Emerging Entrepreneurs: Gaining entrepreneurial experience through ice cream

Rachel Sankey

Staff

June 17, 2024

ALLOUEZ – Owen Wick said he’s known from a young age that he wanted to run a business of his own one day. 

“I’ve always tried to run a business (of some kind)…,” he said. “I always liked the idea of working for myself and getting out of it how much you put in it. In middle school, I sold shirts and fidget spinners to my class.”

Though, Wick said he never imagined his first official business would be an ice cream truck, owned at the age of 17 as a senior at Ashwaubenon High School.

“My aunt saw on Facebook that (Thibbys) was for sale,” Wick said. “I had a few other people pitch in, and now I’m the owner and manager of Thibbys.”

Thibbys was originally started in 2003 by John and Lisa Thibodeau, who passed the baton to Bob Patterson and Terri Larsen in 2017.

Jeremy and Melissa Duncan took over ownership of the business in 2021 in partnership with Jeremy’s parents, Marsha and Leamon. 

The four ran the summertime ice cream truck business until Wick took over in May of this year.

Laying the groundwork

As Wick prepared to open the ice cream truck for the season, he said there is a lot about business he learned along the way – such as getting all the proper permits, insurance and setting up health inspections.

The teen entrepreneur said he’s also been busy reaching out to past clients and nailing down bookings.

“The previous owners did a good job of helping me because they gave me a list of previous contacts,” he said. “So, basically any free time I have, I’ve been emailing people for bookings this summer.”

Wick said he had his first official booking June 3.

One of the biggest challenges Wick said he’s had since taking over Thibbys is managing a calendar.

“When you have 200 emails outgoing saying, ‘I have these dates available,’ and then one person schedules the same date as another person (is an example),” he said. “It’s the logistics of scheduling that’s been difficult.”

And, though ice cream is a relatively simple, easy treat, Wick said the preparation of acquiring it beforehand is a bit more complicated.

“Figuring out everything you need for an ice cream business (is a lot),” he said. “We had to contact (the previous owners’) vendor to get the ice cream and get it shipped to where we have our freezers – that took a while.”
Thankfully, balancing the tail end of high school with taking over a business, Wick said, was not too overwhelming. 

“The last few weeks, I (didn’t) have much school work, so (I would work) on my business,” he said. “It wasn’t that taxing – most of my classes were AP classes, and you take the AP test in May – so I could put most of my effort toward the business.”

A cool and sweet option

Though some people may think about the ice cream trucks that come through neighborhoods during the summer months, Wick said that isn’t the main focus of Thibbys. 

Instead, he said the majority of business happens through people booking the truck for events. 

“Our business is solely bookings – we don’t drive around neighborhoods much,” he said. “(Though) we probably will occasionally in between bookings.”

Wick said Thibbys can be booked for any event – birthday parties, church picnics, weddings and company lunch breaks.

Interested parties, he said, can book an event as small as 10 to 25 people, or larger events of 100 or more – and everything in between.

“We sell packaged ice cream,” he said. “We have everything from Spongebob popsicles to Magnum bars to Dove bars. A popular one is the Snickers bar.”

Busy, busy, busy

Out of all the aspects of business Wick has encountered, he said his favorite aspect so far is looking forward to a busy summer.

“Most summers I am working a normal job, but it’s going to be awesome to always have something to do and sink my time into and get something out of it,” he said. 

Wick said he is also planning on branching out on social media, such as Instagram and TikTok, to grow Thibbys’ following.

“On these sites, I will try to create posts that are more catered toward younger people,” he said. “I would love to do some grad parties this summer, so gaining traction on more modern social media platforms will be perfect.”

Keep moving forward

With a busy summer ahead of him, Wick said the fall – and his first year of college – will approach quickly. 

The young entrepreneur will be attending Montana State University to study mechanical engineering – but said not to fret, as he will return home in the summers to run his ice cream truck business. 

“Also, throughout the later (part of) summer, like August and September, I’m getting friends to help me out to work,” he said. 

Post-grad, Wick said he plans to take the skills and expertise he will have gained at Thibbys and use it in a full-time career in mechanical engineering, with the probability of passing the ownership baton over to someone else.

To keep up to date on Thibbys and its new owner, head to its Facebook page.