Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Tuscaloosa and Northport!
Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
Harrison Jones: Crafting Sweet Success at Kilwins in Stadium Trace
What makes a scoop of ice cream more than just a treat? Harrison Jones, the dynamic owner of Kilwins in Stadium Trace, Hoover, AL, takes us on a delicious journey through the legacy of his family’s sweet success. From handcrafted chocolates to the freshest fudge, Harrison reveals how his mother’s dream of owning a candy store blossomed into a thriving franchise that spreads joy across multiple states. Discover the unique satisfaction Harrison finds in brightening a customer’s day with just a scoop of Kilwins’ super premium ice cream.
What truly sets Kilwins apart in the competitive world of sweet shops? Harrison dives into the brand’s steadfast commitment to using premium, responsibly sourced ingredients, highlighting ethical practices in the chocolate industry. He also clears up common misconceptions about Kilwins' products, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the meticulous craftsmanship that goes into every indulgent bite. Beyond the sweetness of the business, Harrison opens up about his life outside the store, where he enjoys simple pleasures like fishing and golfing.
Tune in to this heartwarming episode filled with sweet stories, business insights, and the celebration of a family’s dream turned reality.
#KilwinsHoover #StadiumTraceTreats #SweetSuccessBirmingham #EthicalChocolate #PremiumIceCream #FamilyBusinessBirmingham #GNPBirmingham
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Patricia Blondheim.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, Patricia Blondheim, and today we have good neighbor Harrison Jones, and Harrison is the owner of Kilwins, which is located in Stadium Trace in Hoover, Harrison. How are you this morning? I'm doing great this morning.
Speaker 3:How about yourself?
Speaker 2:I'm doing wonderfully. I love starting the day with ice cream, I like ending the day with ice cream and I like having ice cream for lunch. Tell me a little bit about my very favorite thing about Kilwins and what makes it special.
Speaker 3:Sure, well, so, yeah, so we own the Kilwins and Stadium Trace Part of our business. What makes us special, just in terms of the things we sell? We sell chocolates, fudge, ice cream, caramel apples, caramel corns and peanut brittle any kind of brittle you can think of. Well, it makes us special, kind of sets us apart. One is that everything that we sell is handmade, whether that be in our store, in our kitchen in Hoover, or that's made for us in Petoskey, or that's made for us in Petoskey and then shipped down to us to sell to the customers.
Speaker 3:Everything we sell we would consider a premium product, especially when it comes to our ice cream. It's got the highest butterfat percentage that you can have in an ice cream and that puts us in the super premium category when it comes to ice cream. And that, um, you know that that puts us in the super premium category. Excuse me, when, uh, when it comes to, uh, to ice cream, talk so, um, but we, um, you know we're, we're locally owned. We, um, you know we're kind of looking for our niche in the community and, uh, you know, we, uh, we hope that the, the specialty of our products can help us find a home there.
Speaker 2:Well, what's the most rewarding part of owning this Kilwins?
Speaker 3:I would say probably the most rewarding on a day-to-day is just the interactions that we get to have. I know that might be a little cliche, you've probably heard that once or twice before, but you know we're a little bit different in that. You know we're not, you know we're handing you either an ice cream or sweet treat over the counter instead of you know just your other normal retail environment. So we really kind of have an edge on. You know creating, you know bringing a little happiness into the world and and and and you know, maybe changing somebody's day, maybe, you know, adding a little pizzazz to, to maybe not the best day for somebody. So you know, just talking to the community and getting that interact with them on a day-to-day basis is is probably probably the biggest reward, I would say.
Speaker 2:Oh, I agree. I've said before that my dream job is to deliver flowers. I want the door to open and I want to hand people flowers, but I think it's right up there with scooping ice cream. It's pretty close, I would say. So can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to be a Kill Wins franchise owner?
Speaker 3:Sure. So actually when I was in high school, my parents were both looking for a career change, kind of at the same time, and they, you know, we, stayed up a bunch of nights looking at different things we were thinking about. They were thinking about getting into the franchise world and my mom had always wanted to own a candy store. When I was younger there was one in where I'm originally from, in downtown Columbus, georgia. There was an old candy store there that my mom and I would go to sometimes after school and you know that was kind of our little spot just me and her, you know kind of decompress or catch up on each other's lives, things like that. And so she always wanted to own one.
