An ice cream shop opened in the U.S. by a Korean woman in her 30s who graduated from Harvard has raised annual sales of 1.86 million dollars (about 2.5 billion won) and is becoming a hot topic.
Recently, CNBC, an American economic media, introduced the story of Annie Park (32), who runs an ice cream shop in the United States, in ‘Millennial Money’, a series of stories of successful MZ generations.
Park was born in Seoul and immigrated to the United States with her mother in 2000 when she was 9 years old. After graduating from high school locally, Park later went to Boston College.
After graduating in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in music and communications, he has since taught students before earning a master’s degree in education from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree in policy and business administration from Harvard University.
However, Mr. Park was not interested in his major. Then he was offered an ice cream shop by his mother, who owned a small restaurant. It was Park’s mother’s proposal to sell ice cream, which she usually makes as a hobby, at the store.
Park’s mother often made cherry ice cream using water infused with apricots, pistachios, and roses. Mr. Park, who said he was not very interested in his mother’s proposal at first, eventually decided to follow his mother’s wishes.
He told CNBC, “Honestly, I was taken aback when I first asked for help. He wasn’t really interested in it at the time. However, it was not a situation to choose whether to help his mother or not. Because he is from an immigrant family living alone with his mother,” he said.
After preparing for the opening of the store for several months, Park opened a store named ‘Sarah’s Homemade Ice Cream’ in Washington DC in March 2019. The store was named after Sarah, Park’s mother.
In the US market, where most ice creams are made with food coloring or flavor, Park and her daughter’s ice cream using real strawberries, not strawberry syrup, and using natural ingredients drew great attention. There was a long line until their ice cream shop closed at 9pm. Even after the business was closed, I had to make ice cream until 3 am.
Park opened his second store in Washington DC less than a year after opening the first store, and plans to open a third store in Maryland in December. Currently, Mr. Park has become the president with 35 employees and recorded annual sales of 1.86 million dollars last year. His net profit also reached 230,000 dollars (about 300 million won).
He had several disagreements with his mother in the early days of the business until the store was established, but now his mother is in charge of menu development and quality control, and Mr. Park is in charge of staff management and overall store operation. explained that they are sharing
Mr. Park said, “We did not spend any extra money on marketing. Instead, he naturally attracted local customers by donating ice cream to local non-profit organizations.” He also created a leadership program for employees to encourage their growth and promote loyalty to top performers by promoting them to managerial positions.
Finally, Mr. Park said, “It may sound trite, but you should try every possible experience.” He said that all of his past experiences in various activities, such as part-time jobs, participation in corporate projects, and education for children, became the basis for what he is now. “Looking back, none of my experiences were a waste of time. The combined experiences were able to create a synergistic effect for the current ice cream shop,” he emphasized.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.