Cibik's Dairy Island - Handcrafted Ice Cream

Running the Bases today with Rick Cibik from Cibik’s Dairy Island - a unique Chagrin Falls, Ohio-based Ice Cream Shop.  Cibik’s Dairy Island is a seasonal ice cream shop that was established in 1976 by Rich and Elaine Cibik. The iconic summer ice cream destination offerings include homemade small-batch craft ice creams, frozen custards, and Dole Whip.

We sit down with Rick and talk about his lifelong experience with Ice Cream!  Working in his family-owned business since he was 14 (now 60) - his life has had some detours, but he found his way back to Ohio and ice cream.

Operating a seasonal business has its challenges - staffing, operations, cash flow.  And, what to do in the “off-time”.  We explore all of those aspects and how Rick prepares his young staff to deliver outstanding customer service as well as delicious ice cream treats!

Franks & Beans ice cream treat?  Cibik’s Dairy Island has it.  You can make your own ice cream flavor or treat as well!  Listen to the show and learn how you win free ice cream for a year!

Learn more about Cibik’s Dairy Island and “Create Your Own Ice Cream”  at https://dairyisland.com/

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Transcript

Randy: 0:01

I'm Randy Rohde and I'm fascinated with entrepreneurs and small business owners. Plus I love baseball. Every show I sit down with the small business owner and we discuss their running the bases of entrepreneurship. We throw the ball around on strategy management, execution and innovation, plus a little fun baseball talk hey, thanks for joining us today. Settle in, grab your Cracker jacks and you know what they say? And it is a great day for a baseball games. Matter of fact, I usually don't try to like throw the date today is a great day because it is opening season today. And of course it's snowing in Cleveland. So that's how it goes. I guess I have been in many opening days or early April games. Absolutely freezing in snow, whether it was in Cleveland, or Chicago, and, , it's just baseball in the Midwest, but it's always exciting opening day, quite fun. Wow. Today it's going to be fun as well because we're going to be talking about a couple of my all time favorite topics, but before we get into it, let me intro our guest here. We've got today's guest is a management professional, 30 years of experience creating, developing successful business enterprises, studied marketing and internationals. studies at Kent state university. He's a local Ohio guy., give you a little hint there. He grew up working in his family's business. Left, went out on his own and eventually spending 14 years developing, running a business on a native American reservation. Then he felt the calling come back home and took the helm of his family's business right down the street from our offices, , Cibik. Dairy Island. I get it. Right. So that was good. That was good. He's a passionate drummer with a vintage drum collection. We'll probably have to talk about that as well, but, , everybody welcome, , Rick Cibik , from Cibik's Dairy Island, , local guy right here., welcome to the show,

Rick: 2:08

Rick. Thanks, Randy. Good to

Randy: 2:09

be here. Yeah. You know, so much stuff here to talk about. And through the course of our time, we'll try to touch on a lot of this. I do want to like focus on a little bit kind of outside of the dairy Island, which I love. I, I, when we started talking to ice cream, I'm going to get all giddy. Cause I, if there's one weakness that I do have is ice cream. Tell us about working at Fort McDowell adventures and on the, , reservation. What was that like? What was that experience? It

Rick: 2:39

was, , the experience of a lifetime and I was.

Randy: 2:43

Now where is Fort McDowell for folks who may not know where that

Rick: 2:46

is? Fort McDowell? Oh, yellow pine nation is one of 22 Indian reservations in Arizona. Okay. And luckily we're right on the other side of Scottsdale. So that was my business at Fort McDowell adventures. I brought in, I worked with the, you know, five star resorts in Scottsdale, a lot of them. And we brought in corporate groups for the Western experience. All right. So during the day we had this, this was, you know, every kid's dream job, right? Yeah. No. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, you know, Parma, Ohio in the suburbs of Cleveland. You know, when, you know, there was steals, you know, polluting the air and then the steel town and the burning river and the whole bit. And so, , you grow up with the Cowboys and the Indians and John Wayne in this. So when I moved out to Arizona, I said, you know, I want to work on a ranch. So that was my goal. And I was, and I wanted to have my own ranch actually, but I was fortunate enough to, land this job. And, um, so during the day we did outdoor adventures, we did kayaking on the Verde river. There's only two rivers in Phoenix that have water in them. And we had one of them. So I always used to tell people we had 50% of the river market. Okay. And in Phoenix cause you know, it's dry out there. Right. So there's only two rivers. The other is the salt. And so kayaking. Uh, we had, um, before the recession we had 150 horses on our ranch.. So we did horseback riding through the river. We did the city slicker, cattle, dry and all that fun stuff, you know, to hour, you know, for corporate. Right. Great, great fun. We had green zebra, Tom cars that we would drive through the, uh, desert. We had. Desert segues that we would, you know, zoom around in. And then of course, all kinds of different team building activities. We were on the amazing race in 2004, the show. Yeah. They ended up the show, our plate at the property. How fun is that? That was cool. And we actually did an amazing race, um, on the reservation, uh, on our property. So all kinds of cool outdoor activities during the day. Um, but that wasn't our main business, our main businesses bringing in these corporate groups in the evening for these Western hoedowns. Okay., Randy: a real hoedown Bronco and a Tomahawk throwaway. Did you

