginia.
Customer support is the primary precedence for these enterprise homeowners. Whether or not chatting with prospects or deciding on and coaching workers, Philip and Sibs concentrate on creating an inviting group area for buddies and households to collect.
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“On the finish of the day, being in the neighborhood is what an ice cream store is about,” Philip mentioned. “We symbolize each tradition that is in our space. That is the place the ube ice cream comes from, or the coquito, or rum raisin. Every a type of [flavors] is gonna reply or contact one thing in somebody that they bear in mind from their childhood.”
Sundae Scoop’s heat and fascinating customer support has earned the enterprise a 4.8-star Yelp score with almost 100 evaluations (on the time of writing). Most reviewers focus on constructive experiences they’ve had interacting with Philip and his pleasant workers, together with Yelp Elite Aneesa P.
Arriving proper after the shop had opened for the day, Aneesa chatted with Philip as she ordered her ice cream. He shared the story of the store, helped her select the proper gluten-free taste, and even helped her snap the proper images and movies to accompany her evaluate.
“I felt like we actually related,” Aneesa mentioned. “He wasn’t identical to ‘This is your ice cream. Go.’ He was like, ‘Hey, I need to let , behind the scenes, the story of how I got here up with this concept.'”
Philip and Sibs see constructive evaluations like Aneesa’s as a key instrument for reinforcing workers morale. When a scooper will get known as out by identify for contributing to a constructive buyer expertise, Philip and Sibs are the primary to allow them to know.
“They’re younger children. They’re very self-conscious,” Sibs mentioned. “So it feels actually good when folks give them their big-ups and identify them.”
Philip and Sibs spend lots of time not solely encouraging present workers but in addition hiring scoopers who will contribute to Sundae Scoop’s hospitable tradition. They ask all job candidates to totally learn the evaluations and be aware of what folks love most in regards to the store. They need to ensure that all new and potential hires are able to ship the peppy, pleasant service Sundae Scoop guarantees.
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As a community-driven area, Sundae Scoop is lively within the Virginia Seashore space, partnering with native colleges and companies on occasions like ice cream socials. Philip and Sibs are additionally dedicated to mentoring fellow small enterprise homeowners, connecting with different companies via group teams and selling them on the partitions of their store. In his three years operating Sundae Scoop, Philip has helped three different companies get off the bottom.
“They took the chance too. They took that leap of religion,” he mentioned. “So if somebody like myself or my spouse can come alongside and assist them on their journey, that is all the higher as a result of it is constructing a stronger group.”
Philip has discovered these relationships particularly essential to domesticate as a Black enterprise proprietor. He speaks to the worry of the unknown that may floor within the Black enterprise proprietor group when you do not know who to show to or what assets are on the market.
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“I at all times encourage folks simply to affix one thing,” he mentioned. “You gotta discover one thing greater than your self. You must discover individuals who appear like you, and it’s important to discover individuals who do not appear like you. And also you want to have the ability to use recommendation from all of them and put it collectively.”
Supporting Black-owned companies was a part of Aneesa’s motivation to go to Sundae Scoop. Being certainly one of a handful of Black ladies in her area, she was in a position to join with Philip over what it is like to achieve success in a white-dominated area. Aneesa careworn the significance of writing evaluations to make sure that nice Black-owned companies do not get closed down on account of an absence of help.
“All of us should help one another, not convey one another down,” she mentioned. “[It’s] actually essential to me to have the ability to let all people know, ‘Hey, we are able to personal all of those areas and in addition achieve success as nicely.'”
Philip and Sibs remind themselves day-after-day of their dedication to being groundbreakers of their group with a mural on the wall of Sundae Scoop. This reimagining of the well-known portray “Beneath the Wave off Kanagawa” represents a line from artist and rapper Tobe Nwigwe’s music “EAT” that reads: “[We] do not simply journey the wave, we create it.'”
“[Sundae Scoop] is our method of making our personal waves, of creating our personal path and ensuring that we’ll be okay,” Philip mentioned. “On the finish of the day, simply be good, help one another, and assist one another the place you’ll be able to, and I can virtually promise you that it is going to come again your method.”
Along with the facility of heat and fascinating customer support, Sundae Scoop believes:
Hearken to the episode under to listen to straight from Philip, Sibs, and Aneesa, and subscribe to Behind the Evaluation for extra from new enterprise homeowners and reviewers each Thursday.
Out there on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pandora, and Soundcloud.
Editorial contributions by Callie Morgan and Kristi Lindahl
