I think what is amazing is that you two stayed a married couple and still love and support one another. Business, money, homes, etc will come and go, but your marriage is the foundation. Good on you for that!!

@kdharmaji

8 ай бұрын

So true

@manitbaacy3413

8 ай бұрын

That's right 👋

@ninos1337

8 ай бұрын

Well said, totally agree!

@RavarsenBlogspot

8 ай бұрын

Nice people do exist

@Originalman144

8 ай бұрын

Yeah cuz we know too many women leave when the money hiccups.

THANK you for highlighting a different type of story rather than pure success stories.

@seriouscash

6 ай бұрын

every success story has a ton of failure in it

I hope this becomes a series. This, to me, more valuable than seeing how entrepreneurs built their original business. I wish them so much success!

@crystaljohnson394

8 ай бұрын

How did you get into capital I need help on that I'm a business owner and I'm struggling to find that

@thedfferencetab1977

8 ай бұрын

i hope so as well. it’s very informative; showing empathy in a (business) world, that can seem so cold from the outside.

@ricardoc2466

8 ай бұрын

100% !

@RadBunny2269

8 ай бұрын

Unfortnuealy, due to the way Americans have shaped their TV culture, this can never be something that makes it to a series. Only flashy/good vibes sells. I do agree that you learn infinitely more in failure than success.

@tictax21

8 ай бұрын

Definitely! More of this. Success is great but showing more hoops and hurdles they had to jump through to get back and rebuild was incredible.

As a longtime Ample Hills supporter, I respect Brian and Jackie so much! Not only is their product amazing, they’re both really grounded and solid humans. Friends and I have had many bday parties at their BK location & they’ve always been so kind, always. It broke our heart to hear them walk away - beyond wondering what would happen to my favorite flavor Ooey Gooey lol - what would become of them? So once we heard that they opened The Social, it was a sigh of relief. Watching/hearing their story is so incredible and inspiring to me as a business owner and hits different because they were/are so beloved in the community.

@HOEA-WAKA

4 ай бұрын

Beautiful

A teachable business story on the cons of scaling up too fast. I'm glad they are building back and better. This is an incredible story.

@manitbaacy3413

8 ай бұрын

I agree with you. Trying to get big fast undermines product and service which in turn impacts customer retention. It is basically self-sabotaging.

@chaikagaz

8 ай бұрын

Not to mention low quality by cutting costs. At that point they killed themselves

@manitbaacy3413

8 ай бұрын

@@chaikagaz Yep

@law4853

8 ай бұрын

for sure, People don't understand that scaling up fast can destory everything rapidly, because of how demanding and how many new variables it presents. I know of a burger shop owner that was pulling in over 1 mill profit a year and decided to rapid expand into 4-5 new shops within 3 years of his first and ohhh boy... he went bankrupt within 5 years.. he never had the right people in place and problems kept happening one shop after the other and it got to the point where he had to shut down 2 spots while still on the lease. Eventually quality went down and everything snowballed and booom, gone forever.

@platinumdinertv

8 ай бұрын

@@law4853 Wow. That is really a terrible situation.

The moment the got the VC funding, they were destined for the death spiral. They were not ready for that level of expansion when getting that funding. A very critical lesson in knowing when to push the expansion button or not. Just because there’s money you can tap it doesn’t mean you should. An incredibly painful experience if you love business.

@chaikagaz

8 ай бұрын

They were a small business with no knowledge about how companies work. Tried to expand too quickly and fell quickly. Now they got back their original brand i doubt investors will be likely to lend money knowing their history so another fail right there

@nm3547

8 ай бұрын

@@chaikagaz they prob feel content with what they have now. Having someone help with finance management and knowing when to grow, if you don't know....is vital.

This happened to my brother, but mostly because of the pandemic. He grew fast and then the pandemic hit and sales halted. But he built it back and it’s going really well now.

@nm3547

8 ай бұрын

In what industry?

