Sara Slimp owner of Chunky Dunk, a cookies and milk food truck started in Fayetteville. Sara hadn't planned on going into business for herself but happened across an opportunity to share her love of baking by picking up a 1-year lease on a food truck. She was about to graduate with a master's in social work but decided to not pass up a chance to indulge her love of baking. Surprisingly a milk-and-cookies food truck was just what the food truck world needed in Fayetteville. Within the first two weeks after graduating college she'd made her first $1,400 and two weeks after that she secured a collaboration with Loblolly Creamery. After one year, she is "in the black" financially.
Sally Megel is co-founder of Loblolly Creamery which started in 2011 in Little Rock, making small batches of artisan ice cream. The company has grown from just 8 flavors of ice cream to much more including wholesale ice creams to restaurants, soda syrups, bottled drinks and kumbucha. The recipes use no artifical additives, preservatives or coloring and many of the ingredients are local. Currently a number of Arkansas restaurants carry Loblolly Creamery ice creams on their menus but those craving ice cream can still go straight to the shop on Main Street in Little Rock to get their fix. Saveur Magazine listed two of Loblolly's recipes in their book "Ice Cream Adventures: The Best Ice Cream of the 50 States."
Podcast Links
Chunky Dunk Food Truck – Sara Slimp owner of Chuny Dunk food truck was one of Kerry’s guests.
Loblolly Creamery – Sally Mengel owner of Loblolly Creamery was one of Kerry’s guests.
SCORE – Connects entrepreneurs with mentors to help you build your business with free business advice.
Arkansas Food Permits – Information about permits needed for food establishments in Arkansas
Kerry’s Business Plan advice – Kerry wrote an article for Brave Magazine about how to write a business plan, complete with a template.
Up In Your Business is a Radio Show by FlagandBanner.com
Full Transcript - EPISODE 02 - Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy - Guests: Sara Slimp and Sally Mengel
[INTRODUCTION]
[0:00:03.4] TB: Welcome to Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy. Be sure to stay tuned till the end of the show to hear how you can get a copy of this program and other helpful documents.
Now, it's time for Kerry McCoy to get all up in your business.
[0:00:19.4] KM: Hello, you’re listening to KABF in Little Rock, Arkansas. I’m Kerry McCoy, and it’s time for me to get all up in your business. For the next hour, I will be taking calls, answering questions, and trying my best to give good advice to small business owners and to people who dream of owning their own small business.
You may be asking yourself, “What makes this lady qualified to do this?” I’ll tell you, experience. In a minute, you can call and ask me anything. My experience is deep and wide and my advice is free. Unbelievable. 40 years ago, with just $400, I started Arkansas Flag & Banner. Since then, it’s morphed into flagandbanner.com with sales nearing $4 million. That’s worth saying, again, I started Arkansas Flag & Banner with just $400, and today our sales are almost 4 million.
I started by selling flags door-to-door, then went to telemarketing. Next, mail order and catalog sales. Today, we rely heavily on the internet. In addition over the last 40 years, I’ve navigated flag and banner through two recessions and two wars. When people find out I’m that woman who owns Arkansas Flag & Banner they often say, “Oh, I’ve heard about you,” and begin asking me business advice. I amaze even myself with all the knowledge I’ve gained. If you call me for advice, you will not be given textbook answers or theory, but you will be given candid advice from my real-world experience, so be prepared to hear the truth. It’s not always easy to hear.
For instance, you may not want to hear this; in business, there are very few overnight successes, although the two people sitting with me at the table today were. Starting and owning a business takes persistence, perseverance, and patience. When I started Arkansas Flag & Banner, I supplemented my income by waitressing all while I pedaled my flags door-to-door. After nine years — Did you hear me? Nine years of working a part-time job, the company began to grow and solely support me.
My first hire was a bookkeeper to handle the clerical side of my business. My first expansion was to begin the manufacturing of custom flags, so a sewing department developed. The next decade ushered in desert storm war. Flags were scarce, so a screen printing department was hardly built to make consumer demands.
In addition to sales and manufacturing, Flag & Banner now has a purchasing department, a shipping department, technology department, marketing department, call center, and a retail store, and I spearheaded the development of every one of these department. My experience is deep and wide and my advice is free. Unbelievable!
Before we start taking calls, I want to introduce you to the people at the table. We have Tim Bowen, our technician, who will be taking your calls and pushing the button. Say, “Hey, Tim.”
[0:03:13.0] TB: Hey, Tim.
[0:03:15.3] KM: Very good. We have two guests today; Sara Slimp, who founded the Chunky Dunk Food Truck in Fayetteville, Arkansas; and Sally Mengel, cofounder of Loblolly’s Creamery in Little Rock, Arkansas, and they’ve come bearing gifts only not — I can’t believe y’all didn’t bring many cookies and ice cream.
[0:03:34.1] SM: Sorry.
[0:03:34.9] KM: That’s all right. I wish the listeners could see this ice cream that I could have, but I don’t have. I want to hear about each one of you and how you started your business. Before we do that, cookies and ice cream are a match made in heaven. How did you two meet and join up?
[0:03:52.1] SS: About two weeks in to —
[0:03:53.9] KM: This is Sara Slimp from the Chunky Dunk Food Truck.
[0:03:56.2] SS: Hello. About two weeks in to starting Chunky Dunk, Sally contacted me. I think it was about two weeks or so. We had initially started. I knew I wanted to do ice cream, but it was a little bit too big to take on. Started with cookies and icing sandwiches, which is a little bit sweet and it was still good, but ice cream is definitely the way to go.
When Sally contacted me, we were still pretty small, but definitely that was kind of the first sign of like, “Oh, this will be a thing.” I’ve heard of Loblolly whenever — Actually, I just moved to Little Rock, I’m the pastry chef at The Root Café and every time I would visit Little Rock, I would go to The Root and Loblolly, and it’s interesting now that I work with both.
Sally, not only I got to work with her with the ice cream but also working with her, it was such an encouragement because she is a young female that has started a business that I could learn so much from. It was a great partnership from the start, and I’m very lucky for that.
[0:04:54.2] KM: Sally, how did you hear about Chunky Dunk?
[0:04:55.5] SM: I was starting to deliver ice cream up into Fayetteville and I was looking at who could I partner with that has fun with dessert and would pair well with ice cream. I deliver ice cream to Blackboard groceries, small, kind of like urban grocery store. Really fun. If you’re ever in Fayetteville, go check it out, say hi to Alicia. She told me about Chunky Dunk, and so I reached out to Sara.
[0:05:24.0] KM: Sara worked at Blackboard, didn’t she?
[0:05:24.9] SM: Yeah.
[0:05:25.9] KM: Sara is an opportunist. I’ve known Sara for how many years? Four years?
[0:05:29.5] SS: Four, yeah.
[0:05:31.7] KM: You are a major opportunist. She is always taking advantage of opportunities when she finds —
[0:05:38.0] SM: She’s really good at baking.
[0:05:39.9] SS: Thanks guys. Oh my gosh!
[0:05:43.2] KM: Sara, I read up a little bit about you, because you’re written up in Arkansas Live, and I like how you talk about what your friends used to call you when you’re a kid.
