Meet Chris Moye of Kilwins Atlantic Station

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Moye.

Chris, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
As a kid, I always came into the store with my parents for ice cream in the summer and hot chocolate in the winter. Over time, John (The Owner) took the time to get to know our family and always made us feel warm and welcome. Then, one busy weekend John noticed us coming in and looks at me and says “We could use some extra help tonight, want a job?” and from there I began my journey with the store.

Over the next four years, I would progress from Ice Cream scooper, to learning about fine chocolates and fudge, to production, to Team Leader, Shift Manager, to my current position as General Manager. I like to refer to my time here as Kilwins High School as I am now being groomed by John to own my location.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think the biggest struggle for me has been perfecting my fudge. Many people aren’t familiar with the entire process of making fudge. It starts with a bowl of mixed ingredients such as sugars, chocolate liquor, butter, etc. and from there is put into a giant copper kettle where we cook it to a certain temperature (which may vary with the day due to outside temperatures and humidity) and poured onto our marble table to be paddled and loafed to create that perfect, rich, decadent, fudge-like shape that you, we all love. This process is extremely particular because if done incorrectly, your fudge may turn out grainy and hard, and no one wants grainy fudge.

Please tell us about Kilwins Atlantic Station.
We are a Northern Michigan based confectionery. Different from a bakery or pastry shop, we don’t actually cook with ovens or yeast, but instead, we use a copper kettle and sugars. That’s who we are as a brand, but this location particularly excels in our ice cream. Kilwins never “halfs-steps” in any product that we offer, and that remains true with our ice cream as well. Since 1985, Kilwins has been making and selling ice cream and one thing you’ll notice right off the back is that our ice cream is much more smooth, rich, and creamy than other places you may have ventured to, and that’s because since 1985, we have continued to only use the highest quality ingredients in our ice cream to ensure each customer has the same amazing experience as their last visit.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have spent more time in Kitchen. I feel like now with me being the General manager, I just don’t have as much time in the kitchen as I used to.