Randy: 5:15

have like the bucking, uh, the ride, the bull, the

Rick: 5:18

mechanical bull, the bull, the mechanical bull. And then we had the can Bronco and Andy, and of course, um, you know, cause

Randy: 5:28

that's what you've got. If you've got a mechanical bull, you got to have

Rick: 5:31

tequila. Exactly. So that, you know, that's why they're coming up all of that fun, but you know, where's the tequila. So, and then, you know, barbecue. So I had three event venues on the reservation,

Randy: 5:44

That is an incredible experience. We were just out there in that Scottsdale or, uh, area two years ago. It was, , in 19 2019, we were on spring break and, , yeah, we had fun. That's too bad. I would I'd I should've talked with you about that way. We could have hooked up, uh, some contacts out there and gone on a little Western hoedown that my kids went to love that. Yeah,

Rick: 6:08

my, a good friend of mine out there does bike tours, um, in Scottsdale and he, you with these e-bikes right, right. Yeah.

Randy: 6:17

They're great. Yeah. Well, we jumped on some scooters, so that was kind of fun when we were out there tooling around Scottsdale. Well, that's a good story. That is an incredible experience and an incredible departure ice cream, right? From a Rocky road ice. Yeah. So Cibik's dairy, Island's got an incredible history and I do want to touch on the history, but, , for the listeners anyway, for the audience, tell us w w uh, about dairy Island today, what, what is dairy Island? And, uh, and then we'll get in a little bit to the history, but tell us about the shop today.

Rick: 6:55

Absolutely. So, , we are, , a local, uh, mom and pop old fashioned. Ice cream shop and the store. We have the same S same service model that we had 60 years ago because the, the business has been there for over 60 years. We've been there. This is going to be our 46th summer since 1976. So it was, it was there for 18 years before we got there, but it's all carry out. It's all outdoors. So you walk up to the window and you order and you're outdoors, nobody comes inside. So it's, it's, uh, it's the old fashioned, you know, walk up windows. So you know how everything is local, now people want to stay local, right. Especially with specialty. Yeah. So, so that's what we are. We are the local ice cream, right, right. The, the local ice cream., we have incredible products, amazing ice cream. And, um, but that's really not our business. Our business is happiness, so that's what we sell. So when people come to our store, We want them to leave happy. Nice. And so really that's what it's about. And, and we make that happen through ice cream. Right. Um, and through our, our quality product. Well,

Randy: 8:15

and I must agree. I don't think I've while I know I've never have left your left your window unhappy., I, after I eat my favorite, , Bainbridge brownie is my that's my go-to. Yeah. I, uh, I'm always happy. I'm always very content.

Rick: 8:36

Yes. So. So I'll, I'll, I'll talk about the business a little bit. And I thought about the, the baseball analogy, right? So we'll start at first base. We're gonna go around the bases. All right. So, so the, the first base would be our classic Sundays. Yeah. And we use our frozen custard for our classic Sundays. Like the Bainbridge brownie. That's one of them. No,

Randy: 8:57

the Bainbridge Bradley folks, the thing is like a brownie, hot fudge ice cream. I mean, it is the classic like that. I, that just always, I can't ever depart for him. And I'm like, there's so much that you guys do, but I'm like, Oh, that thing is so good.. Rick: Yeah, we got the Bay bridge back peach cobbler this year. So homemade peach cobbler with vanilla custard on top. And then of course the turtle Sunday and the ITI Sunday. These are all Sundays that my mom created 40 some years ago. So, awesome. Second base. We go to our classic Custer's all right. So what we do is we make all these, we have a vanilla chocolate and twist soft serve frozen custard. And with those base flavors, we make all these other cool flavors, right? So we have a mint chocolate chip. It's extraordinary. I mean it's and you make an, a test to read. We, we, we make right to whip it up right there. Okay. In a 12 ounce cup, uh, we have something called shock, the monkey it's bananas and peanut butter. We have something called Hawaiian noises, which is, um, and this is all where the music comes in, Coke, coconut pineapple, and chocolate, and then we have other flavors. So the classic custards are wonderful. I'm going to interrupt you on this one because my team pulled this together. Like, you know, he's got some really interesting names for some of his stuff in one they're like, you got to ask him about Franks and beans. You've got a custard named Franks and beans. And like what in the world is that? Yes.