[0:05:51.7] SS: I still do, actually. I was the fat pusher in college, because I lived with a bunch of girls and I would come and I’d be stressed out from school and so I’d make eight desserts in my oven and my roommates would come home and I’d be like, “I really want this, but I made it, so you guys should just eat it,” and I just leave it on their counter. They hated me.
[0:06:14.8] KM: I’ve got to ask Sally about the name. I’ve always wondered since I heard it, Loblolly. Where did you get that name?
[0:06:22.4] SM: Do you know what the state tree is?
[0:06:24.2] KM: No. I feel terrible. I don’t know.
[0:06:26.9] SM: No, it’s like a silly trivia question.
[0:06:28.5] KM: I should know that.
[0:06:29.2] SM: Your son is in horticulture, so you should know this.
[0:06:30.6] KM: I know, right? Oh! Jack, if you’re listening, I’m sorry.
[0:06:34.5] SM: It’s a Loblolly Pine Tree, and so I wanted to — I actually remember I was at V Nails with my friends and I was trying to come up with a name for my ice cream business, and I told my friends, “If anyone can come up with a name, I’ll give you ice cream for life.” I was trying to come up with a name that related to Arkansas, because we tried to use local seasonal ingredients , in Arkansas flavors, southern flavors. I wanted something whimsical and fun and kind of funny to say. We were just looking up Arkansas Stuff, and someone was looking at the state things, what the bird was and what the —
[0:07:11.4] KM: What’s the bird?
[0:07:12.2] SM: Isn’t it the — It starts with an M.
[0:07:14.3] SS: Mocking?
[0:07:14.4] SM: Mockingbird? Okay, yeah. Then apple blossom, I think, is the flower. Diamond —
[0:07:20.3] KM: We know the diamond.
[0:07:21.4] SM: Yes. Yes, we do. Yes.
[0:07:23.9] KM: But that’s because I sell flags and I saw it in the flag, but go ahead.
[0:07:26.1] SM: Yeah, someone said, “Oh! A loblolly pine tree.” I thought loblolly was a fun name. It sounds like you have a mouthful of food when you say it, but it’s kind of a tongue twister. I enjoy people kind of like having a hard time saying it, because it’s just fun. It doesn’t need — It’s not serious. It’s ice cream. It’s not — We’re not making —
[0:07:43.5] KM: You’re not doing brain surgery.
[0:07:44.8] SS: No brain surgery. No aircrafts. No spaceships.
[0:07:48.1] KM: No one really thought about that name when they say it. I never really knew what it meant. Like you said, I just thought, “Boy! That’s a fun name; loblolly.” I could say it.
You decided that you were going to start selling something you love. I think that’s what Sara did. She started selling something she loved.
[0:08:04.2] SS: Yeah. Mine was kind of an accident actually. I was working at the Green Corner Store at the time; and Shelley Green, the owner; and Anita Davis, the landlord got all these period piece fixtures from the store. The store, if you go, has all these old pharmacy and soda fountain fixtures, beautiful pieces which the store used to be a pharmacy from 1906 to 1967. Shelley gave me the opportunity to start a soda fountain. I’ve worked in food service, owned a coffee cart on campus, worked at an ice cream store.
She gave me that opportunity and I wanted to make everything from scratch; the soda syrups and the ice cream, so I started that.
[0:08:41.0] KM: Did you start with a small business incubator in Trinity Cathedral? Was that where you started making? What kitchen did you use?
[0:08:45.2] SS: Yeah, we used Trinity to make our ice cream. That was really nice to have.
[0:08:47.6] KM: I remember that actually.
[0:08:50.2] SS: Yeah, it was a great opportunity. We were with Camp Walker Cheese, a pie company and a soup company at the time.
[0:08:56.5] KM: Aha. I don’t think they’re still doing that though, but that is a great way to use an industrial kitchen to see if you can make it work and to see if it goes.
[0:09:02.7] SS: Oh, yeah. I would definitely recommend it. Cottage laws are great too, baked goods and some jams and jellies that you can just make at home and sell them. Definitely, finding an incubator kitchen, because kitchens are expensive.
[0:09:15.2] KM: That’s right, and you don’t want to invest the money until you find out if you’re good at it. Sara, everybody loves a food truck. When you told me a few years ago you were going to start a food truck, I told you it was a terrible idea.
[0:09:25.3] SS: Oh, everyone did. Everyone did.
[0:09:27.3] SM: No, but in Fayetteville, actually — In Little Rock, it’s a little harder, but in Fayetteville, it seems like — Especially if they have a food truck scene.
[0:09:32.3] KM: She never asked me about it again. I get a postcard in the mail and it’s her jumping off a picnic table with balloons in your hand and it says, “I’ve graduated!”
[0:09:43.0] SS: Yeah, because I was doing my master’s up until — I decided to start the truck about a month or two before I graduated. My opening day was two, three weeks after I graduated with my MSW, which has nothing to do with baking.
[0:09:58.3] KM: No, it doesn’t. What is your degree in?
[0:10:00.6] SS: Social work.
[0:10:01.2] KM: What was your B.A. in?
[0:10:03.0] SS: Religious studies.
[0:10:04.5] KM: Do you think that this is providence?
[0:10:07.8] SS: It’s an interesting — I have a lot of people — When I sent out that postcard as my graduation announcement, and I knew it sounded ridiculous, “Here I am, I just finished my masters. I’m going to start a food truck.” The more I kept going with it, the more — and once I start an idea, I’m finally seeing it through, “That’s what I’ll do when I fix on something.” I’m fine with no help, but there’s always been help. That was a neat thing is that as soon as I told people about this, someone help me started a Go Fund Me. It raised $2,000 in the first day.
[0:10:41.0] KM: Wow! All your friends and family?
[0:10:41.6] SS: Friends and family, and it was just people saying — I felt so much support after that. It was people saying, “Hey, we’re glad you’ve done all these other things, but we know this is something you need to do and this is something you’re good at.”
[0:10:54.2] KM: One thing I did like about the food truck idea — Sorry. You know, that’s me. Was the fact that it as mobile and that I was afraid people would have to move it all the time. It’s hard enough to cook in a kitchen when it’s stationary, but now you’re on a restaurant that’s mobile. You actually ran in a stationary truck.
[0:11:10.5] SS: Yeah. That was the thing that worked out. I was actually at a conference in Little Rock for my MSW program, and I had a friend there and she said, “Hey, I know this is something you joked about, but I know someone that’s going to rent out their food truck and something that our family had happened and they just needed to rent it really quickly.” If you have opportunity renting, it’s so much easier just like you’re saying using a rental kitchen instead of building your own kitchen. It’s going to save you so much money.
I was able to start out just paying — I paid my deposit and had a monthly rent instead of paying, 10, $20,000 to start a food truck when I wouldn’t know if this was even going to work.
[0:11:45.1] SM: Yeah, the nice thing was that you were always at the same spot, which was great, so customers could always find you.
[0:11:50.1] SS: We had a big lot, and so we had picnic tables and we put lights out. It worked with the feel of the truck.
[0:11:55.1] KM: You didn’t have any crime issues being open like that?
[0:11:57.8] SS: We had one break in. Someone bussed the door window, but they didn’t steal anything.
[0:12:01.7] KM: Stole a bunch of cookies?
