Tony Lamb is the founder and CEO of Kona Ice, which is known for joining the mobile shaved ice franchise (2025 franchise 500) for its tropical trucks, a children’s friendly Flower View station and deep community. Lamb started in sales, then launched Kona Ice in 2007, initially as a side stirring to teach his children about business. They found that the ice cream truck model is old, often associated with poor quality and incredible operators. When he considered shaved snow – with his low products and labor costs and his more interactive nature than ice cream – he knew it was right.
Since Kona Ice, the national franchise of 2,200 units has increased, which has returned more than 200 million to schools and local organizations. Despite the growth, the brand’s annual royalty fee has not changed in nearly two decades.
During pandemic diseases, the lamb extended its portfolio with Coffee of Travelin Tom, a mobile coffee concept (at#217 franchise 500) was named after his father and Beverly NK cookies, a sweet truck affected by his mother.
Learn how the lamb made a proof of recession, did good FEEL franchise-and what is the advice for businessmen here.
Answers of length and explanation. Amendments have been made.
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How did your former experience prepare you to start a mobile -shared ice business?
I started selling a vacuum cleaner during college, door -to -door in Kentucky. I eventually graduated and operated six offices, 300 cells were full and made a “rock star” money for a while. This is a tough business, but it teaches you everything about small business: marketing, customer conversation, souring and building teams. After that, I consulted on marketing for a while. This gave me the confidence to think, If I can detect space and mobile marketing, I can detect an ice cream truck.
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What gave birth to the idea of ​​Kona Ice?
One summer, I was in the backyard of my house, and an ice cream truck came down the street. My children ran towards her, and this was everything you warned about: a shirt -equipped man in the white van that had some stickers. I thought, This industry is already a part of our culture, but it has been dragged down to the lowest dominator. If we make something beautiful, open and interactive, what will happen to parents?
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Many people have excellent ideas. How did you go to your first truck with an idea?
I knew how great the car liked because I had made a mobile billboard truck earlier. I hired an engineer and a designer, putting everything from sequence to consumer conversation and made the first truck in 2007. I thought I would have five trucks as a side to teach my children about business. But when I allowed someone in the next county and they succeeded, I knew that I had something bigger.
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You just started franchising after a year. Why so fast?
A boy saw the truck on the holiday and wanted one in Nash Will. I realized that the best way to keep franchising brand firm. Safety and trust were central, and you can’t find that if anyone can run their own version. I have set royalty at 000 3,000 in a year – and I have never picked it up. I didn’t want to be greedy. I wanted the franchises to keep the lion’s share in money.
What were the key innovations that helped to increase the ice ice?
The biggest is the Flower View, which is a self -serving floor station on the edge of the truck. It made the children feel “candy store keys” and justified the price. In the cold climate, the franchisees we have added Konna Mani so that they can work in indoor events. And, from the first day, our franchisees made money, which gave growth.
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The pandemic diseases wiped out all the events for a long time. How did you adopt?
We were 95 % of the event, and within two weeks, each incident ended. I spent two days in the fetus position, then we launched the “curbside corner” using the adaptable delivery software. Online users stopped. We improved the paths and text their arrival hours. He saved us in April and May. From there, we created a million 4 million customs platforms, Kona OS, which now handles everything from routing to marketing. It has made scaling much easier.
The corner is also known to return the ice. How did it start?
In 2008, during the economic crisis, the PTA told me that they had no budget. I offered to come to school, sell children and return PTA to 25 to 30 %. Shaveda has a great margin in the snow, so why not? It closed us in the community – we were not just selling any product. We were helping to fund helmets, playgrounds, uniforms. It became our culture, and now our franchises have paid more than $ 200 million.
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Since then you have launched Travelin Tom’s coffee and Beverly N’s cookies. What was the inspiration to launch these brands?
During the quadmate time, I dug some ideas that I was sitting on. We typed a coffee truck and named it in the name of our father – a colorful, vegetarian man. He took off. Then I developed a cookie and an ice cream truck called my mother’s name, using her college picture. Both brands use the same mobile vending principles that make the corner a success.
By turning back, which one has you made the most important decision that kept the corona on this path?
Don’t change royalty. Investors have asked me to go to one percent, but this is not what we are. Keeping it at 000 3,000 annually makes the franchise healthy and relieves competition. You can’t build what you make and what we charge – and I want people to work.
Tony Lamb is the founder and CEO of Kona Ice, which is known for joining the mobile shaved ice franchise (2025 franchise 500) for its tropical trucks, children’s friendly Flower View station and deep community. Lamb started in sales, then launched Kona Ice in 2007, initially as a side stirring to teach his children about business. They found that the ice cream truck model is old, often associated with poor quality and incredible operators. When he considered shaved snow – with his low products and labor costs and his more interactive nature than ice cream – he knew it was right.
Since Kona Ice, the national franchise of 2,200 units has increased, which has returned more than 200 million to schools and local organizations. Despite the growth, the brand’s annual royalty fee has not changed in nearly two decades.
During pandemic diseases, the lamb extended its portfolio with Coffee of Travelin Tom, a mobile coffee concept (at#217 franchise 500) was named after his father and Beverly NK cookies, a sweet truck affected by his mother.
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