On this episode of Banking on KC, Amber Schreiber, co-founder of The Golden Scoop, along with Hilda McKeel, a Super Scooper, and her mother, Rebecca McKeel, join host Kelly Scanlon to discuss how The Golden Scoop is creating meaningful employment opportunities for individuals with special needs. Tune in to discover:
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Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is Amber Schreiber, a co-founder of The Golden Scoop, and Hilda McKeel and her mom, Rebecca. Hilda is a super scooper at the Golden Scoop. Welcome.
Okay, Amber, tell us about The Golden Scoop. We know that it's an ice cream shop, it's a coffee shop, but it's so much more than that. Tell us about it.
Amber Schreiber:
It is a lot more than that. We have a mission behind what we do as a nonprofit, so our mission statement is to empower uniquely abled people to find new purpose, reach new potential, and write their own life story. But this all started as an idea from my sister, Lindsay Krumbholz. She's been working with special needs for 21 years. Started in the Olathe school system with Trey, who it's now come full circle where we're all colleagues and working together, which is pretty cool.
But she approached me, I have a business background. She approached me back in 2018 about providing meaningful employment for people with special needs. She had been working and doing in-home therapy for families inside their home, teaching life skills to their son or daughter, and she was starting to have conversations and hearing their concerns about what their future would look like.
Would they have meaningful employment? Would they be able to live on their own and be independent? Around that time, she was thumbing through her Instagram feed and came across two concepts. One, an ice cream shop, and the other a coffee shop. Bitty and Beau's is the coffee shop on the East Coast and then Howdy Ice Cream is an ice cream shop that employs uniquely abled individuals down in Dallas, Texas, and both have started to franchise. We thought about franchising from both, but then we came back to Kansas City as so loyal to local businesses that we could do this from the ground up. It's been a journey to say the least.
But then fast-forward to April 14th, 2021, we opened the doors of 9540 Knoll Avenue, our first original location and the lines were wrapped around the strip center. We did about $61,000 in total revenue in two and a half weeks. The support was amazing. Lindsay and I were up from about 3 AM to 11 PM for about two weeks just to keep up with the demand of the product going out the doors.
The first Friday that we were open, we like to tell this story, we had to shut down at noon. We opened at 7 AM or 8 AM that day, and then we had to shut down at noon because not only were we out of product, but our associates, our super scoopers were very overwhelmed by the lines and trying to keep up with everything. So we made what seemed to be like a difficult decision, but it wasn't because this organization is about the people we employ, so we wanted to make sure that they were comfortable in the setting and protected. So we shut down for about three hours, brought in pizza, had a dance party and tried to-
Kelly Scanlon:
Everybody regrouped?
Amber Schreiber:
Yeah, everybody regrouped and we tried to replenish as much product as we possibly could and we didn't know what the response was going to be like. Once we said we were going to open at three, would people have just left or would the lines start to form again? And sure enough they formed again and then we were supposed to close at 7 PM, but we shut down at 5:30, so we were only open for another two and a half hours.
Kelly Scanlon:
But what a terrific response.
Amber Schreiber:
It was awesome.
Kelly Scanlon:
What a great problem to have.
Amber Schreiber:
It was a very good problem to have and everybody was so patient because they understood the mission. We felt a little frantic trying to provide the best customer service possible, but again, it comes back to our employees and this is all about them and building the business around them.
Kelly Scanlon:
Obviously, that was a very inspired story. What are some of the other ways that you distinguish yourself at The Golden Scoop?
Amber Schreiber:
How we distinguish ourselves at The Golden Scoop is we are a competitive integrated employer and what that means is that we pay our employees above minimum wage plus tips and then our associates or super scoopers have the ability to do the exact same job as a shift manager, which is essentially like their job coach or mentor that works alongside them to make sure that if they have questions, they're there to answer them so that they're doing the job to the best of their ability.
Kelly Scanlon:
Hilda, you are a super scooper. Tell us what you do at The Golden Scoop.
Hilda McKeel:
What I do, I restock the spoons, forks, straws, sprinkles, pretzels, and cups.
Kelly Scanlon:
And how often do you work?
Hilda McKeel:
I work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Kelly Scanlon:
All right, so three days a week and you make sure everybody that's serving the customers have all the supplies that they need right in front of them and stocked.
Hilda McKeel:
Yes.
Kelly Scanlon:
What do you find that you like most about working at The Golden Scoop?
Hilda McKeel:
Well, at The Golden Scoop we make bases there and we label the lids and date the cups and we scoop the pints in the quarts and we scoop the ice cream, what flavor if someone need one.
Kelly Scanlon:
Do you like working with the other scoopers there too? Have you made friends?