[0:12:03.1] SS: They stole some soy milk. It was interesting. Really, it actually kind of helped because when that happened, we were on Block, which is similar — It’s very similar from the Main Street in Little Rock, but Block Street in Fayetteville, and there’s like a Block Street community and local businesses reached out to us. We actually got a ton of tips that day, because so many people had heard about it through Facebook, through Instagram.
[0:12:25.9] KM: That’s because you were a social media marketing guru. We’re going to talk about that in a minute. No one really thought it would work, but you were in the Block within one year.
[0:12:34.9] SS: Yes.
[0:12:35.8] KM: When I did my opening thing that it said it takes hard work and it takes a long time, there’s no instant successes, both of you ladies were pretty successful. You seem like you were too, Sally.
[0:12:46.3] SM: I don’t know if I’m — I’m not quite in the Block yet, but I think we just have a good social support and the community is supportive of desserts here, so it’s really helpful to have people eat lots of sugar.
[0:12:46.3] KM: I know people have got questions.
[0:13:01.5] SS: It’s easy to sell and people will like your product.
[0:13:04.9] KM: We probably got questions. You’re listening to Up In Your Business with Kerry McCoy, and my guest today are Sara Slimp from Chunky Dunk Food Truck, and Sally —
[0:13:14.3] SM: Mengel.
[0:13:14.8] KM: Mengel. Thank you, Sally. From Loblolly. What’s the phone number if someone wants to call in and talk to them?
[0:13:20.5] TB: That number is 501-433-0088.
[0:13:24.8] KM: Sally, you went from two employees, because you have a cofounder with you.
[0:13:27.9] SM: Yeah, my mom actually is my —
[0:13:29.5] KM: Oh, it is?
[0:13:30.0] SM: Yeah. The cofounder is Rachel Moore, and she just help me start the business, but now my mom and me own it together.
[0:13:36.3] KM: Oh, I see. Now you have 10 employees.
[0:13:39.7] SM: 13.
[0:13:40.0] KM: 13. Well, your article is a little bit behind.
[0:13:42.8] SM: Yeah, a little outdated.
[0:13:45.4] KM: Talk to me about hiring employees and going from you and the two cofounders.
[0:13:50.1] SM: Right. We’ve been open for about five years. In the beginning, you do everything and you make a lot of mistakes and you learn from it. The biggest mistake that I’ve learned is not asking for help, and if I could go back, I would ask for help more.
Slowly, we hired people. Definitely, investing in a good bookkeeper. When it gets bigger than just yourself is definitely recommended.
[0:14:11.4] KM: Sometimes, business owners will get tied up in the bookkeeping aspect of it. It is actually the easiest part of your business to train.
[0:14:20.2] SM: Yeah, I agree, and making the product, I feel.
[0:14:23.3] KM: Yeah. Are you still making the product?
[0:14:24.9] SM: I’m still churning, yes.
[0:14:26.8] KM: I had a friend that owned a rental car business, and every time I would talk to her, she would be down there invoicing her customers instead of outselling or meeting her customers. She’d be in the back. I mentored her about getting a bookkeeper, and she could never let go of the money. She was like, “Oh, but it’s the money? It’s the money.” It is hard to let go off.
[0:14:46.2] SM: It’s definitely, and it’s hard to let go on various tasks. I had to be trained and weaned by my team to delegate, because that’s really hard. The first thing I delegated was the soda fountain. We have a soda fountain in the Green Corner Store where you can get ice cream and sodas and milkshakes and all sorts of stuff. Yeah, the first thing was hiring a staff to work where so that I could go out and do our wholesales and make deliveries and make sure the kitchen has ice cream and do events.
[0:15:15.3] KM: I want to come back and talk about that in a little bit. Sara, what was the — You did not have employees. You relied on your friends and your family to help you. Did you ever hire anybody? I can’t remember.
[0:15:25.9] SS: I didn’t ever hired anyone. I’ll point out now, in May, I sold part of the business to two lovely ladies in Fayetteville and they are running it for me now; Laura and Torrey. When I talked to them, I found out about job at The Root. Knew I wanted to kind of — We can get back to that, but just knew — I wanted to learn a little bit more before I continued Chunky Dunk, but I wanted to keep going.
The first thing I said when I talked to them was, “You’re going to need employees,” because when I — My last few weekends, I was baking over a thousand cookies a week, I would say, by myself, and I had a part-time job at the time too just to make sure we’re making ends meet. I did rely heavily on friends and family at first, but I know now if I was doing that, still I would definitely hire employees.
At the end, I also hired an accountant, because it did get too big. I don’t have a — Really, just studies in social work. I don’t have a business background, no finance, and so you want to make sure you’re doing it correctly. It’s so important. To me, that was a part I knew I wanted to hire someone for.
[0:16:36.6] KM: When I started my business, I think the concern about the law and the taxes was the most troubling part. I’ll never remember what my mother said to me when I was 20 years old. She said, “Kerry, why don’t you go start your own business?” I said, “Mother, I can’t do that. I don’t know how to pay taxes and do the business side of it; the state laws and the federal laws and the taxes.” She said, “Honey, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” I have used that methodology all of my life; jump in and we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. You can think it to death and never get off the mark.
Sally, you have — Speaking of rules. What are the rules and the hurdles you have to get over for the health department in Little Rock, Arkansas?
[0:17:19.4] SM: Oh, that’s a great question.
[0:17:21.0] KM: Thank you.
[0:17:22.8] SM: If you were making a food item in Little Rock, you definitely have to have a commercial kitchen. Except — I mean, look into Cottage laws. If you’re doing baked goods or some canned things, you can get around it. Commercial kitchen has a grease trap, has —
[0:17:37.1] KM: Do you have to have a grease trap when you’re making ice cream?
[0:17:39.0] SM: Yes.
[0:17:39.7] KM: Really?
[0:17:40.9] SM: Yeah, we cook things. We pour milk down the drain.
[0:17:44.2] KM: I guess that’s greasy.
[0:17:45.0] SM: Yeah, it’s greasy.
[0:17:46.7] KM: That’s why I love it.
[0:17:47.4] SM: Yeah, they care about refrigerator temps. They care about your product being labeled, so you need to look up how to label things.
[0:17:55.9] KM: Did you do all that research online?
[0:17:57.5] SM: Yeah, it’s super easy. The Health Department is super nice. They’ll come out and show you what to do and they’ll talk to you. There are some resources I know in Fayetteville. Yeah, with the Walton Business School, if you’re a UofA graduate, and if you’re not took, I think you can do it sometimes, but you can apply to have kind of like a counseling with a business master student and they’ll work you through a small business process.
[0:18:22.3] KM: You’ve made a product that you could make in your home, that was allowed to be cooked in your home, and you did that specifically so that you didn’t have to have to have a commercial kitchen.
[0:18:30.0] SM: Yes, and it worked out.
[0:18:31.6] SS: Smart. Save money.
[0:18:32.8] KM: I know, right? You baked at home and then carried all your products down to the food truck.
[0:18:37.3] SM: Yeah.
[0:18:38.1] KM: Does that law — Is that Health Department a state-wide law, or is that just in Fayetteville?
[0:18:42.7] SM: No, that’s state. Yeah, Arkansas Health Department.
[0:18:45.4] KM: What made you able to cook in your kitchen? What was it about your product that made you able to —
[0:18:50.4] SM: Baked good. It was baked.
[0:18:52.1] KM: Baked goods can be cooked in —
[0:18:54.6] SM: Yeah, cottage law.
