Ice Queen Brick and Mortar

Well here we are…

As many of you know we have been working on a brick and mortar for the past 7 months. We have gone from pop ups, to catering , to wholesale and then a walk up window so opening a store was naturally the next step for us and always the long term goal.

I am sure you have all heard about the permitting process in Portland. That combined with the closing of our walk up window in April knocked our income down to just enough to sustain the business in wholesale all while spending our saved money to build and buy equipment . I have personally spent $82,455 even with grants maybe neively I thought it would be enough to build a space and equipment . It would have been enough potentially if our permits had come sooner.

We still have about $30,000 in costs to get where we need to be. I have applied for a loan for the last piece of large equipment, borrowed money, taken on as many extra caterings as humanly possible with a team of 2 and it’s just not going to cut it. While we could do more in theory it is also not possible in a commissary kitchen with limited space.

We are at a crucial point of growth in both wholesale and retail. I suppose this is usually the point when people seek conventional types of funding however due to being a rather small business we don’t qualify for traditional loans or if we do the interest is unbelievable. Funding has always been the only thing that has slowed Ice Queen down which has been incredibly frustrating to accept. Certainly it takes putting my pride aside to turn to community for help, I am just hoping you all believe in us as much as I do. Ice Queen will be unlike any other frozen treat store in Portland. We have all the help, ideas, creativity and drive - we just need the funding.

This money will be used

-BDS Permits $8,100 (this was paid last week with a loan so to pay it back)

-Final Health Department walk - $730

-POS $800