Hilda McKeel:
Well, every Tuesday I work with Jay on Tuesday nights and Wednesday is somebody else, and Friday is Emma, me, and [inaudible 00:05:05].
Kelly Scanlon:
So you have made quite a few new friends there. Amber, one of the goals is that the super scoopers are involved in every aspect of running the business. So explain a little bit more about what kind of things the scoopers do.
Amber Schreiber:
Yeah, so when they come in initially they come in at an entry level position like you would any business that you go into as an employee and learn the ropes. So as a super scooper associate, they come in and they learn how to be a barista, they learn to do ice cream production, they learn to work the drive-through now that we have one at 103rd. The social skills are very, very important in providing great customer service.
Inherently, this population is really good at customer service because they're always happy, they're always willing to help. We've promoted at least one employee that's been with us from the beginning. We did like a pilot mentor program with him specifically. He has a degree in English from Pittsburgh State University and he voiced his interest in writing and we created this content marketing specialist position for him. So once a month we meet and we go over content that he creates for our monthly newsletter as well as he blogs onto our website. So that's enabled and empowered him to do more and it's allowed advancement within the organization.
We want that to happen, but we also want to create options whether it's at The Golden Scoop or outside of The Golden Scoop. So we consider ourselves like a stepping stone to more opportunities.
Kelly Scanlon:
Areas. How many super scoopers do you employ?
Amber Schreiber:
We have 36 between the two locations and we have about the same in shift managers, which they work alongside our associates to help when needed and teach them all the skills necessary to provide a quality product to our general public.
Kelly Scanlon:
Who comes up with the flavors of ice cream and the different coffees?
Amber Schreiber:
We ask a lot of people for their opinions and get ideas. We Google stuff. I would say it's a team effort on creating some interesting flavors. We get in the lab and we concoct something interesting. KU Health is one of our partners and we sell our ice cream to them at wholesale, so they provided us with, I think, 2,000 homemade Pop Tarts from scratch.
Kelly Scanlon:
That sounds wonderful.
Amber Schreiber:
So it was like a brown sugar flavor and then a strawberry flavor, so we call it Crazy Good.
Kelly Scanlon:
Crazy Good. What is your favorite flavor to serve Hilda or to eat? Either way.
Hilda McKeel:
My favorite one is the... I kind of like your Prancer Peppermint Chip.
Kelly Scanlon:
Especially-
Amber Schreiber:
That's a good one.
Kelly Scanlon:
... at Christmastime. Yeah, exactly. Rebecca as Hilda's mom, how did you find out about The Golden Scoop?
Rebecca McKeel:
Years ago I saw it on TV. They did a little promo on TV, plus I read about it and I was just so impressed. I said, "Oh, I didn't know they had something like this, students with different unique abilities." And I said, "That's great that someone has come out with something like that to address their needs." Because in the past for years they've been overlooked and no one wanted to hire them because of their limited abilities.
And at that time, Hilda was gainfully employed there at another place. Then I thought about it later after they went to technology a lot and she was no longer, I guess, needed there. I said, "I'm going to try for them and see if they have an opening, if you can go there." Because of what I saw and what I read, the people who worked with them, the team leaders were special, patient, and caring and that's what they needed.
You have to be special to work with special needs students. And being an educator, I had special needs and students in my building and I noticed how they retreated and I didn't want that to happen to her. That's why I tried to get her into things where she could be appreciated for her limited ability and can use her skills to benefit herself and feel more productive and meaningful.
Pick her up from work, y'all, "Mama did this today and I made a milkshake and it turned out okay." Once she might say I needed another scoop of milk or another scoop of ice cream or something, a cup of that and I said, "How do you know they have recipes there?" And I said, "Okay, make sure you use it correctly then if you don't understand something, what do you do?"
Ask?
I said, "That's right, ask because we want the customers to come back."
So we like that. And she told me, "Oh, I worked the drive through one day," she came up and tell them, oh yeah, just lots of stuff. She talks about it all the time.
Another really important thing is that Hilda feels more productive and feels like she's really making a difference, contributing to the community by working, earning a check as opposed to sitting home, playing video games, or watching TV. So she looks forward to that. She gets up dressed before time to go to work. Is it time to go yet? I said, "Well"... And I usually get her there and we have to wait at least 10 or 15 minutes before it's time for her to go in, but she gets up on her own, excited, ready to go there to scoop ice cream and hopefully make a difference for someone.
It builds a self-confidence, I think, in all of them, knowing that they can do something and people appreciate what they're doing. That's the most important thing.
Amber Schreiber:
It's never a dull moment there.
Rebecca McKeel:
Really. Tells me the different flavors. They have something for all of the Chiefs pretty much, even the coaches
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, you do? You have Chiefs flavors, Hilda?
Hilda McKeel:
Yeah.
Kelly Scanlon:
Tell us about those.