[0:18:55.3] SS: A lot of that started with Farmers Markets. Is that correct?
[0:18:57.9] SM: Yeah, it was written for farmers markets, because farmers were making manna bread, all these people. They did canning items too.
[0:19:07.5] SS: Yeah, it’s for the farmers to be able to sell at the farmers market, but it worked well for us too.
[0:19:11.9] KM: See, our people are good, aren’t they? You’re listening to Up In Your Business with Kerry McCoy, and my guest today are Sara Slimp from Chunky Dunk, and Sally Mengle from Loblolly. If you want to call in and ask them questions —
[0:19:24.3] TB: That number is 501-433-0088.
[0:19:28.4] KM: You moved to Little Rock, Sara.
[0:19:31.3] SS: Yes.
[0:19:32.5] KM: You’re working at the — After you sold your business, which is something I’ve never done. You moved to Little Rock and you’re working at The Root.
[0:19:40.7] SS: Yes.
[0:19:41.6] KM: Before we talk about that, I want to hear a little bit about selling your business. How you figured out how to do it, or did you just shoot from the hip?
[0:19:47.6] SS: A little bit of both.
[0:19:51.1] SM: You weren’t looking to sell.
[0:19:51.7] SS: I wasn’t.
[0:19:53.0] SM: They approached her.
[0:19:53.3] SS: That was the thing. Yeah. Won’t you go ahead?
[0:19:56.1] SM: No. That’s the amazing thing.
[0:19:57.7] KM: You’re going to speak for Sara?
[0:19:58.0] SM: No, I’m not. Sorry.
[0:19:58.3] SS: Yes, please do. Please do.
[0:20:01.0] SM: Go on, Sara. I just wanted to make that point, because it was pretty amazing.
[0:20:06.2] SS: Yeah, I didn’t even think about that. Because I remember calling you and being like — So part of this story is I thought about opening a brick and mortar and found a place. I was so excited about it. It ended up there’s a business there that wouldn’t allow us to be in the building because they sold desserts also.
[0:20:23.4] KM: Conflict of interest. They don’t know like businesses together do better?
[0:20:26.9] SS: That’s what I thought. I remember calling Sally and I was really excited to all of these and I was like, “Would you be interested? Would you guys want to have something like the Green Corner Store where there was a little soda shop?” It was already a soda shop. It was beautiful.
After we were fully in, I was so excited about it and found out that I had the owner show me around, went to startup talking about writing up papers and this other company said, “No, we don’t want them there.”
After that, it was just kind of a — It’s a low blow and I didn’t really recover well from it. I looked around and everything I saw, nothing measured up.
[0:21:04.1] KM: More providence.
[0:21:05.4] SS: Yeah, and it was just — I’m a firm believer of things happen for a reason and I felt like there was a reason that didn’t work out, and that’s when I started talking to Jack and Corry, owners of the Root. Wonderful place, and they — I got offered this job at The Root to do all their baked goods as they’re expanding. I just kind of felt like it would be really good for me to learn more before I continued with Chunky Dunk because we were starting to get — Especially when the students were back in Fayetteville, we were starting at way too much business for me to handle on my own.
[0:21:35.7] KM: What a nice problem to have.
[0:21:37.9] SS: It was good. Like you said, sugar sells.
[0:21:40.6] SM: Yeah.
[0:21:42.7] SS: We used social media, and I think you guys do at Loblolly too, like social media is such a big promotion thing for —
[0:21:48.7] SM: Yeah, and it’s free.
[0:21:49.6] SS: It’s totally free.
[0:21:49.8] SM: It’s like if you’re not using it, you’re missing out on a huge group of people.
[0:21:53.7] SS: You’re losing money.
[0:21:54.8] SM: Yeah, you’re losing money.
[0:21:55.3] SS: Yeah. Especially in Fayetteville, with the school, there’s so many young people there that reach out on social media. All of our promotions were usually Facebook and Instagram. When we decided to — I guess I keep saying we. When I decided to move on, I put out a post saying, “This is what I’m doing.” It was probably too emotional for a business post.
I was pretty sad at leaving but also excited about the potential of doing something new and something to help me grow as a baker. About a week later, I had two customers reach out to me. At first I thought it was kind of a joke.
[0:22:33.9] KM: Reach out to you to buy the business.
[0:22:36.0] SS: To buy, yeah.
[0:22:36.4] KM: Because you said you were moving and shutting it down?
[0:22:39.6] SS: Yes. They’ve reached out and they just said, “Our friend group, we are all just so sad.” First, that’s what they started with and then they said that they were interested in taking over if that was something I was interested in and continuing what I had started.
When you open a business, shooting down for whatever reason, whether it’s to move on to something else, whether it’s because you have to shut down because of finances.
[0:23:04.7] KM: It’s emotional.
[0:23:05.1] SS: It is emotional, and the fact that someone wanted to continue something I had started was a really — That was almost better than any part of it.
[0:23:12.3] KM: Validating you. Sally, you have a very diverse self-distribution. I’ve seen your ice cream in the freezer section at the grocery store. I’ve seen your ice cream at food trucks, like Chunky Dunk. I’ve seen it in restaurants, and I’ve even seen it at the movie theater. I think you have a food truck too, right?
[0:23:32.7] SM: Yeah.
[0:23:33.3] KM: This sounds like a logistic nightmare to me. It’s a perishable product. How do you transport it and how do you restock it?
[0:23:42.4] SM: Great questions. We used to just deliver it in my car with a cooler. I started this because I wanted ice cream at the soda fountain and it turned into a business. I never really thought like, “Okay, I want to go in the food business. What should I make?” If I did, I probably wouldn’t have picked ice cream because it melts, and then when you refreeze it, it’s not the same. It’s not like frozen vegetables where you can kind of get away with through freezing. It’s a beautiful product because you have to focus on it. Ice cream is not like a bag of chips where you can put it in a bowl, walk away, munch on it. You have to focus on the ice cream.
[0:24:20.7] KM: I never thought about that. You’re right. I focus on it every night.
[0:24:26.1] SM: It’s fun. It’s versatile. You can do a lot of flavors. Anyways, for delivery, we now upgraded to a delivery truck. We have a freezer truck, so it keeps it cold upon delivery, which is really lovely.
[0:24:36.3] KM: How did you ever do it without a delivery truck with a freezer? Did you just ran really fast? Just broke on the laws and ran to the stop light?
[0:24:43.1] SM: We had really nice yeti ice. I recommend it. That product is great. Like dry ice, I bought a lot of dry ice.
[0:24:50.0] KM: I got you.
[0:24:50.4] SM: But we didn’t start delivering to Fayetteville until we got the delivery truck.
[0:24:55.2] KM: Now, that’s not true, because Sara borrowed my car one time and took it to Fayetteville, because I have a van and she filled it up with your ice cream and took it to Fayetteville. You probably don’t know that. I was a delivery truck.
[0:25:05.5] SM: Yeah. That’s awesome.
[0:25:07.2] SS: Thank you.
[0:25:08.2] KM: You’re welcome.
[0:25:08.4] SM: That’s because we ran out so quickly because if the ice was so good, we had so many people buy it that we had to come down on a special trip that was on the delivery system.
[0:25:17.1] SS: Yeah.
[0:25:17.5] KM: I love your green tea ice cream.
