Kon Artisan Ice Cream is a southeast success story that keeps getting more successful. Anthony “Tony” Seregella began his career in business working at his family’s restaurant. In October 2020, he opened his doors on Estevan’s main street.
The ice cream shop is seasonal, open mid-March to mid-October. What turned out to be bigger — way bigger — than Seregella expected was the demand for the scratch-made, unique recipes, creamy and flavourful ice cream.
“The opportunity for product expansion came quicky,” shared Seregella. “We make old-fashioned ice cream, the way it used to be made, smooth and creamy, in small batches, with the highest of quality ingredients – who wouldn’t love a treat like that?!!”
KoNs’ ice cream is now sold in the local arena, from local restaurants, in hotels at their confectionery ‘shops.’
“We are getting calls from businesses across Saskatchewan and into Manitoba that want to install coolers and sell KoN products. We’ve had people stop at the shop from Ontario, BC and even Spain and ask how they can take the product with them, or if the shop is a chain and they can get it from somewhere else.”
Seregella planned on knocking on some doors to drum up some wholesale accounts but never dreamt that it would take off like this.
As the business expanded, so did its line of products. The Purple Cow and Italian Coffee are crowd favourites, and the more traditional strawberry is too because of the real strawberries blended in. Every week, they offer new flavours and the menu changes based on the season. For example, they will open up with a feature flavour, ‘Leprechaun,’ a mint and white chocolate blend in March.
“This spring, we’ll be adding specialty coffee to our product line; everything from drip coffee to espresso, latte’s, cappuccinos, frappuccinos and baked goods. We’ll even have a coffee ‘cart’ that we will be able to take to community events.”
Tony is proud to contribute to shaping young workers for future careers. He has had as many as 18 students employed at one time; on average, he has 8 to 10 students working at the shop. For many of the students, working at KoN is their first job, and he enjoys being able to teach to value customers and how to give exceptional customer service.
“As an entrepreneur, you always need to be ready to pivot and learn. Good thing I like learning...” added Tony. “ I’ve taken a few workshops through Community Futures Sunrise, including the Destination Creation course.” One of the key takeaways of the course that I put into practice —even a year later is building a unique positioning statement. And of course, I deeply value the friendships with other business owners that I made while in the course.”
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Website: www.konicecream.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KoNArtisanIceCream
Email: info@konicecream.ca