People tend to scale up too soon. Run only what you can handle

This NEEDS to be a series. So much to learn!

@wawahweewah

8 ай бұрын

There is a podcast that give the whole complex story. My takeaway was that they where greedy and sooo stupid in the way they wanted to run/expand the business. They take no personal responsibility deep down. Totally bizarre and fascinating

@FaithandNova

8 ай бұрын

@@bebop355definitely not naive. They moved too fast the first time once they got funding.

@law4853

8 ай бұрын

​@@wawahweewah sounds about right.. it was totality revealed when he responded with "what, are you kidding me, I don't understand that" when their director told them they were screwed... seeing how before their major expansion they were already operating at a insane net loss.

@wawahweewah

8 ай бұрын

@@law4853 yeah mate that’s what I thought too. I just find it crazy how they accepted like victims. Now they back in for another round!! Psychos!!! Scoop psychos 🤣

To me, this is as much about a successful marriage as it is about business. Truly inspirational.

@nahoumabara3712

8 ай бұрын

ding ding ding!

@AsokaTw-mz3lr

8 ай бұрын

but when he said it's his fault, she never consoled him, it means she was probably mad at him.

thanks for your story. im also a small business owner, since about ten years, with no VC funding and now im reassured that this was the right way to go. many thanks and i hope that in a few years you will expand to europe where i live and ill visit your store for sure!

Even I am at my lowest point in my life, I feel so happy for this amazing couple. This story is Truly inspiring

@Meltyfairy

4 ай бұрын

it's all up from here! ❤

@tristank1

4 ай бұрын

I'm there too I wish the best for you and I really hope you can turn things up again and become successful

@-____-2468

3 ай бұрын

@@tristank1 with such people like you my friend, I have everything to get up there. Big thanks to you, and wish you everything that you can only imagine.

Super interview, thanks for sharing. Sorry you had to go through 10 years of grinding for that to happen but omg to pull back through the otherside is very inspiring. Ppl dont realize how failing forward really makes for successful future, that experience, you can not buy it ❤ Blessings to you both and your business ❤

as a brooklyn native, i have fond memories of frequently dining at their establishment. it was a place where i would bring my friends, immersing ourselves in the diverse culture and feeling the warmth of love. i am truly honored to see them back in action. this segment has not only been informative about business and scaling but has also reminded me of the love they bring to the community. a heartfelt salute to you and your team!

I like the attitude of learning from failure and disaster.

Thanks for this! I’m still suffering from the loss of losing my business in 2020… I haven’t bounced back this good… yet

That's an inspiring story! They must have been over the moon when they could buy back their original chain. I've started a few businesses - tiny, nothing like theirs - but letting go of a business that you've run for years is like letting go of a child.

@johngatsby1473

4 ай бұрын

I agree. I had two childcare centers for 14 years and burned out of the biz. Hard to sell but I did. Then within months ..COVID hit. It hurt the new people bad.

This is one of the best and most instructive of the series. Kudos to these entrepreneurs and the producers for sharing.

It’s good to hear their story ended on a positive note. One thing that is often overlooked with newer growing businesses is a competent CFO. When you get that amount of funding coming in it’s like hitting the lottery and you really need someone well experienced with financial projections to model out the costs of those big investments before committing to a large multi-year lease like that. Another thing is opening locations far away from your original market is difficult. Now you are spread thin with locations across the US and unable to maintain quality control. A better option could have going the franchising route which brings in an experienced operator with financial risk (skin in the game).

@nm3547

8 ай бұрын

This is the exact thing I thought when I saw the LA and FL offices were opened. It's hard enough being a landlord in different cities b/c even the best property management companies can lose their flair, damaging their clients and the client's interest in the process. For me, I've found, it's best to conglomerate nearby, to be available if necessary and involved.

Wow, as I build my business hearing stories like this is so inspiring. I’m glad they didn’t give up!