Rick: 10:30

So, so we're going to go to third base now, cause that's a third. So you went right into third,

Randy: 10:35

you know, that was running the bases, running

Rick: 10:38

the bases. So, so third base. So when I came back five years ago, this is going to be my fifth year back. So four years, whatever. As a marketing guy, you know, I thought, okay, what makes civics, dairy Island different than every other? I mean, there's millions of them out there and the biggies, right? Yeah. Yeah. Ice cream, this ice cream, that what makes our place different? So I came up with a contest and of course the products and we've developed the products over the past four years, but the products are outstanding, but I, I developed a contest. So customers of all ages, kids are, I always tell people our target market is six-year-olds. So kids, customers, guests get to create their own flavor of frozen custard and register that flavor. Right. It can write their flavor on the back wall. And they're encouraged to , promote their flavor, right? Because the, the best flavor of the year, and then it's a contest, the best flavor of the year, which is based on sales and creativity and uniqueness wins. That person wins free ice cream the whole next summer. And not only that their flavor is put on our menu indefinitely. So the first winner, her name was Mia Conti her flavor. That one in 2017 is take me out to the ballgame. Oh, nice.

Randy: 12:05

I have that one on my list as well. Like ask him about that one. And it's Cracker jacks,

Rick: 12:10

peanut and little hot fudge mixed in with vanilla custard. It's it's wonderful. Oh, and, and, and so every year we have a winner no last night and I actually brought, brought you these.

Randy: 12:24

Oh, I thought you were bringing me like some custard or something. I'm like, Oh man, this guy, I don't have any ice

Rick: 12:30

cream. This guy was a winner very soon. So last year's winner is peanut butter blast. All right. Which is Nutter butter, cookie bites and peanut butter. Right? So peanut butter custard. So. The winners get put on our menu. Um, and so Franks and beans back to your question, that was my flavor. Oh, that was your flavor because I was out in Arizona and we actually did a Wiener roast for kids after the recession, you know, we opened up public and we did a Wiener roast for kids. It was very popular. And, um, so that was kind of taken from that. So I took a hot dog, real hot dog, and I chopped it up and I put it in the vanilla custard and they opened up a can of baked beans and put some big beans in this custard and whipped it up and ate this ice cream and really. It was awful. I mean, it's like,

Randy: 13:24

I'm glad you said it was awful

Rick: 13:25

because your brain is going this ain't right. I mean, you know, you've got this customer beans, I don't know. Yeah. So anyway, that was kind of silly. So that's on the menu because that was my flavor. So we've tweaked, whether it's

Randy: 13:41

on the menu, can I actually order it? You

Rick: 13:43

can, but we don't use those ingredients. We use gummy hot dogs. Ah, there we go. And jelly beans.

Randy: 13:49

Very

Rick: 13:50

nice there. So yeah. So that's Franks and beans and then you've gotta take me out to the ball game. We have chagrined some stores and

Randy: 13:57

um, so that's third base. And then how do you navigate?

Rick: 14:00

So you can create your own ice cream and blush brush or one of these. So when you create it, you get to put a poker chip to remind you to register your flavor. Nice. And then on the back is a $2 coupon for when you come back. And, um, and then the home run is our, our new homemade, small batch ice creams that we began making last year. Okay. So in addition to the frozen custard that we've been selling for 45 years now, we have our own small batch, hard ice creams that we make right at the store in small batches of, you know, 10, 20 gallons at a time. And it is fantastic. We use 15% butterfat, milk and cream. We use real pure bourbon, vanilla, and, and great ingredients that are sourced locally. And, um, yeah, the, the ice cream is fantastic. So we have the soft serve and we have our. Our new, uh, homemade ice creams.

Randy: 14:58

You got a lot of great stuff going on there. I'll tell ya. Well, let's do a little rewind now because you alluded to, you shared a little bit on some of the history. So let's, you know, this is a family owned business. You, your family has been involved. You said 46 years, which is an incredibly long time. I mean, that is just a Marvel, just, you know, to survive that long in going through, , so many different iterations of economic declines, but the business, you know, I had a history before your, your family. So love to hear a little bit of that history. Cause I know we've had a previous conversation and I just found it really fascinating. So why don't you share a little bit about how your family got into, because you guys were living way on the other side of town and even the other side

Rick: 15:45

of town in Parma. And so the business was built in like 1958. So it was there. 18 years before my mom and dad bought the business and there wasn't a whole lot out here. So it was actually called chagrin dairy bar before dairy Island. So the sugar in dairy bar, I mean, that was the old, the old school and yeah, not a whole lot out here. So that was the only place to go. And same location, same location, same building. Can't even imagine,

Randy: 16:18

because now folks, we live out here in chagrin, in the sugar and Valley and where, you know, it's just a little village and then, you know, it's growing, obviously the population has, but even where you are now, I can't even imagine that like that development and where kind of that street area is probably, you know, maybe 30 years or so. I can't even imagine back in the late 1950s, what in the world, it was probably like cow pastures

