We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kris Warren. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kris below.

Kris, appreciate you joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

When we were getting started we were told to survive as a gelato shop we needed to serve at least 14 flavors, offer some type of food, and sell drinks as well. The right mixture of wanting to take risks, be fearless with our business, and only serve what we knew how to do better than anyone else led us to ultimately deciding to offer a limited menu of just 7 flavors with a focus on quality gelato made with great ingredients.

Our limited menu allows us to do something else no one does in the industry – offer each guest a sample of all the gelato options on our menu. We call it a “flavor tour.” We use this opportunity to explain the ingredients/processes that go into each gelato as well as to make sure each guest orders a gelato they know they like (because they already tried it).

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Sure. My name is Kris Warren. My background is in branding and marketing and I have worked in asset management (specifically hospitality management) for over 12 years.

There are four owners of An’s (including myself). David Aguilera I met 16 years ago while living in Spain. He is our head chef/gelato maker who has over 15 years of experience in the gelato industry and has created gelato for some of the best restaurants in Europe. I grew up with Travis Bailey who is an attorney in LA. He oversees all of the marketing for An’s. And Jimmy Blalock, also an attorney, I have known for 10 years and he is responsible for our sales (he created the flavor tour we have become famous for), finances, and HR. The four of us have all been best friends for decade(s).

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?

The biggest risk we have taken was naming our gelato business An’s Dry Cleaning. We had originally thought we’d go with a more traditional Italian name for a gelato shop. But that wasn’t interesting and we felt like we could do better. Our designer, Keenan Hartsten, came up with the idea of leaving the name the same as the previous business (An’s Alterations and Dry Cleaning).

Keenan sold the idea well. It was interesting. It was funny and playful. But would anyone know it wasn’t actually a dry cleaner? Would we sell any gelato? Our friends and family were skeptical. People told us we were crazy. But the more we talked about it and worked through the concept the more fun it became and the more convinced we were that we had to do it.

Ultimately, the entire shop was concepted around the aesthetics of a dry cleaner – formica counter tops, bent metal tubing, hanging clothes, ironing board tables, flavors named after fabrics, and our unique florescent lighting.

I think some of us were more nervous than others. If I’m honest, I don’t remember being nervous at all. Probably because I am naive, but I was convinced that An’s was going to be a success.

Any advice for managing a team?

The other owners and I grew up in customer service and were taught that the customer was always right. Now that we own our own business we’ve changed how we think about our team and our customers.

At the top of our hierarchy, I would put our staff. Actually, I’m even hesitant to call them “staff”, rather, I would say the people that work for us. After them I would put our product. And finally, the customer. My thinking is that if you treat the people that work for you well and work to serve them (service starts from the top) then they in turn will care for your business and treat others (including customers) well. I’ve never yelled at an employee or lost my temper. I always try to do what is best for each employee, even if that means helping them find another job where they will be happier and do better for their career. We really try to take care of our staff as people.

Lastly, I was very fortunate to grow up with a boss that taught me fear was not a good motivator in the work place. We never yell at employees or fire anyone for normal work mistakes. I think by not creating an environment of fear that employees feel comfortable making mistakes and telling us about them. Bad news comes forward fast – it’s something I really appreciate about our staff. It would be easy to use fear as a tool to get people to do things for you, but I don’t think it creates long term happiness in the workplace, or in any relationship for that matter.

Contact Info:

• Website: adcgelato.com
• Instagram: @ansgelato
• Facebook: facebook.com/adcgelato
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ans-dry-cleaning-san-diego-4

Image Credits
All images can be credited to An’s Gelato