Raised in the ice cream business, young entrepreneur is scooping out her own niche
(Above, Kelly Butler stands at the service window of her ice cream truck, which opened April 14 in Batavia, after a year of preparation.)
You might say ice cream is in Kelly Butler’s blood.
“I grew up in the ice cream business,” said Butler, whose mother, Debra Webster, owns Dave’s Ice Cream on West Main Street Road in the Town of Batavia. “I’ve worked in her store since I was a kid. I always loved working there, and I started thinking how cool it would be to have my own ice cream truck.”
Her mother has no problem with her daughter competing in the same business.
In fact, they even talked about Butler parking her truck at her mother’s ice cream shop, but decided that would be counterproductive, so when an acquaintance offered to let her park at his business on West Main Street, she jumped at the chance.
“I knew there would be a lot more traffic there,” Butler said.
Butler’s ice cream truck has been a year in the making. Last May, she and her mother flew to Boston to drive back an old post office truck she had bought. Near Watertown, at midnight, the truck quit.
After a $1,000 tow bill they got the truck back to Batavia, where Butler took it to J.P. Food Truck near Corfu, a company which specializes in building food trucks.
Converting the vehicle to a food truck proved to be a challenge, due to the coronavirus pandemic, which made nearly every part they needed scarce or hard to get.
Butler’s brother, Tanner, is an electrician and did the electrical work for her. The rest of her family pitched in to help set the truck up with a generator, sinks, water and wastewater storage and a colorful wrap of aqua and pink on the exterior.
She hit the streets April 14 with the revamped truck, setting up initially at Suds Puppy on Clinton Street while waiting for her permit to come from the city.
Her business -- dubbed Ice Cream & Chill -- is starting out good, although the recent snowstorm put a damper on sales for a couple of days.
Butler’s mom also owns an ice cream business in Brockport, Abbott’s Frozen Custard, which she takes to festivals. That gave Butler an idea to do the same and she’s anxious to be available for weddings, birthday parties or other events.
Butler makes all her own ice cream at her mother’s store on West Main Street. Butler’s is all homemade soft-custard ice cream, she said.
“It’s very creamy,” Butler said.
She serves eight flavors, including customers’ favorite – Cookie Monster – and the most unique flavor – Pink Lemonade.
She also offers a dish of ice cream for dogs, which includes a small scoop of ice cream with peanut butter and a homemade dog biscuit.
Every day when the weather is not inclement, Butler’s ice cream truck can be found parked at Trinstar Satellite TV LLC, at 355 W. Main St. in the City of Batavia.
“People don’t want to stand in line in the pouring rain,” she said.
Information on how to contact her for special events can be found by visiting her at: @icecreamandchilltruck on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or calling (585) 739-5381.
Photos courtesy of Debra Webster.
Below, Kelly Butler’s dog enjoys a dish of soft ice cream with peanut butter and a homemade dog biscuit.
Below, the menu posted on the side of Kelly Butler’s ice cream truck advertises her homemade flavors of cones, sundaes and floats.
Below, Kelly Butler and her mother, Debra Webster, drove to Boston last year to purchase this former postal truck, which she spent a year having retrofitted as an ice cream truck.