Rick: 16:45

and well, w when, when we came in 1976, Kids would come up on their horses for ice cream. I mean, if you can imagine., I was from Parma farm was the biggest suburb of Cleveland. So, you know, we felt I've felt like I was from the city, you know, we come out here. It's like, okay., , my father drove a hostess truck. So he, he, he delivered wonder bread and hostess products. All right. Of course the famous host is Twinkie. Yeah. And hohos yeah, I remember he told me one time, he said, yeah, holds, bought our house farm or whatever. Put it, that was the down payment for our households., he did that for many, many years while we, and he wanted to have his own business., so they bought the ice cream place, no restaurant experience, no ice cream experience at all. Um, , we do serve Twinkies and hohos with ice cream. Nice. Just a

Randy: 17:42

tip of the hat

Rick: 17:44

and a pop tarts to those in pop tarts., yeah, so that's, that's pretty much it. So this was my dad's ride out here. He delivered to, you know, where Heinen's is over here. That was a Fisher Fazio. All right. Back when the officially he was

Randy: 17:59

out here delivering and yeah. Drove by the chagrin dairy

Rick: 18:04

bar sugar and dairy bar. Yeah. I don't know if that's because we used to do burgers and fries, so I don't know. He was, that was one of his customers.

Randy: 18:13

So that's why I was wondering if you don't

Rick: 18:14

have to ask him that. Yeah, I forget. I don't think so. So that's how the story goes. So yeah, we used to drive all the way from Parma every day. Took us an hour before four 80.

Randy: 18:27

I know. I was just telling my wife, I knew a little bit of this background. I was telling my wife that and he was like, , in today's world, like you could probably get there. And I don't know, 20 minutes, 25 minutes maybe. But yeah. I'm like, I think when his parents were doing this, there was no like highway that

Rick: 18:43

was, you know, yeah. Came like a couple of years after. And of course I didn't even drive yet. So yeah. So this is a funny story. So because of the distance from, you know, Parramatta dairy Island and it was an hour and you know, we're working, you know, 12, 14 hour days in the summer, right. 15 hour days, and then you gotta drive home an hour and you get home at one o'clock in the morning. I mean, You know, and then you got to get up and do it again the next day. So my dad buys a camper and puts it behind the puppet building. We have a miniature golf in the back who was run, still owned by us, but it's run by another family. The humans they've been there for 40 years. Great people, great friends. So we used to stay in this camper for like two, three days at a time instead of having to drive home. Right. So smart man, your dad. So, I mean, as a kid, , we're, we're peddling ice cream, we're flipping burgers, we're camping. My dad, my dad was a pretty cool guy. Yeah. So

Randy: 19:44

you really worked then, you know, you're young at 14 when your parents bought and then, you know, you've been working and associated with it. You took the departure on your own. Went out to Arizona, came back. What was it that brought you back?

Rick: 20:03

There's no place like home. And, um, actually how it actually, what actually happened was I was looking for a job. I woke up one morning down in Columbus and the business was for sale. So I contacted them and I said, wow, what a, what a strange thought. Okay. You know, go back to my childhood, go back up to Cleveland. And you know, to that place where I grew up at, right. Literally grew up in that place. And so I contacted my family, my family, and he was just like, I don't know, are you serious? And uh, I said, yeah, I think so. So after a lot of deliberation and , I'm back and, uh, it just turned out to be a wonderful thing because it's good for you. I mean, I'm, you know, I'm going to be 60 this year. So I, I took up, came back when I was 55 and it's, it's a lot more fun this time around. Right. And it's, it's just kids in ice cream and fun and I'm back home in chagrin falls, you know, great memories. Like I say, we passed when my friend's house is coming on the way over and he lives in Hudson now, but, um, yeah. Uh, Cleveland's a great place. It's it's home. It's my home. Right. And, um, And you're selling happiness and we're selling happiness. You have. So what else, what else is there? Right. Well, tequila,

Randy: 21:28

that's another, keep that away from the ice cream anyway. So, well, that's a great story. I want to ask you as well. Um, and it reminded me a little bit. We were on a spring break with the kids a few weeks ago. We were just in Nashville and we went to one of these iconic restaurants there in Nashville, been around for a long time, similar to, you know, kind of your business. You walk into the kind of the main entryway or the lobby, if you would have this place. And they have a wall full of pictures of like famous people that have visited and all of that, if signed and everything. Have you ever had any famous people come through, get some, get some civics ice cream. We have unexpected guests, you

Rick: 22:12

know? Yeah. Well, I'm trying to think of currently, I'm sure there've been a lot of celebrity, you know, local celebrity. I mean, you know, like Jan Jones. Okay.

Randy: 22:22

I have a worldwide or, you know, at least

Rick: 22:25

nationally, no is one of our customers. And I mentioned Michael Belkin and people like that, you know, Michael Stanley, Michael., yeah, we had Jimmy Carter, uh, in 1994. And so the story, that story is his son, Jack Carter, married a lady from chagrin falls and they moved here and they lived here. And one of our employees,

Randy: 22:51

no kidding. I didn't know that.

