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Branson’s new ice cream shop not only offers some of the most unique ice cream shapes in the area, it’s the latest achievement of a teenage entrepreneur who’s been in business since he was 14.
Liken Avery and fiancé Cole Crutcher opened YOLO Rolled Ice Cream at 76 Country Blvd. Located in a strip mall across from Walmart. Rolled ice cream, also known as kakiage ice cream, was made by street vendors in Thailand. After that, it became a hot topic on SNS and spread all over the world.
“We were in Florida on vacation last year and always wanted to try it,” Avery told Branson Tri-Lakes News. “It was in the big city, so I looked up to see if there was an ice cream roll shop, and it was half an hour away. And I said to Cole, “Why doesn’t Branson have one of these things?”
Avery explained that rolled ice cream is considered a much higher quality ice cream because of the way it is prepared.
“There are three categories of ice cream,” says Avery. “There is standard ice cream that you often see in bluebells and grocery stores. Then there is premium, like gelato, and super premium, which is rolled ice cream. It depends on the fat content.”
The lower the amount of air and the higher the amount of butterfat, the higher the ice cream category.
Regular ice cream contains about 60% air, so you get less ice cream per pint.
Despite the brainstorming the two received over the holidays, the new business wasn’t initially intended to be an ice cream roll. It was planned to be.
“I’m very artistic, making t-shirts, cups, things like that, but I also made a custom beer pong table for the Missouri State University fraternity,” Avery said. “I made it for my cousin who asked me what to make and posted it online. Two of her students at MSU reached out to get their own custom his table.” “
She said she was truly blessed because she was able to develop her creative talents while saving money for her dream of attending the University of Arkansas.
Shortly after leaving the business, Avery met Crutcher at a local store.
“I have the most Missouri love story I’ve ever heard,” said Avery. “I was driving through the Walmart parking lot and I had my dog ​​with me. He jumped out the tailgate of the truck he was sitting in, ate a jar of pickles, came over and asked for my phone number. ”
The pair both attended Lead Spring High School and Crutcher later attended the University of the Ozarks.
The two then started a company that manufactured custom athletic apparel, a company that repaired iPhones while in high school, and Crutcher began his education at the C of O.
“We went to clear people’s sidewalks and driveways,” Avery said. “We’ve done everything under the sun.”
Avery had no intention of starting another business, but when he saw a space opening up in a strip mall across from where he used to live, he thought it would be a good idea to start a business there. I was. First she went to Crutcher and talked about opening a coffee shop, but the idea quickly fell through for one main reason.
“I don’t like coffee,” Avery said with a laugh. “I just don’t like coffee.
She then pitched the ice cream store to Crutcher, who said it wasn’t a good idea because the Branson market is saturated with regular ice cream stores.
“We can’t compete with all these shops or Andy’s,” says Avery. “But about 15 minutes after he discussed the idea for the ice cream roll he remembered about ice cream.”
She was sick at home and had time to fill out all the paperwork, so within a week she created a business plan for YOLO. She called about the vacant lot across from her house and signed a work contract with the landlord. The pair worked on the space and began prepping only to have the landlord lease the space to someone else from underneath them.
However, Avery said that out of this disappointment, God did something wonderful for the pair.
“We have a lot of friends who own businesses who told us that the old space wouldn’t be good for us because it was on Mount Branson,” Avery said. kept saying we needed to be on the strip, so the day we removed the other space from under us, I went for a drive to the strip. As I passed by where we were, I saw a small sign in the window that said ‘For Rent’. I called the number and signed the lease that day. ”
But Avery said the location on 76 Country Boulevard wasn’t the only blessing God had in mind for the couple.
“This place used to be Maggie Meows[the marble slab dairy],” said Avery. “We had a few businesses here after Maggie’s closed, but we already had all the electricity and plumbing we needed, which saved us tens of thousands of dollars in prepping the space.”
Preparing the store was also different from what the pair had done before, as they realized they were less likely to become social media stars.
“I love renovation videos,” says Avery. “I love seeing people redecorate bathrooms and things.”
“She watches those videos at night and goes to bed,” Crutcher said.
“That’s why I told him that he should take a video of the store’s renovation and preparation.
YOLO Roll Ice Cream employees create custom flavors right in front of customers.
She said she filmed the first day of working at the store and posted it on her TikTok channel yolorolledicecream, captioning it that the 19-year-old entrepreneur has opened her own rolled ice cream shop. (Avery turned 20 at the beginning of December. The store was almost ready to open.)
“I wanted to post more videos as a way to see how far we are in preparation,” says Avery. “I didn’t think it would take off.”
The Day 1 video was posted at the end of the working day, and by the time the couple arrived at the store the next day, the video had over 360,000 views and the channel had over 60,000 followers.
“We were like, ‘What happened?'” says Avery. “So I posted a construction timelapse video of him every day. Now he has about 85,000 followers on TikTok.”
The couple launched TikTok live videos to interact with viewers, and people began sending donations to the couple through social media platforms. Funds raised through TikTok videos helped the couple decorate their store.
“This place wouldn’t look so cool without their help,” Crutcher said. “She was 19, I was 22, and we didn’t have a lot of money. I woke up at 6 a.m. to do landscaping at the C of O, go to class, and get ready. I came here for the show, and I was blown away by the generosity of the viewers.”
The couple said the generosity of viewers hasn’t diminished since the store opened.They said they donated money to pay people waiting in line. A viewer who couldn’t leave the store because there was too much food sent us five large pizzas.
“A 9-year-old girl from Florida came to Branson for just her first day,” says Avery. “She and her mom returned to Florida the next day after waiting in line for two hours to buy our ice cream.”
The pair said their video stardom allowed them to unintentionally become ambassadors for the city of Branson.
“People come to the live stream and talk about coming to Branson to see us,” says Avery. “Then they start asking us, ‘Where can I stay?’ or ‘What else can I do?’ ”
The store has also brought couples closer together.
“He proposed to me at the store just before it was scheduled to open,” Avery said. “We had a party here and friends and family were there and he proposed to me right inside the front door.”
The couple plans to get married next year.
During the winter, 2005 W 76 Country Blvd. Open 7 days a week from noon to 10 PM Sunday through Thursday and until 11 PM Friday and Saturday. Store hours will be extended when Branson’s main tourist season begins in the spring. The cost of an order of ice cream rolls is $9.99 plus tax.
For more information about YOLO, please visit YOLO’s website at yolorolls.com.
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