[0:25:19.3] SM: Oh, thank you.
[0:25:19.8] KM: Of course, I like salt on my ice cream.
[0:25:21.9] SM: Yeah, I do to. Our salted caramel is pretty salty and sweet. It’s good too. Yeah, then restocking the ice cream, it’s just all about — I text mostly to people, because everyone is so busy that it’s not bugging them. They can get back. I text my wholesale customers every week to see if they need product.
[0:25:40.3] KM: Sara, what was the hardest part about a food truck?
[0:25:43.3] SS: That’s, again, space.
[0:25:44.7] SM: Yeah, I was going to say — I’m trying to think of what — I’d say —
[0:25:47.6] KM: What was the biggest surprise about a food truck? How well it went?
[0:25:51.8] SM: I would also say the hardest thing for me was the wall between you and the customer. Every other food service job I’d have and coming off of a degree whereas learning about counseling, you’re really not supposed to have a table in between you. If you’re having a therapy session, you’re not supposed to have a table between you and your client.
A lot of times in the food truck, because I was renting and in couldn’t change away the window worked, I really felt I cannot interact with the customers as must as I wanted too. Luckily, I’d have friends volunteer and I could go out and reach out, but I think that’s so crucial, is making a connection within.
[0:26:27.7] KM: That is a really observant thing to say, and I have actually thought that. I bought something from a food truck today and you’re just like, “No,” and she sticks her hand out the window and kind of waves at you like your food is ready. You’re like, “Who is she talking to?”
[0:26:39.6] SM: We did that. We’d get so busy. Luckily — That’s why I brought my dog. He’s lost 10 pounds since I stopped Chunky Dunk, because everyone gave him so many cookies. That was kind of what he was out there, is because I knew, “Well, I’m so busy, I can’t help, but just have to hand you the cookie, but Chandler will greet you and sit by you while you eat your ice cream.”
[0:27:02.0] KM: Oh. He’s good too. I think that’s another reason your social media did well. Everybody took pictures of Chandler and shared it.
You’re listening to Up In Your Business with Kerry McCoy and my guest Sara Slimp, from the Chunky Dunk Food Truck in Fayetteville, and Sara Mengel from Loblolly Creamery right here in Main Street in Little Rock, Arkansas. You can phone in and ask them questions at —
[0:27:24.3] TB: 501-433-0088.
[0:27:28.2] KM: Sally, you have wholesalers.
[0:27:30.3] SM: Yes, partnerships, collaborators.
[0:27:33.1] KM: Is that what you call them?
[0:27:34.1] SM: Yeah, because I feel like — They’re sharing their space with me, and especially in grocery stores, freezer space is really competitive. There’s not much of it. They’re partnering with us to sell our product. I try to work with them as best as I can.
[0:27:49.6] KM: Do they pay you upfront for your ice cream, or it’s their own consignment?
[0:27:53.2] SM: Upfront, because of the nature of the product. Definitely, upfront.
[0:27:57.7] KM: I wondered about that when I saw at the movie theater, I thought, “Wow! Is it own consignment?”
[0:28:02.4] SM: No. They buy cases of it.
[0:28:03.9] KM: That would be a nightmare, I would think.
[0:28:05.8] SM: Yeah, for food, I would never do consignment. There’s a shelf life.
[0:28:10.1] KM: Yeah.
[0:28:10.1] SM: That seems silly.
[0:28:11.4] KM: This is very ambitious to implement all these different types of distribution.
[0:28:16.3] SM: Yes, sales categories, I guess? Because not only do we do wholesale. We have a retail and we want to expand that, and then we have a solar powered ice cream truck that we do special events and caterings. We do other caterings and just managing.
[0:28:30.3] KM: I can’t believe you only have 13 employees. Really, for all of that. People call me and ask me all the time if I wholesale flags, and I have never figured out how to do that.
[0:28:40.0] SM: You just sell 30% discount to them and —
[0:28:43.6] KM: I offer sales at that discount if you are on my e-blast.
[0:28:46.8] SM: Dempsy only does three.
[0:28:48.3] KM: I guess they could just wholesalers and just buy from the sales that are offered.
[0:28:51.5] SM: Yeah. They just get the discount and they have to order certain amount of flags.
[0:28:58.2] KM: Certain quantities.
[0:28:59.3] SM: Yeah.
[0:29:00.2] KM: Which one of your product placements does the best, or do you like the best that has the least amount of effort in restocking and sales the most?
[0:29:07.9] SM: It depends on what kind of business it is, like Chunk Dunk is definitely one of them. Every other week, they order 30 gallons.
[0:29:15.0] KM: You sell that much ice cream up there?
[0:29:17.1] SM: The thing is when — I feel like y’all are at more places —
[0:29:20.8] SS: It’s crazy. All those sorority girls, they love ice cream and cookies. Love it.
[0:29:25.8] KM: That makes total sense.
[0:29:28.1] SS: She would get herds of them, like 20 at a time. It was crazy.
[0:29:31.9] KM: No wonder social media works so well.
[0:29:33.9] SS: Right.
[0:29:34.3] SM: I like them because of social media. They credit us. They promote us. They know how to compliment Loblolly. Yeah. Oh! You’re the only one right now.
[0:29:43.9] SS: There’s Blackboard and Wholefoods, but for the most part, we had people that would come and specifically to get Loblolly that had just moved from Little Rock or they had just heard that we sold this ice cream that they had growing up or something if they were in Little Rock.
[0:30:00.3] KM: We have a caller.
[0:30:03.0] TB: Caller, you’re on the air.
[0:30:03.9] C1: Yes, I’m on air?
[0:30:05.6] KM: Yes, you are.
[0:30:06.9] C1: Yeah. Who is the host of this show?
[0:30:09.7] KM: Kerry McCoy, Arkansas Flag & Banner.
[0:30:11.4] C1: [inaudible 0:30:11.7]
[0:30:12.2] KM: Yeah.
[0:30:13.3] C1: Kerry, this is [inaudible 0:30:14.3]. Listen, Kerry, I don’t know how, but I’m 73 going on 19.
[0:30:21.9] KM: What? I love this live show. Aha! Okay, good.
[0:30:26.4] C1: I’m 73 and I’m going on 19. In other words, my question is this: am I too young to start a business at 73?
[0:30:34.8] KM: No. I don’t know. You feel like you’re 19. You’re absolutely not too young to start a business. Do you have a business question for me?
[0:30:43.9] C1: Well, I tell you what. I have the entrepreneur spirit because I grew up around it. My parents back in Cross County, not my parents, but my parents’ people they had little restaurants and stuff like that. So I grew up around people that didn’t really believe in punching cards. They owned their own businesses, just selling hamburgers out the window or whatever.
[0:31:07.7] KM: Right.
[0:31:09.0] C1: What I’m saying, one of the reasons why I really want to get into this entrepreneur thing, I want to do it for my grandkids.
[0:31:18.8] KM: That’s a good idea.
[0:31:20.3] C1: I want them to really get the spirit while they’re young, the power of being an entrepreneur.
[0:31:28.3] KM: The independence that comes from being an entrepreneur is I think one of the reasons that —
[0:31:32.2] C1: My question is, my wife, she’s sitting here by me. She’d come to find out, she bought a book from you and believe she said you signed it. No. She’s now correcting me. She said I’m wrong. But you see how young I am, I have my mind slipping. But anyway, she said that she bought one from you when you — A few years back. I used to stay at — I had uncle stayed on 9th and State. I don’t know if you remember that there’s two shut gun houses back in the day, used to be on 9th and State. Do you remember that?
