Meet Jennifer Hearman of Jennys Italian Ice, Funnel Cake & Food Factory

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Hearman.

Hi Jennifer, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
As early as being a young girl at the age of 9 years old, I was always very resourceful and always willing and eager to learn new things. I was a mixture of shy and quiet but my brain was very innovative whether around family or friends. I grew up in the suburbs of a very small city in Jacksonville, Florida that really didn’t have access to much but we made it work with the little we had . As I can remember, I enjoyed watching my grandparents and mom cook or bake from scratch our favorite meals and not to mention the different aromas that filled the air that made me so hungry that my tummy smile . I would hang around in the kitchen for hours to watch my mom and grandma bake apple pies, homemade biscuits and cakes. While observing I would say to myself, one day I will be able to do this same exact thing with my children. Those fond memories would just make me wanna hold on tight and take these special key moments to apply them in my everyday life . Not knowing, this was the beginning of my jump start of my foundation of who I am today.

My next chapter in life started after I graduated from high school. I enrolled in FAMU located in Tallahassee Florida and decided to jump right into being a teacher. I was a 4.0 student that had many obstacles but I was determined to keep both feet on the ground and keep walking because better days were ahead. At the age of 22 halfway through college I became pregnant with my first son with no idea on what to do. I felt like a failure and disappointment was knocking at my door. After not having much support after giving birth and with careful decisions, I dropped out of college due to being 2 hours away from family and friends with no support at all. However that didn’t stop me at all , I decided to relocate to Atlanta Ga with a job offer at the age of 23 being a single mom I just packed up and left. To be honest, I really didn’t have anything to lose at this point. Being a single mom, I decided to continue where I left off at college. I enrolled myself back into college finishing up my Bachelors teaching degree which was a great accomplishment after a long hiatus getting back into the swing of things.

As a teacher, I still had free time and after my second son I decided to explore other things such as things I loved doing as a child that made my stomach smile which was being a service to others. I came up with selling Italian ice, this was just an idea to earn extra cash while participating at schools, hospitals , fundraisers, festivals as just a part time gig . So, I started my research with how to start and I started to search around for months for a cold plate cart that would keep my italian ice cold for long hours and it turned out successful. The cart was 9 cubic feet which was perfect for squeezing into tight small functions that I would push from one corner to the next corner and sometimes across the street during the summer and busy festival seasons. I would hear stories that people took this same route to make extra money and it was a success for them as well. After much success I decided to take a business class to know how to operate a business the right way and a successful one. After finishing up my business classes , I purchased a tent which allowed me to really showcase my Italian ice with colorful banners on a wider range which was a big success. After purchasing the tent we ran into another challenge that I realized I needed more flavors and more freezers to accommodate our customers. After 1 year of saving we decided to purchase our first trailer which held 3 freezers which was great because we would now have more supply for the demand we were offering. After a long tedious wait we were now also excited to say we were licensed and permitted in the state of Georgia which gave us a way to attend more events and festivals. After 1 year we noticed the business was growing so fast and decided to purchase our 2nd trailer. This is when it gets interesting, my grandmother & grandfather made funnel cakes at a fair every year in Detroit and people would come back and say ” Those are the best funnel cakes I have eaten in a long time. I said to myself everyone loves funnel cakes and who would turn away a funnel cake. I also noticed funnel cakes are a staple in Atlanta and wanted to keep the tradition going by following in my grandparents footsteps. My grandparents would teach me how to make the batter and how to pour it in the hot oil. After about 6 months of teaching from my grandparents, I decided to get the courage to start selling Italian ice , Funnel cakes & your favorite foods out of our 2nd trailer. However, this is when things became a bit more complicated and more money involved. The money we made we saved and it went towards purchasing our suppression system (5,000) dollars which is required through the fire Marshall and state of Georgia. Once we passed the Fire dept. inspection we were then ready to sell. Oh boy , it was not easy, more expensive but well worth it. Putting smiles on customers’ faces prompted us to keep going to open a brick mortar that only sells funnel cakes, fried Twinkies, Italian ice, pizza pretzels, dole whip, soft serve, gelato, red velvet etc. After launching our cold plate cart, 2 trailers and a brick and mortar store we have been steady ever since.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Challenges faced along the way I would say is balancing being an entrepreneur vs my personal life that clashed daily due to neglecting relationships and overall health & well being .Being able to stay hydrated when your working and standing on your feet all day can be a big challenge because the body needs water to help with mental performance and helps with preventing unwanted issues that could arise within the body. Lack of self care contributed to working on the food truck months at a time which lead to stress and burnouts from time to time. Just to name few challenges I experienced were having slow days or months, bad weather with non refundable events, poor event marketing which can be oversaturated with too many food trucks or having the same food truck at one event.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Jenny’s Italian ice, Funnel cake and food factory started and established itself in the year of 2015. We specialize in italian ice , funnel cakes, fried Oreos, fried fish , fried shrimp and wings. We offer gourmet funnel cakes that offer unique toppings served daily in the community or at your favorite festival or events that focuses on fresh made to order batter for quality. Serving funnel cakes hot straight out the grease provides immediate satisfaction and a happy tummy just like your favorite fair. Our batter is a family well kept secret that has been around for years that has brought us repeated customers. We also offer many different Italian ice flavors to choose from that are made from scratch and made daily to maintain its freshness & maintain consistency and quality of our product. Our fried oreos are individually hand dipped and to die for with an exterior of a light golden brown on the outside and fluffy on the inside with every bite. Our fried fish, fried shrimp and wings are fresh and tossed in our seasoned batter daily to create the perfect amount of flavor for a nice crispy texture served straight out the grease.

What makes us unique from others wherever we go is that we make sure anything that goes out of our window is served fresh, has innovative flavors and offers a distinctive experience upon every visit. Our business offers bold flavors, an inviting atmosphere, great quality food and a very unique menu offering a variety for the entire family. We stand by our product by putting a lot of passion in our food made from our heart which keeps our customers coming back. We make sure our customers are our first priority , valued, special and appreciated and we wouldn’t be here without them.

Our brand and mission is to bring families together whether near or far including building loyal commitments with schools, churches, festivals, private events and even the community. We also believe in giving back to the community by donating half of the proceeds whether it’s at schools, churches or even charity within hospitals to help with hunger, build community relationships and volunteering. We have a motto that our business goes by and that’s called the ” One for One”. “The One for One “means for every purchase it gives a feeding family a meal and is less likely to go to bed hungry. We are very active in our community and Georgia surrounding areas to combat hunger and be a staple in our city.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Just to name a few of my upbringing characteristics that have contributed to my success would have to be having patience when things were not always planned, problem solving and being dependable which has helped me along the way with building strong relationships with my community and building partnerships. Being reliable, having strong communication and having a strong work ethic. Just to name a few my passion , drive and hard work has helped with building relationships over the years and giving it all I have.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: jennys_italian_ice_funnelcake