Tony Lamb is the founder and CEO of Kona Ice, known for mobile shaved ice franchise ( #30 located on 2025 franchise 500), its tropical trucks, kid-friendly flavorway station and deep community participation. Lamb started in sales, then in 2007 the corner ice launched, initially as a side hustle to teach her children about business. He felt that the ice cream truck model was old, often associated with poor quality and incredible operators. When he considered shaved ice – with its low product and its more interactive nature than its low product and labor costs and ice cream – they knew that it was right fit.
Kona ice has since been developed in 2,200-units national franchise which has returned over $ 200 million to schools and local organizations. Despite the development, the brand’s $ 3,000 annual royalty fee has not changed in nearly two decades.
During the epidemic, the lamb named his portfolio with his father and beavarly NK cookies with his portfolio, a mobile coffee concept (#217 on Franchise 500), a sweet truck inspired by his mother.
Learn how the lamb manufactured a recession-proof, feel-gud franchise business-and what advice did they have for entrepreneurs here.
Reactions have been edited for length and clarity.
Related: Consideration of franchise ownership? Start now to find your personal list of franchises that match your lifestyle, interests and budget.
How did your former experience create you to launch a mobile shaved snow business?
I started selling vacuum cleaner during college, door-to-door in Kentki. I finally graduated and ran six offices, made 300 salespersons and made “rock star” money for a while. It is a difficult business, but it teaches you everything about small business: marketing, customer conversation, sourcing and building teams. After that, I had a marketing consultation for some time. This gave me the confidence to think, If I can detect vacuum and mobile marketing, I can detect an ice cream truck,
Related: Emma Grad was out of school at the age of 16. Now the Skims Boss runs a $ 4 billion empire – how it is here.
What is the idea for corner ice?
In a summer, I was in my backyard, and an ice cream truck came on the road. My children ran towards it, and this was everything you warned about: with some stickers with a shirtless man in a white van. I thought, This industry is already part of our culture, but it has been pulled to the lowest common ruler. What if we created something beautiful, open and interactive that parents can trust?
Related: How to turn the moments of large business into permanent brand speed
Many people have great ideas. How did you go to your first truck with an idea?
I knew how to make the vehicle spectacular because I had first built mobile billboard trucks. I hired an engineer and a designer, churned everything for customer conversation from the layout and made the first truck in 2007. I felt that I would be in the form of five trucks as a side hustle to teach my children about business. But when I tried someone in the next county and they succeeded, I knew that I had something big.
Related: How to overcome a poor business decision (and the trust rebuilding)
You started franchise after a year. Why so fast?
A man looked at the truck on leave and wanted one in Nashville. I realized that the best way to hold the brand tightly. Security and belief were central, and you cannot find that if anyone can run their own version. I set royalty $ 3,000 per year – and I never raised it. I did not want to be greedy. I wanted the franchise to maintain part of the lion of money.
What were the major innovations that help the corner ice grow?
The big is a taste, a self-service taste station on the side of the truck. This gave children the feeling of “the key to the candy store” and justified a high value point. For franchise in cold climate, we added corner mini so that they could work as indoor events. And, from the first day, our franchise earned money, which led to development.
Related: My first unsuccessful startup taught me – and finally how did I get after 20 years
The epidemic erased all events for important times. How did you customize?
We were 95% of the event-based, and within two weeks, every event had gone. I spent two days in the position of the fetus, then we launched the “Karbside corner” using customized delivery software. Book customers online stop; We adapted the routes and read them at the time of arrival. This saved us in April and May. From there, we constructed $ 4 million custom platform, corner OS, which now handles everything from routing to marketing. This has made scaling very easy.
The corner is also known to give back to the ice. how it started?
In 2008, during the economic crisis, Ptas told me that they had no budget. I offered to come to schools, sell children and give it back 25 to 30% to PTA. Munda snow has great margin, so why not? This closed us into the community – we were not just selling one product; We were helping in fund helmets, playgrounds, uniforms. It became our culture, and now our franchise has given back more than $ 200 million.
Related: Want to own a franchise? This 3-level approach can help you choose wisely.
Since then you have launched Travelin ‘Tom’s coffee and Beverly N’s cookies. What was the inspiration to launch those brands?
During Covid Downtime, I dusted some concepts, on which I was sitting. We prototype a coffee truck and placed it after my father – a colorful, brilliant man. It flew. Then I made a cookie-and-ie-cream truck in my mother’s name, using my college picture on the side. Both brands use the same mobile vending principles that make the corner successful.
If you look back, the most important decision you have taken on this path has set the corner ice?
Royalty is not changing. Investors have asked me to switch to one percent, but it is not who we are. Keeping it $ 3,000 per year makes the franchise healthy and keeps the competition out. Whatever you create, cannot build it and what we charge charge – and I want people to work to earn money.
Tony Lamb is the founder and CEO of Kona Ice, known for mobile shaved ice franchise ( #30 located on 2025 franchise 500), its tropical trucks, kid-friendly flavorway station and deep community participation. Lamb started in sales, then in 2007 the corner ice launched, initially as a side hustle to teach her children about business. He felt that the ice cream truck model was old, often associated with poor quality and incredible operators. When he considered shaved ice – with its low product and its more interactive nature than its low product and labor costs and ice cream – they knew that it was right fit.
Kona ice has since been developed in 2,200-units national franchise which has returned over $ 200 million to schools and local organizations. Despite the development, the brand’s $ 3,000 annual royalty fee has not changed in nearly two decades.
During the epidemic, the lamb named his portfolio with his father and beavarly NK cookies with his portfolio, a mobile coffee concept (#217 on Franchise 500), a sweet truck inspired by his mother.
The rest of this article is closed.
Join the entrepreneur, To reach today.