[0:32:07.1] KM: You know, I really don’t. When I bought the building, it did not have those houses, but I’ve seen pictures and I know that the other side of 9th street were all shot gun houses and the side of the street that I’m on were all the businesses, and the people would just walk across the street to the business.
[0:32:23.2] C1: Well, here’s the deal. On 9th and State, there were two shot gun houses, and west of 9th and State, right across from my uncle, it was a club. I forgot the name, Flamingo Club.
[0:32:37.6] KM: Yeah, the Flamingo Club.
[0:32:39.3] C1: Right. Well that building that you’re in, I used to be a big drug store, right?
[0:32:43.7] KM: Gem Pharmacy.
[0:32:43.6] C1: Gem Pharmacy. Was Afro-American, right?
[0:32:47.2] KM: Right.
[0:32:47.4] C1: So you know I’m not just making this stuff up.
[0:32:49.7] KM: No. I know you’re not.
[0:32:51.8] C1: I’m not making this stuff up. But I used to cover here from a vacation back — Actually, I’ve been coming in Little Rock back in the 40s when they had speed cars and what have you.
[0:33:01.1] KM: You need to come to Dancing Into Dreamland and bring your beautiful bride and come to Dancing Into Dreamland on November the 18th and I’ll give you a tour myself of the Taborian Hall and the Dreamland Ballroom. You’re going to love it very much.
[0:33:12.8] C1: You said November 18th?
[0:33:15.0] KM: November the 18th, come on down and I’ll meet with you and give you a tour myself.
[0:33:18.2] C1: Yeah, I ain’t got no tuxedo.
[0:33:20.8] KM: You don’t need a tuxedo. It’s the 21st century. You wear blue jeans anywhere.
[0:33:25.9] C1: I got a black suit though.
[0:33:27.1] KM: That will work just fine. Bring your beautiful bride and come down up to the third floor to the Dreamland Ballroom and we’re going to be having our only fundraiser of the year and I’ll give you a tour. Have you got a question for me, or I’m going to open up this line for the next caller.
[0:33:39.7] C1: I’ll tell you what, I got a question.
[0:33:41.0] KM: All right, shoot baby.
[0:33:42.3] C1: I got a question for you. Listen, what I want to do, I want to know could you get me and my wife come down there because you could say about 10 points on paper how to start a business.
[0:33:55.4] KM: I absolutely will, or you can call me or go to my website and I will work with you personally on it. I can start a business in a heartbeat and give you 10 points.
[0:34:03.7] C1: Thank you ma’am. You don’t know, you have really made my day. I want to say one thing, I’m hanging up. It’s funny, you said November 18th. Don’t you know my birthday is November 16th?
[0:34:13.4] KM: There you go. It’s your birthday present.
[0:34:15.9] C1: Okay, thank you.
[0:34:16.6] KM: You’re welcome, thanks for calling. That was a nice call. 10 points to start your business. I may just put that online. I’m writing that down. That was a good idea. I may do that every time. Sally, you have a very diverse product line. I noticed that you’re selling Kombucha.
[0:34:33.7] SM: We’re not doing that anymore.
[0:34:35.2] KM: Good, because that taste terrible.
[0:34:37.5] SM: Oh. It’s subjective.
[0:34:41.4] KM: They made me drink it. Almost threw up every time, but I know it’s good for you.
[0:34:45.4] SM: Yeah, it’s to a degree, for sure.
[0:34:46.8] KM: But you do bottled sodas and drinks still?
[0:34:49.5] SM: We did. That was when we were really doing the farmers market circuit and we are selling — It was really hot and people wanted a cold drink.
[0:34:58.1] KM: So you streamlined again.
[0:34:59.8] SM: Yeah. We mostly just sell ice cream. That’s our main thing.
[0:35:04.2] KM: I think that’s smart.
[0:35:04.9] SM: Yeah, we do make French macaroons for the soda fountain and wholesale those, and then we do confections in the winter time and more baked goods in the winter time and hot drinking chocolate, that kind of stuff.
[0:35:16.9] KM: Sara, you got no — You moved to Little Rock. You started working for The Root Café, and tonight they’ve got something special going on. Do you want to tell everybody what it is?
[0:35:25.1] SS: Yeah. At The Root, we’ve started — If you haven’t been, we usually serve breakfast and lunch all week, Tuesday through Sunday, and the 2nd and 4th Fridays, we started doing dinners. The 2nd Friday is a ticketed dinner, and 4th Friday is an open table service dinner. We’re doing it tonight from 5 to 8 and we’ll have — The chef, he has made some wonderful — I know, I was just telling Sally there’s this stuffed macaroni dish that I really hope no one buys so I can eat. Yes, that’s all I want for dinner. I’ve made a bunch of desserts. It’s doing pretty fun getting to brand out from — I still made cookies, some cookies for the night.
[0:36:02.7] KM: What are some desserts you make?
[0:36:04.5] SS: For tonight, we have — My one cookie dish is just single cookie with a fresh peach cream on top.
[0:36:10.8] KM: And you didn’t bring me any, again. No.
[0:36:13.6] SS: We’ve got a cheesecake apfelstrudel bar with homemade caramel, a pair black sesame crumble with a green matcha tea ice cream and honey.
[0:36:26.0] KM: It sounds delicious. Jack is coming on to our show in a few weeks and he’s going to talk about all these expansion he’s been doing, because they are really expanding, adding up pastry chef like you is one of the expansions that he’s done. He’s added on a dining room. It sounds like he’s going to dining at night. We’re going to have them on — I think he comes on in four weeks.
I also read, Sally, that you’re always coming up with new flavors. Why? Why can’t you just pick the best ones and stay with those?
[0:36:52.2] SM: I think people expect us to at this point. It makes us different. We’re always changing things up so that people have to kind of look at our Facebook or Instagram or come in and see what’s new. We do a lot of custom flavors for caterings and wholesales, so if someone wants a roasted banana ice cream with toffee, we can do that.
Just last week, we made two custom flavors for a wedding. The bride got to make her flavor. The groom got to make his flavor. Instead of a wedding cake, they had ice cream.
[0:37:21.6] KM: You know, you made a flavor for the Dreamland Ballroom.
[0:37:23.9] SM: Yes, I remember that.
[0:37:25.5] KM: You do. I do too. That’s when I first heard about you. All right, we’ve got another caller. Hey, this is Kerry McCoy, you’re on the air.
[0:37:32.9] A: Hi. My name is Andy. I’m really enjoying this interview. [inaudible 0:37:36.6] doing so great. I love Loblolly.
[0:37:41.6] KM: Thank you. Thank you very much.
[0:37:43.3] SS: Yeah!
[0:37:44.7] A: I haven’t checked out Chunky Dunk, but it sounds wonderful.
[0:37:47.9] SM: Or go to The Root and have some of our baked goods.
[0:37:47.9] A: Oh! Yeah. I’ll have to do that. I’m a small business owner here in Little Rock. I found that the number one issue that give me the most anxiety about business is tax stuff. I’m just totally ignorant about it. I’m very new to this. It’s my second year doing it. I’ve been getting to a point where I think I might hire a professional to help with this. I’m kind of at this point where I don’t even know where to start with that. I don’t know.
