One Westside ice-cream-business owner went back to her roots to grow her business all while helping meet her community’s needs during the pandemic by launching a mobile ice-cream van.
“We are going out and around now, practicing, getting the feel for it, and ironing out all the kinks,” owner Lisa Johnston of Super Duper Ice Cream Van said.
The van, which officially launched Friday, is based in Waimea and will cater to the Westside and service the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kekaha, Waimea, Pakala, Kaumakani, Hanapepe, ‘Ele‘ele and Kalaheo.
Kumu Leina‘ala Pavao Jardin of Kalaheo invited Johnston and the van for treats after a socially-distanced hula class.
“I’m so excited for her. With this pandemic, it’s so nice to see people thinking outside of the box and stay afloat,” Jardin said. “She is taking a step back in time. I’m so excited that our keiki can experience that, so I invited her to come by when we have hula class. It’s a great way to support local businesses.”
It’s become a family business with Johnston’s mom, Beverly, becoming her passenger and coworker.
“I had an ice-cream van that I ran back in 2006. I closed that and opened my full-service ice cream shop in 2009 in Waimea and ran that for 11 years,” Johnston said. “On Aug. 16th, 2020, the shop experienced an electrical fire. It did not destroy the building, but the heat destroyed most of the appliances and products. I had the option to rebuild and go back in, but I was too sad and overwhelmed.”
Johnston said she came up with a solution to meet her business and the community’s needs.
“After much deliberation and thoughts on re-opening a business in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided that maybe it might be best to close the shop and try a mobile service to help the community,” Johnston said. “We could offer a low-dollar, fun treat to our neighbors that may be struggling financially, were unemployed, homebound or in quarantine.”
Johnston’s father opened the first Super Duper in 1966 at the same location as her shop in Waimea.
“He had it for two years until it changed hands and eventually closed. I re-opened it in 2009 and called it Super Duper 2,” Johnston said.
Johnston talked about the struggles she faced during COVID-19.
“The pandemic was definitely a factor when deciding to begin again as a mobile service instead of going back to our brick-and-mortar shop,” Johnston said. “Operating the business during COVID-19 was very tough, as the tourist traffic accounted for 60 to 70% of our business. The dramatic drop in visitors, the decrease in revenue from locals as well as the damage to the shop because of the fire forced me to re-evaluate.”
“I needed to shift and focus on our local population to carry the business as well as be able to service our neighbors, the homebound and our community that may be affected by the many stipulations of COVID-19,” Johnston said.
Although Johnston has faced some struggles during the pandemic, she is very optimistic about her mobile business.
“I’m really excited about my ice-cream van,” Johnston said. “It’s a project that my 90-year-old mother, Beverly, and my sister, Sandra Cabral, helped me with. They have both been instrumental in the many difficult and tough decisions that needed to be made about the closing of the shop to the purchase, design and launch of the van.”
“I’m very thankful for them. My mom is my only employee, and she goes out with me every day. What a treat for me to be able to spend every day with my mom, driving around the neighborhood, selling ice cream while she shoots the bubble machine out the window for all of the kids to enjoy,” Johnston said.
If residents are not sure what ice-cream choices there are, Johnston breaks it down.
“Super Duper offers eight to 12 ice-cream novelty bars for our customers,” Johnston said. “I’m working on getting in some of the old-fashioned products for our big (I mean older) customers. They like the nostalgia of hearing the music and then seeing the van coming down the street. Our clientele is 50% of kids and 50% of adults. Adults are sometimes more excited than the kids to see us coming.”
Johnston said she has popsicles that start at $1, her average product is $2 and she charges $3 to $4 for some of her larger bars and giant cones.
“There were many, many people that contributed to this project,” Johnston said. “I had family, friends and strangers make financial contributions after the fire. I had people just show up and offer physical labor to help with the fire cleanup and I had many people helping me to get my van up and operational.”
There are other ice cream trucks on the island, Johnston said, and she welcomes them.
“I have recently seen that there are two other ice cream trucks that have started up on the island,” Johnston said. “I look at them as partners, not as competition, as we are all out there with the same goal: To make everyone happy and bring joy to our island. E hana kakou, let’s work together.”
