We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hannah Russell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hannah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Lightbox was born out of a dark time. It was 2020, and Covid19 had shut down much of the food industry, or at least had transformed it. The world felt bleak. We found a little brightness in continuing to dream about starting a family-founded food brand. We moved from south Georgia to Nashville area in 2020 strictly on a conviction that God had more opportunity for us in Tennessee. My husband Jason and I have been in the food industry for the majority of our careers. From luxury resorts and five-star restaurants to milking cows and processing chickens on a dairy farm. We love food. We love to serve. We love the way in mostly all cultures, food is what brings people together and is the stage for where lots of memories are made. We wanted a legacy food brand that did just that, brought people together and offered something all generations can find delight in. We knew we wanted a business that we could do alongside our kids and pass down to them eventually. Ice cream is multigenerational. A timeless treasure that has proven to help lighten or brighten any day. Our faith is a big part of who we are and what we do. We believe we were all made to shine and illuminate this world that can get dark at times. Our mission is to pour more light into the world through ice cream.
Hannah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Jason is a classically trained chef. I was in the food manufacturing industry prior to launching Lightbox. While on paper we have the credentials, we still have so much to learn! I even went to Ice Cream School at Penn State University and still feel like a fish out of water sometimes! We decided to focus on soft serve specifically because it was our preferred kind of ice cream and it felt really underrated. The only soft serve you could find was at a drive-thru and it was usually made from powder. We also wanted to further differentiate ourselves and offer a non-dairy product. It was important for us to have an edge and set ourselves apart from the traditional ice cream truck. We are innovative, creative thinkers and recognize the new-age conscious consumers have higher expectations than a powder mix from a drive-thru. Quality products and ingredients are important to us and our brand.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Tons of books! I love to read and hear other inspiring stories from other founders. Ironically enough, my favorite founder books is not another ice cream entrepreneur, foodie friend or even a woman! It’s Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. This book is a must read for any kind of dreamer. Nike is a halo brand. It feels unattainable and far reaching when comparing it to our current business or maybe any startup. But Knight says “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” Building a business is all about small stones. The consistent, persistent, pursuit of the next step or bigger picture. We constantly have to remind ourselves what “the big picture” is, or what it is we’re pursuing. That helps keep us moving stones. In our business, there have been “big stone” moments for sure, but I have learned that there is beauty in the mundane. Steady beauty. And sometimes you have to step out of the weeds to see all the stones you’ve gathered and be proud.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Having a mobile business comes with many pros and equally as many cons. We’ve had our resilience tested many many times it feels like, but one in particular comes to mind as of recent. On what felt like the hottest day of the year in August, we began getting ready for our first of three private events. It typically takes about 2o minutes for the ice cream to freeze inside the machine in our truck. When 30 minutes, then 45 minutes go by and the start time of the event getting closer, the ice cream wasn’t freezing. It was clear something what wrong with our machine. We call our mechanic and he couldn’t meet us so we had to drive to him putting us behind 30 minutes. Finally got to him, he was able to put a temporary fix on the machine and we were able to make it to the party only an hour late. Whew! One down and two more to go!The second event of the day was with our cart and after arriving to the location and seeing that there was significant incline, against our better judgement, we decided to take the risk and put our cart in place where the client desired. Sure enough our cart bottomed out and broke! The event was still able to carry on without much notice from the client that a catastrophe had happened. RIP our first cart! The third and last event of the day was in our truck and feeling somewhat confident that the hardest part of the day was behind us, we were ready to work out magic! We were at our staging location just a 1 minute drive from the event. The ice cream was ready and so was I! I was backing out and backed right into the ditch! I kept trying to floor it but it wasn’t helping. I ran to put sticks, rocks, dirt anything I could to gain traction but I was stuck stuck. I tried pushing the truck out of the ditch, I tried reversing and accelerating, I tried it all. After about 30 minutes, I knew I was helpless. I called the client to let her know I’d be there soon but the party was starting and my truck needed to be in place before guests started to arrive. I called everyone I could to see if they could come help me push the truck out, but everyone was at least 30 minutes away. Finally, the client called back and since they were close to where I was offered to come and help me. My client’s husband and about 5 other guys arrived to push my truck out of the ditch. With 2 pushes I was out! Told the client I would be at his house soon. They left and I was on my way…so I thought…I got in to drive and my truck wouldn’t move. We had burned the transmission up. I couldn’t go anywhere. Even though I was less than 1 minute from where I needed to be, I couldn’t get there. Exhausted and humiliated, I still didn’t want the birthday boy to be without ice cream at his August birthday. So I filled cups loaded up my minivan and drove over to their house and delivered mostly=melted ice cream cups. The day ate us alive. Every single piece to our business broke that day. Our ice cream machine, our cart and our truck. And truthfully, our spirit too. But we have a fight in us that can’t be broken for long. We believe the world needs more light and we know we have the power to give it through this little ice cream brand. So we rebuilt a better and stronger cart, found a longer term solution to our ice cream machine, and replaced our truck’s transmission. What we learned is that every day isn’t going to be sunshine and sprinkles, but we know how tough we are now and every problem always has a solution. And the clients rebooked us so it was a win in the end!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bealightbox.com
- Instagram: lightboxnash
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552480623677
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightbox-ice-cream
Image Credits
Lydia Gritter @theblondlyway, Eli Adelman @tenbearsproduction