Well done guys for not giving up!! Wish you much success going forward

Their biggest mistake is the most obvious. A 25000 sq ft facility in Brooklyn. No wonder they couldn’t meet overhead. Could of found a rural dairy farm to partner with and probably still be in business and avoided bankruptcy. Why can’t city people think outside of their box. Shut the factory down and relocate it. Dang

They’ve raised $19 million in 2 years or so, and lost 15-16 million dollars over 3 years, and were surprised they’re out of cash? What?

@patty109109

4 ай бұрын

It looks like they had not been profitable in years. This is a problem.

I lived 2 blocks away from Ample Hills on St. Marks in Brooklyn. It was a great Ice Cream shop and I like most of the flavors. They even opened one in Astoria, Queens. So sad to see the shops closed and happy to see them re-opened 🙂

Ever wonder how the most caustic criticisms are usually from those who’ve never run a business? At least not in real life. They’ve only done a shitload of case studies in business school and believe they know all there is to know about running a business. Congratulations Brian and Jackie on getting your business back! And many cheers to your love story. From one entrepreneur to another, I wish you Godspeed.

So inspiring for all the creatives out there. A series we need! We also want to hear more details about ample hill.

Love seeing these honest looks at what it takes to be an entrepreneur!

Private equity is a double edge sword. Watch your back.

So many lessons. Thank you for sharing!! 🙏🏾

This is inspiring. So much lessons to learn

Bravo to them! Thank you so much for sharing this. 🙌🙌🙌

So they lost millions for their investors, screwed over their suppliers and creditors who they couldn't pay back, then repurchased the business back a few years later for almost no money and are now proudly proclaiming that they're giving it a second shot? It's actually pretty appalling that they're allowed to repurchase a business they themselves drove to bankruptcy; everyone else got screwed while they got out with their business on the other end without the debt it previously held and also with massive losses they can carry forward to essentially never pay taxes ever.

@jtcash44

2 ай бұрын

Everyone else didn't get screwed. You're assuming that their suppliers, likely quite large, got screwed somehow. Likely not true. Creditors are also assuming risk in these scenarios, including not getting paid back. And they'll be fine. Repurchasing the business for a fraction of the cost is part of the process and it seems that Schmitt didn't do anything good to increase the value/purchase price.

@leopolddb9955

2 ай бұрын

@@jtcash44 Well a bankruptcy in it's very essence means that the company couldn't pay back its creditors and defaulted on its payments as a result. During bankruptcy proceedings, there's a specific order based on which creditors of the company are paid back (secured creditors, then preferential creditors, unsecured creditors, etc). I'm not an expert, but my expectation is that suppliers would not have had priority and some would not have been reimbursed as a result. Either way, though, some of their business partners (creditors) most definitely got screwed over, to varying extents. Now to cast that off as "they'll be fine" is purely an assumption on your part, although what's for certain is that some lost money because of the company's poor management. Finally, your claim that "repurchasing the business for a fraction of the cost is part of the process" is so absurd that I don't know how you could even believe that. The whole point of bankruptcy is to take ownership of the company away from the existing shareholders, who weren't able to run the business profitably.

Very interesting business case! Glad they are now back in business and doing well. Hope to visit one of their shops one day!

focusing on profitable locations is a great decision imo. i had a smaller business than ample hills that i grew through establishing new locations. i never went bankrupt, but i did sell to a large corporation and found that my quality of life tanked. now i have a single location that is 75% the size of my all of my five locations i used to own. it's much easier to manage for an individual owner with no partners or investors and my quality of life is better than before. i don't earn the really big money i earned before, but i'm happy. that's worth it. i hope brian and jackie have the same outcome

Business Owner here- thank you for sharing your jouney, much appriciated

Brian and Jackie just got fired so you are going to need to do an update video. As someone from the area where their shops are its fascinating seeing them and Van Leeuwen both emerge and one struggle while the other take it's spot.

@sarathomas8499

5 ай бұрын

Fired how? I thought they were the owners? Or is the company public and I completely missed that? Also funny because I just saw the video on Van Leeuwrn and their killing it!

