We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashley Ebbert a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ashley, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
Yes! I LOVE being a business owner! I’ve never liked being told what to do so being my own boss is exactly what’s best for me. I truly don’t think I expected to have to be so wrapped up in my business 24/7, but I’m slowly figuring out how to create a work-life balance. I can’t say that I’ve ever thought about having a regular job. I enjoy the chaos, the lessons we’re learning and just figuring this out day by day.
After being a stay-at-home mom for 12 years, I was beginning to think I wasn’t going to have a purpose in life. Ramblin’ Rounds really helped me find who I am again.
Ashley, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Of course! I’m Ashley, also now known as the Donut Girl. I have been married to my high school sweetheart, Jordan, for 12 years. He’s the master carpenter behind Ramblin’ Rounds & the absolute best cashier you’ll ever meet. I have always had a passion for food. As much as I love to eat it, I love cooking & baking it, too!
I was a stay at home mom to my 3 children from 2009 to 2021. While I’ll always feel like that’s the best job I’ll ever have, I was so ready to do something for myself once they all became school-aged. For years, I dreamt of opening up a bakery, but didn’t want all the overhead or all of the responsibilities that came with a brick & mortar so I started looking into food trucks. I wanted my food truck to look like something no one else has & my food just the same. That led me to hot & fresh mini donuts. I found the perfect mini donut fryer & knew I was going to make this work.
I saw a camper at a wedding that was rehabbed into a bar & my vision of exactly what I wanted grew from there. We found a camper on Facebook Marketplace for a few hundred dollars & the rest was history. Jordan, gutted and completely re-built the entire trailer for me from top to bottom. He would work his full-time construction job during the day & come home to work on the trailer in every little bit of time we had. There was about a 6 month period of feeling like zombies because we were so sleep deprived, but it was so worth it.
We’ve been in business for about 13 months now & it’s absolutely not what I imagined. I thought we would book a wedding here & there, maybe pop into a few farmers markets now & then. This mini donut business has turned into a full-time job & then some! We’re completely booked through July of 2023 for weekends & construction on a second trailer is underway…If we can ever get a minute out of trailer one to work on it, of course.
We spend our weekend mornings mostly in neighborhood community areas but we spend a lot of time at school & church functions, corporate events, & wherever else we can park our trailer, too!
Ramblin’ Rounds stands out from others mostly because our entire brand has been built around our vintage camper; Our set-up really draws guests in & truly acts as a prop at events because it’s just different! Our customer service & high quality product also sets us apart. I’m so proud of the reputation Jordan has built for us at our window. He doesn’t want to just take your order, he’s there to build a relationship with every guest & does an outstanding job at it. By using the highest quality ingredients, we serve mini donuts & lemon shake-ups unlike any others! We offer a traditional menu of classics like cinnamon sugar & glaze but we also have a growing menu of signature specials. The Bacon My Day French Toast is our top seller! Imagine cinnamon sugar’d minis covered in a scratch-made maple glaze topped with bacon & Ghirardelli caramel…delightful! All of our glazes & toppings are scratch-made by yours truly for every event. We don’t cut any corners when it comes to quality at Ramblin’ Rounds & it shows!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
On April 20, 2022, just six months into living the donut truck life, we were in a terrible accident with the trailer. We were on our way to Wentzville City Hall to setup for a morning event when we hydroplaned & the trailer came off the truck smashing into a bridge median & skidding about 50 yards down wire medians. The drivers side of the trailer inside and out sustained extensive damage….I was sure it was over at that point.
We had to get off the road so we got the trailer back onto the truck & headed back to our commissary, hoping the trailer didn’t crumble on the way. I had so many thoughts racing through my head; do i cancel upcoming events, there goes my income, there goes all of our hard work down the drain.
We safely got back to commissary & started emptying the trailer. We had quite a bit of broken equipment, all plumbing was dismantled & the drivers side wall was completely torn off but I quickly realized we’re going to be able to fix this. As bad as it was, i said to Jordan “We’re absolutely not trashing this trailer. Grab your drill & screws.” He wasn’t having it but I wasn’t taking no for an answer. Nothing new there!
While I cleaned the inside & got new water tanks & plumbing supplies ordered, Jordan got to work on the exterior. He used rolls of aluminum coil to piece the trailer back together until we could get new siding for the exterior. It wasn’t perfect but it did the job. Jordan worked for about 10 hours to get the trailer ready to get back on the road.
It wasn’t the perfect little trailer we started with but we were back to work in 2 days. Fortunately, our insurance covered all the damage. My heart is still a little broken that it’ll never be the same but I can’t express how thankful I am that I’m still in business.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
Jordan and I were at an event with our friends over at Travelin’ TOMS coffee when they told us they were headed to the Backstreet Boys concert. After my initial reaction of being jealous, I said “Hey! Wanna take them some donuts?!” Of course he obliged so I made the best variety box of minis I could make & they were on their way.
Turns out they couldn’t get them directly to the Backstreet Boys but what’s the next best thing? Management at the venue, right?! They loved our donuts & reached out within an hour of enjoying our minis to get us lined up as vendors at The Hollywood Casino Amphitheater! Our first show was the Morgan Wallen concert & we loved every second of it.
I was nervous to even ask Travelin’ Toms to take them because I thought they might think I’m too much or trying too hard but it paid off.
After this, I came to the realization that I need to just go for it in every aspect of life. No holding back, the worst they could’ve said was no, right?
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Instagram.com/ramblinrounds
- Facebook: Facebook.com/ramblinrounds
Image Credits
PMP images