We recently connected with Beth Mensing and have shared our conversation below.

Beth, appreciate you joining us today. Any thoughts about whether to ask friends and family to support your business. What’s okay in your view?

Asking friends and family to help support your business can be uncomfortable. They have already bought countless pints of ice cream. They have been cheering you on since you started. Some of them have even helped you make and sell your products at events. When I embarked on the journey to open a brick and mortar, I knew that I would potentially need to ask for support. I was very set on handling all the hard business stuff by myself. I trudged through business plans, projections, and meetings with banks without asking for help. I finally started opening up and sharing with people around me and their response was always “how can I help?” I called upon one friend to talk about how they started their first restaurant. Getting their perspective and understanding their experience helped me think differently about the path I needed to take. Then approaching another friend, who is also my lawyer, to talk about investor structures and turned into building a Kickstarter campaign. Conversations with friends and family have been a way for me to bounce ideas off of them and to think more critically about my business.

The hardest part about asking for support from my friends/family has been asking for financial support. When I created my Kickstarter campaign, I was blown away by the response from people close to me. I even wrote an email to my family, all of whom know how much our Grandma Norma meant to me, asking them to contribute if they could. While it felt uncomfortable, I was able to move past that. I accepted that the worst thing that could happen is that they would say no.

Beth, 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?

I grew up in a family that would get together for ice cream every Sunday evening from Memorial Day to Labor Day. When my Grandma Norma passed away I began making ice cream with my Grandpa Gene so I could spend more time with him. This turned into experimenting with smaller batches and making more interesting flavors from scratch. Pints by Beth officially started in 2014 when I was working as a server at a small neighborhood restaurant. I worked with the chef to create an ice cream to be served at a beer dinner. I made various ice cream flavors for this restaurant and the chef wanted to put a name on the menu so Pints by Beth was born.

Over the last 10 years I have made more ice cream flavors then I can remember. I have worked with other small businesses and clients to create custom flavors. I’ve offered flights of 3 or 4 flavors on a theme for folks to try multiple offerings. It has been a lot of fun to become more and more creative. I love creating new flavors and pushing the boundaries of what people think ice cream can be.

When the brick and mortar space opens I will be offering hardpacked, hand scooped, small batch ice cream. The space will pay homage to the neighborhood of Highland Park in its heyday of the 60s & 70s. It will be a family friendly space that will encourage customers to create their own tradition around having ice cream every weekend.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

A big part of the decision to make Highland Park the home for my brick and mortar was the ability to utilize a grant from the City of Des Moines. I could receive up to $50,000 in matched funds from that program alone. I sought out other grant programs that would help come up with the total amount for the project. In total I have been able to utilize just about $110,000 in grant funds to leverage to get the remaining funding. The process for securing a loan has been very challenging. I subsequently decided to pursue a Kickstarter campaign to raise capital for the project. By raising around $35,000 in capital I could reduce the total I need to borrow from the bank. I still haven’t officially secured my loan, but I feel more confident in the process then I have before.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

The best source of new clients has been word of mouth. I have worked really hard to foster positive relationships with people who have purchased my ice cream. I welcome the opportunity to talk about my ice cream and describe each flavor. I regularly interact with my social media to answer followers questions and to encourage their voices to be heard. This personalized attention and stewarding these relationships, in addition to making a premium product, has resulted in a stellar reputation. It is extremely flattering to hear my customers talk so highly of not only my ice cream, but also my character. People love trying a great product, especially when its made by a great person.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pintsbybeth.com
• Instagram: pintsbybeth
• Facebook: pintsbybeth