THANK YOU FOR SHARING ,,, LEARNED MORE STUFF TODAY.

As a loyal viewer of CNBC, I thoroughly enjoyed this couple's story as I am am from the neighborhood in Brooklyn where the first got started. Would definitely love to see more "bounce back stories" like Brian and Jackie's because this information is incredibly valuable to small business owners and entrepreneurs that are trying to scale, but lack this kind of knowledge from behind the scenes.

Interesting story. Read up a bit on them. Jackie Cuscuna and Brian Smith say they’ve been fired by the very investors they helped entice to buy back the business,

Wonderful story...and it shows they were always in it for the love of it and not the money.

Lovely story glad they shared it

I am rooting for you guys. Ample Hill is my favorite ice cream shop.

This was inspiring. So happy for them.

Awesome rebound. The rough road is not always bad, it may feel bad for awhile. "You didn't come this far to not go farther"

Very inspiring, thanks for sharing the story.

So they mismanaged a 40 million dollar business down to the ground, declared bankruptcy, defaulted on all their debts, and now they're at it again? And they probably get tax breaks for their losses? Ridiculous

@OHHnoYOUdidntMAN

8 ай бұрын

For real 😂😂😂😂

@tho464

8 ай бұрын

Probably got a pile of PPP loan money from us taxpayers too. Never had to pay it back.

@AsokaTw-mz3lr

8 ай бұрын

This is the real American dream that many people failed to understand. It's not about doing a job, but running a business and earn millions within a short amount of time. This can only be done in larger countries like US, China, India.

@mithall4198

8 ай бұрын

Hate the game, bro.

@lovelyrich54

6 ай бұрын

​@@mithall4198Facts 😂

Good for them. I'm glad they were able to bounce back.

So inspiring! I feel this is the true American spirit of bouncing back and approaching ‘failure’ the right way. Thanks for sharing this ❤🍦

The graphic at 5:15 tells me this wasn’t a $40M company. Growth last couple years was decent but not amazing, with a massive increase in costs.

I ❤ their determination. It takes a lot to come back again after such a failure.

Such a teachable lesson!

Happened to one of the brand at my local place, they grow sooo fast, opening branches one every 2 weeks, they were everywhere serving coffee, cakes, cookies, butter cookies etc. At one time I said Wow they must be doing really good with their financial, there should be tonnes of VCs or banks willing to lend them the money for them to grow faster but I notice something is not right, their shop is not fully crowded, some small entrepreneurs starts to open their own coffee shop serving almost the same things at smaller scale, they didn't make enough ads for people to recognize them (they put banners everywhere, under flyover, traffic stops, billboards, join events to open small booths, flyers distribution to local mall, discounts, coupons, limited time offer etc.) but their menu hasn't changed at all, the price were extremely overprice at some point, they didn't listened to their customer's complaint about some of their menu and didn't make any improvement to the existing menu, they keep opening branches some of them come close to one another like 1-2 miles from each others serving the same things and the shops layout (the design and colors) is not welcoming at all, the staff is not friendly and in some cases were rude to their customers. I would assume that they wont make it in the next 12-18 months if they keep going with this attitude or work ethics, people will eventually hop in to smaller shops which offer a lot more price to value to taste performance.

@redx11x

8 ай бұрын

Are you from England? What city?

Oh man, I remember seeing the shuttered shop in Park Slope and the monthly rent was ASTRONOMICAL. Good for them to try again

I absolutely miss ample hills! Please come back to LB, ca

Can you tell me what was the course name Jackie took at the BCC for business owners who have to pivot?

Love a good comeback story

This icecream story was absolutely great to understand the pros and cons of running a business...

@iamanovercomer3253

8 ай бұрын

There is more pros in being a business owner than an employee > it's FREEDOM, financial and time. Anything that is worth something takes perseverance and work. Sadly the school system teaches you to go to college, get in debt and get a job = Just Over Broke ❗️

Slow and steady wins the race. 🎉

Wow! Inspiring!

