We recently connected with Kevyn Lee-Wellington and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kevyn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I moved to Los Angeles as a result of Hurricane Katrina. I had just graduated in the Spring from the illustrious Tuskegee University. I moved home that Friday and the Hurricane happen on that Sunday. My paternal grandmother was missing and my maternal grandfather was missing. My extended family was fragmented across the south. I was feeling intellectually liberated having just completed college, so I left my family during the height of the debacle. I drove non-stop straight to California and directly to the American Red Cross. The ARC put me in a shelter and gave me $1000.00 on a gift card. I new I would need to buy suits and clothes so that I could interview. I would walk Venice Beach, hot, tired and depressed and I want a sno-ball. There were no snow-balls only frozen yogurt and ice cream. I had a thought, that I will bring New Orleans to Southern California.

I focused on my corporate career and ascended to the role of Vice President of Operations for US Foods. In 2020 when Covid-19 happened I said that I was tired of working for other people. So what I thought was a 16-year dream differed…God proved to be a destiny fulfilled. And well the rest is history.

Kevyn , 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 have worked in management my entire professional career. I strongly believe working with some of the biggest companies such as Amazon, PepsiCo, UPS, and US Foods; have allowed me to take allot of the best practices from all of these different industries and incorporate them into Fluffy’s Sno-Balls. Fluffy’s Sno-Balls is an exciting, systemically strong, and a fiscally responsible company. We are a company with heart.

Being a Black Entreprenuer, it is vitally important to me that we are an inclusive company but in particular, to the needs of our customers. . We often times say, “Fluffy’s Sno-Balls is a place where no one is invisible.” Our product selection of flavors is the largest in the entire state of California. We have over 70+ flavors and is Home of the Cheesecake “stuffed” sno-ball. And for the big “WOW” is we can make any of our flavors sugar-free!

Each and every day I drill to my team on let’s make sure we focus on the basics and pay keen attention to detail. Serving exceptionally delicious hand-crafted shave ice sno-balls, is just part of what we do. We are in the “customer experience” business that happens to sell New Orleans sno-balls. At Fluffy’s Sno-Balls we are always challenging our team to strive for higher heights, be creative, daring and bold! We have brought some of the most innovative and unique flavors to the Shave Ice industry such as Dinosaur, and Dill Pickle to my specific favorite Li Hing Mui to Buttered Popcorn. Our customers and the experience they receive is tantamount to our cGMP Safety practices and Taste of our sno-balls.

Our daily commitment to excellence is reflected on YELP & Google with 5-star ratings with over 400+ customer written reviews. We ride for our customers and they love us and we love them back! The experience you get at Fluffy’s Sno-Balls is unlike any other shave ice company in our industry. We are about providing a holistic experience that will leave customers coming back for more…and because they deserve it! In business, customer service is languishing and people are so use to not being treated as if it is an honor for any company to receive their hard earned money for their products. We are immensely appreciative and loyal to our customers.

Fluffy’s Sno-Balls is growing and we are actively in the process of opening our second location in Los Angeles. Not only are we opening a second location; but also, we now have the capacity to catering anywhere in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Fluffy’s Sno-Balls is a National Minority Supplier Development Council certified Minority Business Enterprise. In addition, Fluffy’s Sno-Balls have 6 other certifications with some of the larger and smaller cities. All of these certifications have allowed us to compete for contracts and corporate opportunities. We have many corporate partnerships, because hey who do not have a sno-ball at their summer soiree.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

In corporate america, I ascended to the role of Vice President of Operations. I have spent over 15 years working and growing other peoples company. I knew how to do that and do that well, but I was never an owner of a company. I knew that I needed to educate myself on running my own business. I knew I needed to delegate important and specific task to the professionals. The first person I ever hired was a bookkeeper. I then hired an Accountant and so on. I needed to free my time up to master my business. I would take advantage of any and all opportunities such as chohort, classes, etc to get myself prepared to run my own company. I took and completed cohorts with the SBDC & Goldman Sach’s 10k Small Business. They were all phenomenal in helping me scale my business to newer heights.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

So, we are highly active on Social Media. We post at least 3 times a day, with content that we believe our customers want to see. I would encourage entrepreneurs to create, create, and create some more. It’s not always about the quality in terms of production, rather the quality in conveying your unique value proposition that will want to convert followers to customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fluffyssnoballs.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fluffyssnoballs/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FluffysSnoBalls
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fluffyssnoballs/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/FluffySno
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCovmM9zdBNVx2RyipcF04hA?view_as=subscriber
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fluffys-sno-balls-long-beach