Rick: 22:52

Yeah. I don't know if they still do probably not, but so one of our employees used to hang out with their daughter. So, and this is when we started driving. We actually had a driving service spec in the early nineties. We was too. Kids used to go out to cars and take orders., so, you know, the girl says to me, you know who that is? That's Jack Carter, Jimmy Carter's son. I'm like what? So when an introduced myself, we became friends, the big thing with them was Coke. They were from Atlanta, Georgia. Right. So, and that's where Coke is headquartered, I guess.

Randy: 23:27

So it had to have a Coke float. Right. But we,

Rick: 23:30

but we always, you know, we always had Pepsi. Oh. And so I used to actually go buy cans of Coke for them. And of course they got a kick. Yeah. And so they became pretty good friends. So he said, you know, one day and the accent to one day, I'm going to bring my, my, my father up here, you know, when he visits, I'm like, Oh, that'd be cool. He called me the one day said, yeah, we're going to bring, you know, we're going to bring him next Thursday. So Thursday comes it's, you know, 10 o'clock in the morning, we're getting ready to open. And all of a sudden the secret service starts showing up and they're checking out the place and you know, there's a car sitting out there and, and, uh, yeah, and then he came with, he came for a burger, uh, and he had a burger and a coffee, hamburger and coffee. And, uh, with some ambassador and his whole entourage of secret service, it was a big thrill. Oh yeah. That's probably the most famous person. Nice.

Randy: 24:25

There we go. All right. A little, a moment of fame there for Jimmy Carter all right, Rick, it's that time of the show? And I know you kinda like baseball, right? Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So this is the time of the show where we talk about baseball a little bit and kinda nice with the, uh, first day of baseball upon us. And, um, know I have the, uh, the team go through and pull, , some questions that are kind of fun, , that relate to our guests industry., you can imagine there's going to be food related. All right. Okay. So as you know, at every ballpark there's food everywhere, . And it's almost as much fun to go and eat as it is to, uh, to go to the ballgame. So MLB then said, Hey, you know, there's all this crazy kind of food out there, but there's also just the staples that you're going to expect when you go to almost any stadium. Of food. And so they took it upon themselves and they said, , of all of the food items that are out there, that you would reasonably assume to find it, any stadium concession stand, they decided to rank them by their deliciousness. Right. So they have a top 10 of the stadium concession stand food. Okay. Top 10. Okay. I'm not going to ask you to name 10, but I will say, so try to give me that at least the top three,

Rick: 26:03

as far as taste or popularity or that the

Randy: 26:06

MLB on deliciousness deliciousness. So what they would throw out, , and I'm going to have you do it from like , going from three to one. What do you think that third one that they ranked

Rick: 26:19

peanuts

Randy: 26:20

and popcorn peanuts was number four. Number three was hot dogs. Three it's hot dogs. Okay. All

Rick: 26:27

right. Two, two. Is it a, is it like an ice cream bar or something? I mean,

Randy: 26:35

they have seven actually is ice

Rick: 26:37

cream. Seven is ice cream. Okay. So hot dogs is three. And as far as deliciousness popcorn, no. Um, uh,

Randy: 26:45

not popcorn. Popcorn did not even make the list. Um,

Rick: 26:50

Great lakes brewery., what else is there? I mean, you got, okay, you got ice cream, you got peanuts, popcorn, hot dogs. I guess

Randy: 26:57

they didn't want popcorn because maybe they ran across too much of the stale stuff sometimes. Yeah,

Rick: 27:04

it was deliciousness. I mean, that's an interesting question.

Randy: 27:07

I, sorry, I'm going to give you this one. So even though you said ice cream, they actually, they had ice cream made that list twice

Rick: 27:14

certain bar.

Randy: 27:15

So that even a bar? No, they have the number one. Ding, ding is soft, serve ice cream served in a plastic suit. Oh, of course. That is the alternative for one. Yes. And then number seven was any other ice cream, but number one was soft served in the plastic helmet. Yeah,

Rick: 27:40

that's fantastic. Yeah. And I remember those plastic stuff. Oh

Randy: 27:45

yeah. I probably have like two or three of those in my house. That's awesome. But there is some crazy, crazy food out there, depending upon what ballpark you go to. Like, if you go to a Seattle game, they've got toasted grasshoppers that you can yes, Texas Rangers. No, this is something I wouldn't even think. Like what are you talking about? They've got in Texas anyway. Hosted snowballs. Yes. Like the hostess toasted, no toasted snowballs. You get shredded brisket. That's dipped in funnel cake batter, deep fried, then coated in powdered sugar. Wow. That is the test. That is a toasted snowball. Yeah. And then in Pittsburgh, just a short driveway, you get Cracker Jack and Mac dog. Yeah. What does that mean? Cracker Jack and Mac and cheese and jalapenos, and a caramel sauce on a beef hot dog. Wow. That, and that is no way.

