As the Ice Cream Churns

We've been building out our new ice cream parlor, the Social, for the past few months.  Opening Day is just a few days away.  We're not quite ready, and we're not quite sure we will be, but one way or the other we'll be open soon.  Come and hear the latest challenges as we get ready to launch the Social.

We're midway through construction on our new shop.  We discuss the ups and downs of building out a shop in 2021, our fears and our excitement as we move closer to opening the Social ( www.theSocialBrooklyn.com)

We walk you through the first steps we need to take to open our new shop, and the hurdles we still have to overcome.

We signed a lease on a new space for a brand new company on March 16th 2021, one year to the day after we filed for bankruptcy. We talk about the new company, the meaning behind the name and what led us to this point.

This week we answer many of the questions listeners have had throughout the podcast.

Starting and running a business with your partner has it's own set of difficulties. Raising a family, growing a business and maintaining your relationship can be even more challenging.  This week we explore what it means to raise a family, raise a business and how best to stay balanced and joyous throughout. 

We'd opened our first shop on Vanderbilt Ave.  with our own money. When we decided to grow Ample Hills and open a factory we had to borrow money from the bank. The only way the bank would loan the business money was if Brian and I signed a personal guarantee.  That means if the business goes belly up (bankrupt), then we still owe that money. 

After we'd exhausted all efforts to raise money, we filed for bankruptcy.  We filed on  March 15th,  the day before New York City went into lockdown due to COVID-19.  It was a very dark and scary time on so many levels and yet we had high hopes for the value and sale of the company we created from scratch.

It was summer of 2019 when we learned we had a cash flow problem and wouldn't make it through the winter. We spent the next 9 months trying to raise money to raise the company.