Scooping away

Since earning a degree in business from Indiana Wesleyan University two years ago, Dylan Franks wanted to start a business.

He just wasn’t sure what, exactly, that business would be.

Now he spends his Tuesday evenings scooping ice cream.

Franks, a Redkey resident, launched his ice cream business — The Scoop Station — in July.

“I always joked with my wife that I wanted to open up an ice cream shop,” said Franks, a 2012 Jay County High School graduate. “I just decided I was gonna start small and started laying out a plan …”

After getting his equipment and supplies together, Franks’ first scheduled event was the July 1 Firecracker Tournament at Redkey Morgan Park. But it was postponed because of rain.

Instead, he set up at Living in Joy in Dunkirk.

“I was grateful for that because we were definitely unprepared for what even was the traffic for that,” said Franks. “It wasn’t as busy, but it was still busy enough to try to get through the early stages of learning.”

The biggest early challenge was workflow — taking orders, getting them made and delivering them to the right customer, and all of the communication in between. He’s figured that part out with the help of his staff — mom Melissa, dad Curtis and daughters Chrystal, 19, and Havyn, 6. (His daughter Parker is also a big ice cream fan, but at 1-year-old isn’t quite ready to help in the new family business.)

Franks handles the preparation of the ice cream himself.

“How I prepare it is what I would want as a customer,” he said. “That’s what’s a little bit different about what I’m doing … I can kind of create my own as I go. Or the customers can create their own as they go.

“Mine is not a dip, it’s a scoop. That’s where the name came from — Scoop Station. I don’t do dips. Whatever I can get in and put on, that’s what I’m gonna do.”

His menu features ice cream in a bowl or a cone, sundaes, popsicles and Italian ice. For bigger events, he’ll sometimes add food items. (He had walking tacos when he set up at Good-Rich Brewery for an evening and will offer sloppy joe, coney dogs and hot dogs during Thursday’s free New Frontiers concert sponsored by Arts Place at Hudson Family Park in Portland.)

So far, Franks’ main location has been during Dunkirk’s farmers market on Tuesday evenings. (It fits well with his full-time job selling cars at Glass Capital Chrysler in Dunkirk.) He also set up at a Vacation Bible School this summer and plans to be at Glass Days in Dunkirk on Sept. 30.

He’s also preparing to compete in the Launch Jay! business pitch competition hosted by Jay County Development Corporation and Jay County Chamber of Commerce. If he’s successful there, he said he will put the money toward purchasing a trailer. (He currently operates with a tent, some tables and a freezer.

Franks would like to see his business grow into a brick-and-mortar location, but he’s not in a hurry to get there.

“It all depends on how fast I grow,” he said. “If the trailer does well and everybody likes that … then I’ll just keep on doing pop-up events …

“I don’t want to get out of hand too fast.”

For now, he’s just looking to get his name out to the public and continue to make progress by adding more events. He thinks he chose the right business to do it.

“I like ice cream and I know a lot of kids like ice cream, and adults do too,” he said. “So that’s where I went.”