[0:38:16.0] KM: Are you talking about paying your sales tax monthly?
[0:38:18.8] A: Oh, no.
[0:38:19.0] KM: Are you talking about paying your income tax at the end of the year?
[0:38:22.0] A: Yeah, the annual file, I hired a CPA.
[0:38:27.4] KM: Are you a sole proprietor or a corporation.
[0:38:29.0] A: I’m a sole proprietor.
[0:38:29.6] KM: That’s the best way.
[0:38:29.6] A: It’s an LLC, but I’m —
[0:38:34.2] KM: Oh, you’re an LLC?
[0:38:35.4] A: Yeah, but it was changed to where I’m the only owner of the LLC. The best information I could find online is that it’s considered a sole proprietorship, but I’m just wasn’t sure — I didn’t know if what kind of resources you all had to kind of connect businesses with — That are small business with.
[0:38:54.4] KM: Send me an email and I’ll hook you up with somebody. I think we’re going to have some tax people on to help, because I think that is a problem of every single solitary small business. I never did mine from day one. I hired somebody, because I’m scared to death.
[0:39:08.5] A: That sounds nice.
[0:39:10.6] KM: I was scared to death of it, and I just found some person that was not with a large company. There wasn’t like five names on the door. I just found a single person through word of mouth. Actually, he was an older gentleman. He was almost retired, and he could do my taxes in an hour. It didn’t cost me very much. He didn’t have a lot of overhead, and that’s what I would recommend. I’m scared to do my own taxes too.
[0:39:35.5] SM: I would say, too, this part I went to the state and I took it up with them and said, “There’s a lot of people that will come and help you, so if you call up and say, “I’m a small business. I’m reaching out to my local government to see if there’s someone that can work with me on this.” I had someone come out and he actually — His wife was a small business owner, and that’s how he got in to working on state taxes. That was really helpful in that area. Then I went to do my yearly giant number that’s so terrifying for someone that isn’t in finances, I found someone that was through the U of A, and I’m sure you could probably do it through Uler too that is graduating.
[0:40:15.7] KM: You called the State of Arkansas and asked them who to use for taxes? For your income taxes?
[0:40:21.4] SM: Yeah. I just said, “I don’t know how to do this, please tell me something,” because I just didn’t want to mess up.
[0:40:26.6] KM: Then they gave you the name of somebody.
[0:40:28.2] SM: Yeah.
[0:40:29.7] A: Department of Finance, I guess?
[0:40:30.6] SM: Yes. They usually will — People are so scared, I think, of using the government for tax reasons, but just watch Parks and Rec, and then call. I know a full of others.
[0:40:41.7] SS: Euler has a small business office that has free classes and also will help you. Then SCORE, it’s an acronym. I don’t know what it means.
[0:40:50.1] KM: The still have that senior retired?
[0:40:51.6] SM: Yeah, it’s great. I use them. Actually, a person on our team that we took from SCORE. SCORE is great. They will mentor you and advice you and it’s not just for taxes, but for like just business in general.
[0:41:04.6] KM: That’s a great question. Thank you for calling. Caller, did we help you?
[0:41:06.9] A: Thank you so much. Yeah, you all did a great job.
[0:41:09.1] SM: What’s your business?
[0:41:11.1] A: I’m Cajun Sno.
[0:41:11.7] SM: Okay! Hey, Cajun Sno. Awesome!
[0:41:16.2] SS: I think I’ve met actually. I just came out there the other day —
[0:41:19.4] KM: I’m so glad you asked him that. My son worked for you. Didn’t he? Matthew worked for Cajun —
[0:41:22.6] SM: No. It’s a new owner.
[0:41:25.5] KM: Oh, yeah. It’s a great —
[0:41:26.9] SM: Are you open still? How long are you been —
[0:41:29.1] A: Yeah, end of September.
[0:41:30.2] KM: End of September? Awesome.
[0:41:31.5] SS: Oh, yes. I am coming tomorrow.
[0:41:33.8] SM: What’s your favorite flavor? I’m just curious.
[0:41:36.3] A: My favorite flavor is either, probably wedding cake or we’ve got a tropical one, ocean best.
[0:41:42.8] KM: I like the adult margarita one.
[0:41:46.2] SM: Yeah, you need to get some booze Cajun Sno’s. If we bring it, can we — Is that allowed?
[0:41:51.7] SS: Oh, yeah. BYOB.
[0:41:52.1] KM: Oh, yeah! Y’all did not just learned that from me.
[0:41:56.1] SM: That’s awesome. Yay! I like frozen treats.
[0:41:59.5] KM: I teach people everything. All right, Cajun Sno. Thank you for calling in.
[0:42:03.1] A: Thank you. Bye.
[0:42:04.5] SS: Bye.
[0:42:04.8] KM: Bye.
[0:42:07.2] SS: I know that’s so cool. That’s so cool, he was listening and —
[0:42:11.4] KM: I know. We’ve got a history together too. The process of making ice cream is tedious. Are you still making it yourself?
[0:42:19.8] SM: Actually, I started making it then I stopped, and now I’m back in it.
[0:42:23.8] KM: Why did you go back to it? Because you didn’t like the way they did it?
[0:42:26.5] SM: No. That’s not why.
[0:42:28.6] KM: You love making it?
[0:42:29.0] SM: I could afford now to go back.
[0:42:32.0] KM: Oh, I love that. That’s what you like to do, is make ice cream.
[0:42:35.4] SM: I like ice cream.
[0:42:38.2] KM: You have to test every one of them?
[0:42:42.1] SM: It’s a creativity. You want to be part of the creativity.
[0:42:45.2] KM: I got you. Is work ruining either one of your passions?
[0:42:52.2] SM: My personal life? My passion.
[0:42:54.4] KM: Your passion. She started — Now, Sara had a passion for baking. You have a passion for making ice cream. Is work taking a fun out of that?
[0:43:08.4] SM: No, not yet. It’s nice.
[0:43:10.2] SS: I was going to say, it’s not necessarily taking the fun out of it, but baking used to be my hobby and so I really have had to reach to find a new hobby.
[0:43:19.5] SM: Right. I don’t have any hobbies. I need to get out there. Also, I look at ice cream not as other people do. They use it for — I use it for celebration, but I see it as a work, but I really want to hone my craft and make it the best it can be.
[0:43:37.3] KM: This may be our last question before we run out of time. You’ve been listening to Up In Your Business with Kerry McCoy, and my guest is Sara Slimp from Chunky Dunk Food Truck in Fayetteville, and Sally Mengle from Little Rock’s Loblolly. We may have one time for call in. Give the phone number one more time. We might —
[0:43:54.5] TB: 501-433-0088.
[0:43:58.0] KM: It’d be a very short call. Sally and none of them have been so far. Sally, I think you just explained this to me, but what is your philosophy? Your business philosophy and your business model?
[0:44:12.1] SM: I’m still trying to figure all of that out, but I think my business philosophy —
[0:44:16.6] KM: I wish they could see your eyes. You have the biggest eyes.