Great story and advice!

I remember this ice cream shop on the west side of Manhattan. They didn't have the simplest of flavors in stock, and the line was a mess trying to figure out how to order in a dark dank giant flea market of a room.

Such a beautiful ending to a wonderful story.

Come up with a bad idea that loses millions a year in its best year, get investors to fork out millions to cover your losses, your bad idea fails. Then repeat.

I needed, thank you

What a fantastic episode!

I really admire these two

These are hardworking people. I hope that they can sustain success.

Definitely more of these stories

Loved how it came full circle!!!! Commenting so more people see this!! 😍

Thanks for sharing your story! Failure isn't the end and success is always right around the corner. Excited to try your ice cream sometime!!

What an inspirational story - kudos to this lovely couple!

Good story from the recovery angle.... Keep an eye on return on assets..... asset velocity is a main secret to liquidity in business. A small asset/sized business could be more profitable than a bigger sized. Profitability must be well thought through before choosing size, be it a small biz or big sized enterprise. Different sizes and assets demand different needs which include appropriate staffing, process, demand for the product and contingencies.

starting one solid shop and then growing it to 1-2 more is the best in my opinion instead of rapid expansion because then you have factors such as overhead, employee retention and management issues as well with rapid expansion but slow and steady growth allows you to see different perspectives and growth opportunities to better manage a business

Wow life lesson learned

We love the story. Thanks CNBC team for sharing this.

Such an amazing, inspiring story!!

can you please cover these types of failure stories too. Very helpful.

This is valuable story Kindly make story for business like this

Wow I went through the same thing had a small hobby business there comes a point when you are too small and at the same time you are too big the cost of the equipment and finding young people to work is very difficult. At the end it was not a hobby anymore. Awesome story!

Lessons Learned, Wisdom level +10

CNBC Make It and Icecream. Name a more iconic pair.

This was an interesting watch

Great lesson.

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8 ай бұрын

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8 ай бұрын

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great story - let mw know when Ample Hills opens in Australia!!

The best story ever. So inspirational! I'm 10 years in my business now as well going through some rough spots, before being a lot bigger than I'm now (pandemics). But I keep grinding every day.

@Lobos222

4 ай бұрын

I think these people were fired 3 months later because they did not have the investment in the company, nor the contractual aspects to prevent them being fired. Basically their "angel" investor and he partners took everything.

What an amazing story ! I love this💖☺

Wow! I needed to see this video as I recently closed my travel startup but a little voice keeps telling me to keep going.

as soon as the name bob iger came in and how he was a mentor, its amazing they only lost $40M

More stories like this please

Good that you got on your feet. I'm a up coming business owner in a international bakery .this really help me to get a more prospective of my business thankyou.

Great story Next time I pass by one of the shops I'll stop and try some of their product

@charleneelovitz3738

8 ай бұрын

I only tried their ice cream a couple of times when visiting N.Y., it was great

Opening that factory is what hurt them the most! If they would have had some type of mentor they would of advised to use a copacker! NOT OPEN A DAM FACTORY! It’s like buying a multi million dollar piece of equipment or renting it for a fraction of the price.

@AsokaTw-mz3lr

8 ай бұрын

they built a factory to manufacture ice cream. I am not sure how copacker helps in that case. here the main problem is that they didn't have proper estimation, and risk management. running a multimillion business requires proper risk management.

expansion sounds something similar to the recent closure of the flash coffee brand

More power to you.

Fast growth can be a curse. Glad they made it thru

Curious to compare this to Salt & Straw, they have shops in Disney so I wonder if there was some competition for that originally considered Disney spot.

Reminds me of Tom and Chee a grilled cheese and tomato soup co started by a few young guys and a cart,a similar story ,they got on Shark tank and started opening up lots of stores in Ohio and everywhere it seemed destined for greatness but they are not really around in my city only around Cincy area

Great story

This was great 👏🏾👏🏾