Rick: 28:45

No, that that's, that's some good eats there. Yeah. I'll tell ya. Wow. Wow. That's pretty creative and that's very creative. Randy: Wow. Give me that plastic souvenir helmet. I'm all in for that. All right. Well, let's get back into it. So we mentioned a little bit kind of about, , your business, the way that it's set up, we're coming through, uh, the pandemic. How did it affect your business? Because you mentioned earlier as well. You're kind of set up almost for a pandemic right here. Everything is outdoor people don't come inside of all. You walk up to a window, you already had the, kind of the blockade, so to speak. Did it impact your business? Like it did in so many other businesses, it impacted our business operationally of course. Okay. Right. I'm inside, right? Yeah. With your staff. Right. But as far as, you know, sales and customers, no. I mean, it w w and you're like, you're saying, we're almost, we're almost built for it. Yeah. We actually did a drive through for a couple of weeks., so yeah, it's all carry out. It's all outdoors. Um, and we have a big space in the front. It's not like right

Randy: 29:59

on the road. Right. Right. And I remember even driving by and, and being there., you had it all a nice kind of the ma the roped off maze, the kind of keep people, , Dustin. Yeah. And

Rick: 30:10

we'll, we'll do that again. Um, so yeah, we that's actually, that's one really good thing that came out of last year. We redesigned our, our lines and it was always a, um, it was always a challenge for us because, you know, people would gather close to the building. Right. And parking was here. So you're, you know, the line was like this, so now the lines are like this. They come in kind of like at a bank and you call in, you know, you call the person kudos to my mom. She, uh, she, she thought of that one. And I mean, it's a great idea.. So, you know, social distancing of course, and masks., operationally, , gloves. I mean, we used to wear our policies used to be, you know, when you touch food, wear gloves. Well now of course you wear gloves all the time. Right. Masks all the time and, you know, cleaning and sanitizing. I mean, it's, it's, it's just a different, it's a different ballgame, right? Yeah. So, but yeah, it was good for you. I'm

Randy: 31:09

glad the business kind of held for that. So you're a seasonal business, , which I think is kind of interesting as well, that kind of I'm sure poses its own challenges from an operation standpoint. So you have seasonal employees. What do you, how many employees do you have run in the shop? About 25, about 25. Um, and what is the season by the way? I mean, you gotta be coming up even though it's like 30 degrees and snowing today here in Cleveland, but , on Tuesday I think it was 70 and gorgeous here. So

Rick: 31:43

yeah, we always open up. You know, beginning of, uh, April. Okay. Sometime. So we're opening up this year on April 9th, which is next Friday. There we go. Cause we have Easter weekends. So we're going to open up after Easter on April 9th, April 9th is actually, that was my parents' opening day. Oh really? Yeah. In 1976 it was April 9th

Randy: 32:06

opening day it's. Yeah.

Rick: 32:08

Yeah. And, um, and then we'll close first week of October, depending on how the day. Cause we always open on a Friday and I was closed on a Sunday. So. It's

Randy: 32:18

very open and bouncing. What is that? Six months, six months.

Rick: 32:22

April through September. Okay , that's pretty much what we

Randy: 32:26

do. I mean, there's just like when you're open, you are on. Right, right. Yes. Okay. So there's a couple of things with that and to get to, first of all, let's talk about the employee side. All part-time all seasonal, but I'm maybe making an assumption, but I'm assuming maybe you probably get, , a stable of people that always come back and always work with you. And I'm sure you're always looking for employees as well. So tell me a little bit about managing the team, I guess, and how you guys do it from a seasonality standpoint.

Rick: 32:59

Sure. And that's. Of course the biggest challenge, you know, our, our employees and training and yeah, you're always training it's it just never ends because people just come and go, but we like to share, I think we have 11 or 12 of our employees coming back from last year. Nice. I mean about half and you know, we're fortunate. We have a great team of young people. It's all young people. We have our manager who helps me and, , she's a great lady and you know, couldn't, couldn't do it without her, but every, everybody else is under 22.., 16 to 22 high school college, We have high school students and then we have college students, right. They're both very important college students are important because they're more mature and a lot of them do come back from year to year. Right. And, um, You know, they have a couple of years of experience with them. High school students are equally as important because high school students don't leave first week of August. We're open through September. So I need high school students to get me through the season. Um, training is very important, so well, and

Randy: 34:10

especially in, in a food service industry, anyway, you've got to have a high degree of training., yes.