Hilda McKeel:
One flavor was Red Zone.
Kelly Scanlon:
Red Zone. Okay. And is that cherry or strawberry?
Hilda McKeel:
I think it's raspberry.
Kelly Scanlon:
Raspberry. Okay.
Hilda McKeel:
And then we have another flavor, all about the ice cream is caramel apple pie.
Kelly Scanlon:
Okay. And is that one that was introduced this fall for the fall season?
Amber Schreiber:
What coach is it?
Hilda McKeel:
Andy Reed.
Kelly Scanlon:
Andy Reed, okay. Now that makes sense. You talk about this as if it's entry-level kind of work. Years and years, decades ago I worked in restaurant and it is not easy dealing with customers and trying to remember orders and getting things out in a timely manner. We've been talking about it as if it's entry-level work, but it requires a lot of patience. It requires a lot of memory, so it is very important work. And what do you see most Rebecca as the benefits of The Golden Scoop and what it's done for Hilda?
Rebecca McKeel:
It has increased her self-confidence. She tells me when she comes home, one of, I guess team leader said I did a great job today. And I said, "Good." Just receiving those positive comments and remarks about her work and what she's doing and she enjoys it because she's caught on to most of it. She tells me how, "Well, I did this and it worked well," or something. So she talks about it constantly. We made this, we came out with this flavor for Coach and for probably some of the players too. I don't know about Mahomes and maybe-
Amber Schreiber:
It was Tamba Hali's flavor.
Kelly Scanlon:
What flavor?
Amber Schreiber:
Tamba Hali was inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame, I believe. And so the Chiefs asked us to create a flavor, like his favorite flavor for him. And so Hilda and the rest of the team produced... Do you remember the flavor?
Hilda McKeel:
The one flavor was strawberry fields, like football fields.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah, there you go. Okay, so you have all these flavors for the Chiefs. Do they come in as customers? Do you get Chiefs players in as customers?
Amber Schreiber:
Justin Watson, wide receiver for the Chiefs, he is been our ambassador for a couple of years and it was just by chance that we met him and then we developed a relationship learning that he has a brother with cerebral palsy and he's been open about that. There was an article, I think, in The Kansas City Star back in October of 2022.
Kelly Scanlon:
I know that you also have community events. Tell us about those and why you hold them.
Amber Schreiber:
We have a catering arm to our business, which my sister heads up. So it's important for us to have community integration and to get our employees out into the community and share their experience, share their story with the community, like what Hilda's doing today on your podcast. Any business or private party, they want to call, they want to email to have us come out and serve our ice cream. We could come and do a whole ice cream social for your business. Not only ice cream, but we've served our coffee, we've served our cookies. Again, just one way to get out into the community and build social skills for our employees.
Kelly Scanlon:
First one was at 95th and Nall, and then the second one's at a 103rd and...
Amber Schreiber:
69 Highway.
Kelly Scanlon:
69 Highway, so a little bit further west. Do you have plans for any more expansion?
Amber Schreiber:
Not for a while.
Kelly Scanlon:
Okay.
Amber Schreiber:
This second one took a lot of energy from us, but we were fortunately able to hire 20 more uniquely abled people. We have well over a 50-plus wait list for people that want to work at The Golden Scoop.
Kelly Scanlon:
Is that all by word of mouth from parents like Rebecca and from the scoopers themselves telling people?
Amber Schreiber:
It is. It is all word of mouth, yes.
Kelly Scanlon:
So there is a need, obviously.
Amber Schreiber:
Yes. And so we're working with our board and other constituents to figure out how we can reach more people and have them feel like they're a part of The Golden Scoop in some way or taking them through our training program, which we call Golden Scoop University. It centers on four core components of health and wellness, physical skills to do the job, professionalism, and interpersonal skills.
Kelly Scanlon:
Tell us about your annually.
Amber Schreiber:
So we have our upcoming third annual night fundraiser. The last two years it's been at Chicken and Pickle. They were so hospitable and generous in giving some in-kind access to their Be Amazing Room and we were so fortunate and grateful for that. I guess it's a good thing we outgrew the space, so we had to find a bigger space. So January 28th of 2025, we'll be at Fowling Warehouse, and check-in is at 6 PM and it goes till about 8:30, 9 o'clock. Justin Watson will be there. And the football and bowling portion of it, we won't do. We'll just have the trivia night with silent and live auction included.
Kelly Scanlon:
Okay. Hilda, I understand you've been involved in some of the catering trips. What's that experience like for you?
Hilda McKeel:
It's kind of neat. When people come by and ask what kind of flavor it is, and so we tell them and we meet other people from... What was it? Black and Veatch, we went there one time. Kendra Scott, we went there.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah. You've been to some big names here in Kansas City. And then once they see you at work catering, do they later sometimes do you see some of the people come into the store because they want to continue the experience?
