Small Business Success Story: Brooker’s Founding Flavors Ice Cream

He calls it an ice cream revolution: Entrepreneur Brian Brooker is using the frozen treat as a platform to bring to life the stories of key figures in our nation’s founding.

As the creator of more than 100 ice cream flavors that include James Madison’s Constitutional Crunch, James Armistead Double Spy Undercover and Mum Bett’s Day in Court, Brooker passionately believes that “a spoonful of ice cream helps the founding principles go down.”

“When people are sitting around the ice cream parlor with their kids, ice cream is the conversation starter to discuss American history and America’s Founding,” says the founder of Brooker’s Founding Flavors Ice Cream, which has locations in Herriman, Provo and Vineyard, Utah, and ships its product across the country.

“We’re using ice cream as a platform to insert awareness of America’s founding back into culture and society.”

Solid Foundation Key to Successful Business

Brooker — who earned a joint Juris Doctor/MBA degree from Penn State University and served for eight years as a U.S. Army officer — had long dreamed of launching this business and came close when he was living near Colonial Williamsburg a decade ago. But there was no vacancy in the merchant district and he wanted to save up a sufficient nest egg to support a fledgling business.

“People have great ideas but they have no money to start it with. I was in that position as well,” he says.

So Brooker left his position in the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps and took a sales position for four years to build a substantial amount of savings.

Tips for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Brooker says elements of his journey can serve as an example to other aspiring entrepreneurs.

“It’s important to take the time to do it right, even if you have to delay doing something,” he says. “In the short time we’ve been open, we’ve seen other businesses around us going into and out of business and it’s all due to a lack of funding.”

He says it’s also important to fully vet your business idea.

“When I was in Virginia on military assignment, I started an entrepreneur group where other entrepreneurs and I would pitch our ideas to each other and refine them,” Brooker says. “Take time to surround yourself with a group of people who can give you feedback and help you develop your concept.”

Finally, Brooker says hiring the right people is key and he doesn’t skimp on recruiting costs.

“We say no to the vast majority who apply, not because they’re not good people, but we hold out for people who have really dynamic personalities and are good at customer service,” he says.

Pandemic Offers Proving Ground for Business Concept

Brooker says his goal is to expand nationally and notes that the pandemic was an excellent proving ground for his business concept.

“We put the time into a quality product, quality customer service, and a Disney-type dining experience  —that’s pretty robust,” he says. “There’s a lot of power to it, a lot of longevity.”

He notes that the business survived unprecedented conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Other businesses around us no longer exist, and part of that was reacting to what’s going on in an efficient and speedy manner, opening up new channels of business,” Brooker says. “It proves to future investors and I the viability of the concept to continue to grow and expand.”

Looking to start or grow your own small business? Zions Bank offers online business tools and Business Resource Centers in Salt Lake City and Boise that provide 1-on-1 counseling and group training for entrepreneurs.

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