Rick: 34:16

Yeah. So training's a big one for me. We never had a training program until like two years ago. And so after my second year back, You know, I have the winters to work on these things, right. So, so I said this winter, I'm going to write a training program and I did, and that's evolved over the past couple of years and we got it down pretty good., it's a 60 hour training program and you become server certified. So we, you know, we have two positions runner in servers, so it's, it's very hands-on training, , at the same time, it's very important. Yeah. And so, yeah, so the training is very important, so yeah, we're training a lot of new kids to share a new young window. When do

Randy: 35:00

you start hiring, , and start training? So,

Rick: 35:04

uh, I'm hiring now. I started hiring, you know, like in March, March , we'll start training when we open. Okay. You know, that, that weekend. All right. So yeah, we, we bring in the new people as trainees. They have coaches. We have a written manual that they read before they start, and then they execute that written manual and then they take a test for that manual. So, um, but of course, you know, learning how to make ice cream sure. Sundaes and shakes and all these, all these good things that we sell. And then the second part of the training is as a server and that's the computer system and that's where we really get into customer service because we're selling happiness.

Randy: 35:48

So that's what I was going to say when w where's the training on serving up happiness? So

Rick: 35:55

yeah, the customer service training is critical and actually, , you know, that all comes from my parents, you know, originally because, you know, they, they, they taught us and right., one of the things that they taught us that I've liked. Taken to the nth level is, you know, those words. Thank you. So in our training, I've really committed to this, these two words. Thank you., customer appreciation is so important. You know, we want to make sure that our customers know that we appreciate their business and we, you know, we want them to come back and all of that, it's just good business. It's not only good business. It's just good juvenile relations. It's we always want to thank the customer. Those are the that's the last communication.

Randy: 36:38

And I'm sure as well, it's challenging for you. And, , just having that size of a team and having, , all part-time as well, uh, is certainly challenging,, part of the seasonality, I guess the other thing I wanted to ask you about on this seasonality is. Almost a little bit about you and kind of maintaining if you would some personal balance because your business is open, like during the most beautiful days in Northeast Ohio,., it's, it's like the most beautiful time. I never want to go on vacation. Like during the summer it goes like, this is the best time to be here. So why, why do I want to leave? But how do you balance though?, that kind of concept because that's also your busiest days, right? Those are the days when you are, Hey, we've got to make it here. This is where we're at harvest here. If you want, I grew up on a farm. So I'm like, Hey, this is where we're, this is our time to be. And, and mostly you're probably working inside as well., how do you balance that? What do you do to kind of get through that? Or what do you do on the off months? Maybe that's a,

Rick: 37:42

no, that's a good question. And as you're talking kind of, , fortunate in a way, because., most sane people wouldn't want to do this. Right. I mean, it's like, you know what, work like, you know, 15 hours a day in the summer and

Randy: 37:59

it's actually

Rick: 37:59

open. We open, well, this year we're going to open at noon. We open at 11. All right. So we're going to open at noon., and then in the summer we closed at 11, , , I grew up doing this, so this is just what the civics do. This is your norm. This is the norm. Yeah. And, , , and that's, what's good about having the business today because when I was younger, 1516, 20 years old. And behind that window, serving milkshakes to all these kids that are going to the Lake going to see fireworks and you know, all of that., I had some issues with my parents over there, but of course now that's, that's what it is. So yeah. I mean, so what are you doing the opposite? So, so yeah, so that's, that's the that's yeah. Point. I was gonna say, that's gotta be the empty. So the, the trick is to, , leave here as much as possible, you know, go to the nice weather., so as soon as COVID is over and the traveling comes back, I mean, I'm going to see the world and I just

Randy: 39:00

going to chase the sun,

Rick: 39:02

the sun, you're going to, yeah, I'm just going to try to enjoy, you know, nice weather. And so . I mean, just traveling and see,

Randy: 39:12

and for all of the work that you do during the nice days in Cleveland, you're you like, Hey, when it's 12 inches of snow, right? Your right. Got to be somewhere enjoying

Rick: 39:23

biking. Yeah. There we go. But you did say something that was interesting. It is a balance because I'm so, and I, I found that out this year because th this was the first winter that I really didn't have a project. Like last winter I had my knee replaced. Okay. So that was my project. Okay. You know, rehabbing. All right. I'm so busy in the summer. I've worked every day, not all day. And I do have a night off, you know, Nikki comes in my manager, so I take time off. You have to, you know, to rest and regroup. But I, I am there because you're open seven days a week, seven days a week. So, , I'm there every day for a certain amount of time and I leave. But yeah, I mean, I worked so many hours in every day, so that's six months, times 30 that's I basically work 180 days straight and then nothing. Right. So it's like, okay, now what? So what, I've what I've realized. And that's what happened this past winter. I mean, I've traveled, but, but it was different for me. Traveling was different. Right. So that's been kind of, my mission of lately in my goals is to plan for my off. See, it's like off season training. There you go. Right, right. So, you know, what am I going to do in the off season to train? And that's what I have to do and then have fun, of course. Sure,