[0:44:19.1] SM: I know. It’s like what’s the secret to life question, you know? I haven’t figured it out. I think my business philosophy, we say this a lot at Loblolly, it’s communication, teamwork, respect, and accountability. That’s for my team philosophy. It’s a work in progress every day for our team because it’s like you’re building a culture and a community in itself.
Also, for my business philosophy is you’re part of the community, so be a steward of the community. I love to partner with people and do fun collaborations and give back to nonprofits. What we do is we make an ice cream flavor for that nonprofit and make a portion of that sale of that flavor that we co-create with the nonprofit goes back to them. Be part of the community.
What was the last — Not the philosophy, but the —
[0:45:10.6] KM: Business model.
[0:45:12.3] SM: Model. I say yes to everything, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.
[0:45:16.9] KM: Oh, I think that’s an excellent idea.
[0:45:18.2] SM: Yeah, that’s how I got to do all these things, is I just said yes.
[0:45:22.2] KM: Somebody just wrote a book like that and Oprah put it on the bestseller. I think it’s —
[0:45:27.2] SM: You never know what opportunities you’re going to get, and everything is PR, and everything — You never know by talking to this one customer how they’re going to become a loyal customer.
[0:45:37.6] KM: Sara really got me out of a pinch, because I have got gas all through the year of 2016.
[0:45:44.7] SM: You have your own private caterer.
[0:45:46.1] KM: I know, right? That too.
[0:45:50.3] SS: The first time Kerry ever met me, she said, “You’re the person that keeps it and all these fattening things in my house.”
[0:45:55.9] KM: I know. You can tell I don’t eat a lot of fattening things, but I do eat ice cream every day, and she’s got me eating cookies now.
[0:46:02.9] SS: A little bit.
[0:46:02.9] SM: Nice. They go together.
[0:46:05.0] KM: They really do.
[0:46:06.4] SM: What’s your business model and philosophy, Sara?
[0:46:11.3] KM: She says yes to cookies and ice cream.
[0:46:13.5] SS: I just want to say I do —
[0:46:15.1] SM: She is really good customer service though. She’s the best customer service. The best.
[0:46:19.1] KM: Sara also says yes about everything.
[0:46:21.1] SM: Yeah, she does.
[0:46:22.2] KM: She does. I can tell you’re a yes person because when she called you up and asked you — I called Sara last night before last and said, “Sara, I’m going to pinch my Friday show has a got a conflict. I’m booked all the way through the rest of 2016, but I was having a hard time with someone for this show today, and I called Sara up and I said, “Why don’t you call Loblolly, your friend.” She said, “Sure.” Both of you girls got it together so fast. I was so impressed how both of y’all —
[0:46:50.4] SM: No. We owe you ice cream and cookies.
[0:46:53.4] KM: That’s right. That is an entrepreneurial spirit, though.
[0:46:57.2] SM: You got to just make it work, make it happen, and have fun. Because, again, it’s not brain surgery. Life, it’s not going to end.
[0:47:04.4] KM: No. It’s not. I have to remind people that when their banner, their flag or banner doesn’t get there on time. I’m like, “It’s not brain surgery. Nobody is dying, but you would think they are so many times.
[0:47:13.8] SM: There’s like a Leslie Knope quote — God! Leslie Knope fuels me every time I think I can’t do something, but there’s this quote and it is so — Everyone is — All my friends, especially during [inaudible 0:47:24.4] “This is you,” because she just says something fits into their own. It’s like, “Well, why don’t we stop working?” She says, “No. Life is all about not sleeping. We’re going to not sleep to take care of all of our other obligations just to make this work. It’s fine. It’s fine.” She’s not slept for 48 hours. That’s about how my life — Today, I worked since 6. I just got off work. We’re doing this show and I go back at four to work tonight.
[0:47:48.8] KM: Sara, what are you going to next? Really, Sara, what are your future plans? Do you have any idea or you’re just winging it?
[0:47:53.4] SS: I do. I just wing life.
[0:47:55.4] KM: Carl Jung called it synchronizity. I call it listening to life, because I think it drives some of my employees crazy a little bit sometime. They all want to know exactly what’s going to happen next week, and I’m like, “I don’t know.”
[0:48:07.9] SM: I think that’s part of being an entrepreneur though, that ultimately I wouldn’t have started Chunky Dunk if I had these super laid out plans. In my head I always — I’m a big planner and I always —
[0:48:17.5] SS: Yeah, you got to be flexible.
[0:48:18.6] SM: You have to know — I could plan all these things out, but they’re not going to happen. One of the 10 things I’m thinking might happen.
[0:48:24.9] SS: You got to be at for change because you have no idea.
[0:48:27.8] SM: Yeah.
[0:48:28.5] KM: Well, I have a gift for y’all. It’s a cigar.
[0:48:33.5] SM: A cigar?
[0:48:35.3] KM: Yes, Monica. It’s a cigar. I want to thank both of you all for coming. The reason you’re getting a cigar is because —
[0:48:42.3] SM: We’re going to Cajun Sno tonight.
[0:48:43.6] KM: No.
[0:48:45.5] SM: Cajun Sno for everyone!
[0:48:48.1] KM: It’s because starting a business is like birthing a baby.
[0:48:50.2] SM: Oh, yeah. I think birthing a monster sometimes.
[0:48:54.6] KM: I often say Arkansas Flag & Banner is my firstborn, and I really love it that much. It really does feel like one of my children. When Sara said she sold it and that somebody wanted it, it was really validated. I don’t think we have time for the next last caller, but I will be here next week at the same time on KABF. My guest will be Matt McLeod from the Fine Arts Gallery. He opened up a fine arts gallery also on Main Street. Hardly enough, it’s like Main Street week, or it might be Dempsey Bakery. They’re kind of switching around there.
[0:49:30.8] SM: I like kala.
[0:49:31.0] KM: Yeah, and I’m gluten free, so that will be a great show.
[0:49:33.9] SS: Maybe she’ll bring you snacks.
[0:49:35.5] KM: She’s on a lot of — Yeah, I’m going to shame her into it. She’s owned several business, so she’ll be a great guest too. Matt McLeod is talking about taking your passion and turning it into a business. He just opened up the Fine Arts Gallery down on Main Street and he’s doing great. Thanks.
On October the 14th, I am unable to be here, so RJ from iProve will be here to sit in for me on October the 14th, and he is a great entrepreneur, and I don’t know whose guest is going to be, so it going to be really fun. I’ve almost got the 2016 scheduled completely out, and —
[0:50:11.8] SM: You’re organized. Talk about planning.
[0:50:13.0] KM: I know. Everybody wants to do it. Everybody wants to do it. It’s so fun, and it’s mentoring. I’ll put it on upinyourbusiness.com and we’ll put the list of people up so people can be empowered to go there and see who our guest will be in the next few weeks.
To our listeners, I hope you’ve learned something today that will help you up your business. I’m Kerry McCoy, and I’ll see you next week on KABF Radio every Friday at 2. Until then, hang tough and keep it up.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
[0:50:42.1] TB: You’ve been listening to Up in Your Business with Kerry McCoy. Want to hear today’s program again or want someone else to benefit from it? Jot this down. Within 48 hours the podcast will be available at flagandbanner.com. Click the tab labeled “Radio Show”, there you’ll find today’s segments with links to resources you heard discussed on this program. Kerry’s goal: to help you live the American Dream.
Sara Slimp owner of 
Sally Megel is co-founder of 