Speaker 3:And we came across this concept one day on a vacation in Florida A lot of kill ones down in Florida and we happened to see one when we were down there and ended up looking into them and that's what, that's the business that they chose to go with. So we started. We started with one store. We actually put it in that downtown Columbus area, right where, right near where the old one used to be, and we've we've expanded since. We've got stores in Knoxville.
Speaker 3:Tennessee, Atlanta, Georgia, Destin, Florida, the villages retirement community down in Florida, another one, a second one that we just opened on the other side of Columbus in Midland Commons. So we've come a little bit from our humble little beginning in downtown Columbus, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, that's a lot of growth in a short period of time. Can you describe some of the biggest challenges you faced when you first started and in your growth?
Speaker 3:Absolutely Well. The first challenges for me was just, you know, realizing that our little company was becoming not such a little company and that I was going to have a lot more responsibility on a day to day than I was used to having being a little bit younger back then. But challenges as far as the business goes, honestly, you know, to Kilwin's part, they do make the business running it the day to day. They make it very easy and they're very supportive in their back office and you know their customer support lines, things like that. But you know, the biggest challenge would probably be, from a business standpoint, it's just finding people you trust. You know I can't be in Knoxville and Atlanta and Florida at the same time or even the same day.
Speaker 3:From a business standpoint it's just finding people you trust. You know I can't be in Knoxville and Atlanta and Florida all at the same time or even the same day. So you know, finding good managers and people that are, that are willing to, you know, kind of come in and feel like they own a piece of the business if you will. You know at least the image and you know the day-to-day customer relations side, efficiency, things like that. So probably finding and luckily, you know we have a, we have a great team. Now you know we've worked at building this team for quite a while. So you know we're very happy with where we're at right now. But you know, finding good solid, good solid leaders in a time where it seems like not many people want to lead, that much is probably been our, our biggest challenge thus far.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Do people come in to Killwinds with any misconceptions?
Speaker 3:about your product.
Speaker 3:I wouldn't say, you know, luckily we do have a little bit of brand recognition, you know, since we are most, I would say, mostly national, we're almost in every state, just not yet.
Speaker 3:But in terms of what those misconceptions are, you know, a lot of people might think that you know we bring some of this stuff in. Some of it looks a little intricate to make and things like that. And you know we really, we truly do make all our products, or they're made for us, in Petoskey, at our, in our home kitchen, some of the smaller items that we just can't keep up with production, with in our little stores. And then I would say, you know, not so much as a misconception, because it is true, you know we are, we are a little bit pricier than than, than, you know, the next chocolate shop or ice cream shop down the street. But it is truly because you know we're selling such a premium product that's above and over some of the other stuff that you're going to find chocolates wise or sweets wise that it does, once you, once you make that switch, you do realize that it is worth the extra little bit there to have that extra indulgence, if you will.
Speaker 2:Well, people might think ice cream is ice cream, but really ice cream is a bunch of premium products. Your ice cream is premium products put together. You know, not necessarily available products, but premium. So can you tell me a little bit about that sourcing?
Speaker 3:but premium. So can you tell me a little bit about that sourcing? Yeah, so all of our stuff, from our cocoa to our chocolate, to our ingredients, from our ice cream, is all fair trade. So you know, in the cacao world, in the chocolate world, that goes a little bit deeper. You know that goes all the way down to the where it's sourced originally from, in Africa, wherever that may be. So we do like to ensure that the things that we are using, ingredients-wise have been sourced responsibly, that we're paid a fair price for. You know that lets that sector of business, you know, remain healthy and competitive as well.
Speaker 3:But we, in terms of our ice cream, you're absolutely correct in that the ingredients that we use are very premium and then up to the production. You know we have an Ohio farm or, excuse me, a dairy farm. In Ohio they only make Kill One's ice cream. They make it for us. They use all our proprietary recipes. You can't get our ice cream anywhere other than in a Killen's. You know you'll never see us in the freezer section of a you know big box store, big retailer, things like that. And you know we, from the ice cream to the things that we make in store, you know, a lot of care and a lot of attention is put into those items. As you know, we strive to serve only the best and, you know, only the freshest product that we can in our stores, our customers.
Speaker 2:Small, small batches and, you know, use fair trade products. Responsible sourcing, and that is people are more and more concerned now because we're worried about it the sourcing for chocolate, and I just kind of wanted to talk a little bit about how important it is that you're using free chocolate. It is more expensive, but it is. It's good. Directly going to directly relate to human rights, which we talk about all the time, but also the sustainability of cacao in the world.