Hilda McKeel:
When I was working, we usually have our regular customers there and one customer say, "I want you to mix this flavor and another flavor in the cup."
Kelly Scanlon:
So a customer order.
Hilda McKeel:
One customer told me he want vanilla and chocolate mixed together, and then we have some family came in to get some ice cream. Some got the cookie ice cream on the cone or a cup of ice cream or a drink.
Kelly Scanlon:
So you get all kinds of requests it sounds like, and trying to keep all those straight. Kudos to you for being able to do all that. I don't think I could go back and do anything like that right now. I understand you also have a wholesale arm of the business. Tell us about that.
Amber Schreiber:
So that all started with Queen's Price Choppers. So we're starting to sell our ice cream or ice cream pints and inside Queen's Price Choppers-
Kelly Scanlon:
Which by the way, you make those homemade, in case people didn't pick up on that earlier.
Amber Schreiber:
Yes, it's another job skill that our super scoopers can learn and it's using a lot of fine motor, dealing with recipes and measuring and cleaning, taking apart and cleaning equipment and putting it back together.
So that's all really important and challenging too. So if anybody were to come and see, like Hilda make the ice cream, she could do it from start to finish and that's making the base to extruding the ice cream, putting in the toppings and then cleaning the batch freezer and sanitizing it to make sure that it all meets health code and stuff like that. So it's pretty impressive.
Kelly Scanlon:
So you're learning about regulations and a lot of things besides scooping ice cream.
Hilda McKeel:
Right.
Kelly Scanlon:
This wholesale arm you started to tell me started with Queen's Price Chopper.
Amber Schreiber:
Our first grocery store that we were able to get into thanks to the Queen family is where we're selling our ice cream pints is at 151st and Metcalf. They have roughly, I think, five to seven grocery stores. So we're looking at expanding into their other stores.
Success story of one of our employees and speaking about internal advancement, Thomas went and did a presentation in front of David Ball of Ball's Foods. He gave his presentation and he won his first wholesale account.
Kelly Scanlon:
Oh, that's great.
Amber Schreiber:
So he was able to get the experience of being an account manager of sorts.
Kelly Scanlon:
Super scooper to super salesman.
Amber Schreiber:
Yeah. So now we're getting ready to launch at one of the Hen Houses at 117th and Roe, and I was told they have 25 grocery stores, which would be huge. So that's hopefully giving us 30 grocery stores all in all. And then the hope is we're in Cosentino, McKeever's, Hy-Vee, and all of this is coming to be because we understand as a non-profit, you need to find other sources for revenue to help you be sustainable. So having this wholesale arm gives us another funding source.
Kelly Scanlon:
Well, not to mention the ice cream is wonderful.
Amber Schreiber:
Yeah, and it's really good. It has a great story behind it.
Kelly Scanlon:
It sells itself it sounds like.
Amber Schreiber:
Yes.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah. We've already named the locations, go out there, experience it, get to know some of the super scoopers like Hilda here today. What other ways can people get involved with this?
Amber Schreiber:
So I would say first and foremost, come to any one of our shops. Our super scoopers want to see the customers, they want to serve the customers, they want to visit the customers. Not only do we have great ice cream, but we have great coffee too that is supplied by Hattie's Fine Coffee. Our coffee beans are supplied by Hattie's Fine Coffee. Go to any one of the grocery stores that I mentioned, Queens at 151st or Hen House at 117th and Roe and purchase our pints of ice cream. What better time than to buy ice cream right now during the holidays to put on your pie or what have you?
Kelly Scanlon:
Like that new peppermint flavor you were talking about. Sounds great.
Amber Schreiber:
Yeah. And then you can always donate. You can make a contribution to the organization by going to TheGoldenScoop.org\support.
Kelly Scanlon:
Okay. So TheGoldenScoop.org, and then there's a button on there somewhere where you can click for support and you can make your donation there. Thank you all very much for taking the time to come, tell your story, and I'm just so impressed by the work that all of you are doing. It's just wonderful and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. Thank you.
Amber Schreiber:
Thank you.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, president of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Amber Schreiber, Hilda McKeel, and Rebecca McKeel for being our guests on this episode of Banking on KC. The Golden Scoop exemplifies how local businesses can empower individuals with unique abilities, providing meaningful employment, and creating lasting connections within the Kansas City community.
The impact of their mission extends far beyond their ice cream and coffee as they touch lives and foster inclusion throughout the city. At Country Club Bank, we're proud to support initiatives that strengthen our community and celebrate the diverse talents that make Kansas City a remarkable place to live and work. Thanks for tuning in this week. We're banking on you Kansas City.
Country Club Bank, member FDIC.