Randy: 40:50

sure. And I'm sure that the business, I mean, it's 60 plus years old, your family has been involved with it for 46 plus years. I'm sure you've seen a number of changes over the course of those times. What do you see around the corner? You know, what's on the horizon for civics. What do you see with the dairy Island? And I know you've put in a lot of changes and advancements, you mentioned the training. I know you put in, , POS systems and stuff, but what do you see kind of around the corner,

Rick: 41:21

well, one of the things that we're, I'm going to do this year, that's a big change when we started making our own homemade ice cream last year, But in this year, we're going to continue to do the same, but , now we're going to do vegan ice cream. Okay. And, and, um, no sugar added ice creams because , these are trends that are, that are going to be with us forever. Right. And, you know, people don't want to drink cow's milk anymore. So it's, it's about coconut milk. Okay. And so I'm going to make, you know, some really good vegan ice creams. And then of course, no sugar, no sugar added for the people that can't have sugar. Right. And, you know, we added a couple new sundaes and parfaits or whatever, I mean in shakes. So not all, you know, not a lot of changes this year, but as far as what the business looks like 10 years from now, or even five years from now, I just, I don't even really think about it anymore because I want to keep things. there's ideas of taking the business to new levels of new stores and franchising, right? Selling our ice cream in other retail supermarkets and shipping our ice cream across the country, food truck

Randy: 42:33

and trucks. Crazy. Right.

Rick: 42:35

And food trucks there, all these different opportunities, but I don't want to do any of that. Not now anyway, and I'm not saying I never will do that, but at this stage of the game, for me, I'm like really happy with what we have and concentrating on what we have instead of trying to expand and be something else., and in regards to food trucks, I did buy a school bus in 2017 and that was my intention to convert it., but I sold it last year because I've realized I don't want to, I don't want to cater anymore. I don't want to be in catering,, that's going off property. Right. And that's, you know, that would be a great piece of revenue. We could stay open longer, we can go anywhere., Not not there. Nope. No,

Randy: 43:17

I want to do it. Yep. All right. We're down to the bottom of the ninth. This is where I always ask our guests. What advice do you have for, uh, the rookies of the game?? Those starting out in business. I mean, you, your family, you guys,, you are the veterans you've been around the game for a long time now., how about, what are your thoughts about for folks who are just starting out in business and, or thinking about getting into business? What kind of guidance, words of wisdom do you have? Sure.

Rick: 43:47

First thing I can think of that comes to mind is something I just referred to. You know, a lot of people today, they don't okay. I'm going to open up a, a widget store. They don't want a widget store. They want 10 widgets stores. They want 20 widgets stores. Right. And this is just the world we live in today., In business, . And everything's turnkey and you, you know, you have 10 20 stores. So my advice would to people would be focus on your one thing, , you're one store, you know, and make that great. And then when you have the opportunity to duplicate that, , then worry about that. But I mean, I think, I think that's the thing, , , and what we sell, you know, the happiness, , that takes a certain amount of training and willingness to, to do that and to duplicate that., focus on focus on one thing, focus on your core business. Right. And make it great and make people happy. And then. And then look to, and then look to yeah, yeah. Down the road., and you know, just be ready to work hard. Right., in your business and all entrepreneurs know that, you know, th there's no such thing as nine to five when you have your own business and make sure it's something that you love, you know, that's a cliche, but that's so true. I mean, I'm, again, I'm fortunate, , it's, it's not that I love ice cream so much. It's just that I love that place so much. I grew up there. Right. And it's my family. And so it's not an ice cream stand to me. I said this to somebody else the other day. It's, it's not, , when people see us, Oh, that's an ice cream stand. Yeah. But not to me, , to me, it's my home and human's very personal. It's, it's personal and purpose and that's where the purpose comes in. And so that's

Randy: 45:46

thank you. Really enjoy delivering happiness.

Rick: 45:50

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's pretty much what I want to do for the rest of my life. Yeah. Yeah. I want to, you know, give back and, you know, to the community, right. I mean, like with the chamber. Sure.

Randy: 46:01

Okay, good. Well, good for you. Well, listen, Rick, thanks for being on the show. Absolutely enjoyed it. And, uh, you better believe I, you will see me in line,, getting my Bainbridge brownie. I'm looking forward to that day again. Um, and I do want to remind people so you can, , visit civics dairy Island. They're just right up the street here in chagrin. Go create your own ice cream for your. Create the winner. Then you get the, uh, the free ice cream for a year, which is like, that would be, that would be a big win in my house., , you can also go visit him on a dairy island.com and see all kinds of fun stuff that they have there. So, but again, Hey Rick, I really appreciate you guys, , in you being on the show. Uh, it's a lot of fun and that's the ball game. And so, listen, thanks for joining us today, everybody. And if you like our show, please tell your friends subscribe and review. And as we, I like to say, we'll see around the ballpark running the basis with small businesses is brought to you by 38 digital market, a digital marketing agency, committed to client growth with lead generation. Higher conversions and increased sales connect with us today at 38 digital market.