Speaker 2:So, the fact that we have to shell out maybe a couple extra dollars for our chocolate ice cream helps to ensure that we're going to have cacao in the future. Helps to ensure that we're going to have cacao in the future. Because, if we keep going the way we're going right now, with the cheap chocolate that's not responsibly sourced, we're going to end up not having chocolate in 25 years.
Speaker 3:Correct. Yes, ma'am, it's a lot harder. You know some of those bigger brands. You know they do dilute the market quite a bit with their products. You know it seems like they're everywhere. You can find them everywhere. You know they're practically giving stuff away at some times. Unfortunately, not all those sourcing methods that they use are as responsible as maybe they should be, but it's certainly not something that you have to worry about inside of a Kill Ones. We have our fair trade tent cards in our store that explain all this to any customer that's curious and wants to know kind of how we come across our cacao or how we acquire that stuff. And we can certainly say that it's done in the fairest and not only most sustainable. Say that it's done in the fairest and not only most sustainable, but you know the best way for the people who are actually farming and producing that cacao that it can be.
Speaker 2:Well, when you're not, you know saving the chocolate world and making people happy one scoop at a time. What do you do to make yourself happy? What do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:Well, I've always. You know I grew up in I'm from. I say I'm from Columbus, I'm really from Phoenix city, alabama, very small town down at the other end of 280 here down past Auburn. So I'm a relatively relatively simple guy. In my free time I'm, if I'm not here with the wife and the dog, I'm typically out somewhere on a lake fishing, or you might every once in a while find me on a golf course, but that's fishing, whether that be inshore, in the Gulf or on any lake across the country. Generally. If you can't find me, it's probably the best place to start.
Speaker 2:That's the best place just to take a breath, isn't it?
Speaker 3:It, uh, there's. There's nothing second to it. That's, uh, it is, it's, it's absolutely the best, uh, best thing anybody could be doing.
Speaker 2:Well, what would you like our listeners to take away about Kilwins?
Speaker 3:Um, you know we. Um, you know we. I've been asked kind of a similar question. First, you know we're we're so excited and, you know, honored to be as accepted into the Hoover area as we have been so far. You know, we're still a young business here. We still haven't, you know, reached our peak here by any means and we, in terms of takeaway, we really would like, you know, those who might not have stopped by just to stop by, we're not asking anybody to buy anything they don't want to buy. But if you come meet us, you know come hang out, come see the store. You know we think it, our presentation and our products, you know kind of do the selling for us. You know we're just more interested in meeting the people and getting to know the people that are around us and, like I said in the beginning, you know, finding that niche spot in the community that we can kind of nuzzle into and, you know, stick around here for for a long, long time.
Speaker 2:Now, how can our listeners who want to have that premium ice cream like me, how do they come by and contact you? Where can they find you?
Speaker 3:Um, so we're, uh, we're in the Stadium Trace, uh, shopping development. Uh, we're across from Alabama Goods. Um, right before you get to Big Whiskey, we're across from Alabama Goods, right before you get to Big Whiskey the store. So we have our store email alhoover.226 at killonescom. You know, any questions or concerns or anything like that, you can certainly reach out to us there. But you know we do have our killonescom slash stadium tray so we'll pull us, we'll pull you up to our our store's webpage within the franchise. But you know it is ice cream and it is chocolate. So the only way you can really take in the whole experience is to come down and have a sample, or or just come take in some of the smells that you get being in our store, especially when we're making waffle cones or cooking a fresh caramel.
Speaker 2:I'm ashamed of how hungry I am right now.
Speaker 3:I'm not making it easy for you by any means.
Speaker 2:You're not, you're not. This is a very difficult podcast for me to do, but thank you, harrison. Thank you so much and I'll link to all that in the description below. I really have enjoyed meeting you and learning more about Killwinds, and you'll be seeing me soon.
Speaker 3:Well, we hope so and you know, like I said when we were on the phone, we do appreciate this opportunity. It's very big for us and you know we promise to make good on anything that we say, you know, in terms of satisfaction with our products or just having a good time talking to us in the store. We'll always make good on that promise.
Speaker 2:I have no doubt. Keep making the world happy.
Speaker 3:Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbirminghamcom. That's gnpbirminghamcom, or call 205-952-0148.