Rising Stars: Meet Caitlyn Dowdle of Ohio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Caitlyn Dowdle.

Caitlyn, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I worked here at ice cream island under the previous owners Kevin & Tammy Best for several years until they wanted to sell the business and when I heard they were going to sell I knew I wanted to buy it. So my husband and I talked it over, as I always wanted to own my own business and we came to an agreement with the previous owners we ran the business for 2 years then officially bought the business in 2019. I loved working here in high school & out of school it was so fun I worked as much as I could

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s not always easy & smooth as people would imagine you have very expensive equipment break at times that needs fixed or replaced, during covid was a struggle at times, sometimes employees call
Off on the worst days. For the most part we run smooth but you always run into some sort of hiccup along the way. One thing I think people don’t think about is being an owner you’re constantly working no matter if you’re actually at work or not there’s always something to do between working, doing schedules, making errand runs, getting supplies, calling our distributors to place orders, answering texts/phone calls, payroll, keeping track of over 45 employees, making sure everyone is doing their job. There’s always something to do so sometimes you run into struggles but you must keep going and the show must go on. I wouldn’t trade it though for anything

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We are very well known for our large portion sizes on about everything but especially our soft serve cone sizes. We also went viral for our jar shakes which we have some specialty ones here and there. We have several items especially the jars that others close by to us don’t have on their menu as most of our other items everyone has so that kind of sets us apart. I’m most proud of how we have expanded in the short time we have started this journey we now have 2 locations one in Cadiz and one in Wintersville along with a mobile ice cream truck

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I think having employees that smile, are kind to our customers and always in a good mood is very important it makes people feel at home and want to come back. Customers are always saying to me you have the friendliest workers and I take much pride in that. I want to make the customer feel like they are part of our ice cream family

Contact Info:

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