Young Bella Vistans open ice cream stand
Crazy Willy’s Ice Cream, a small food truck operated by two teenage brothers, opened last week alongside the Veterans Wall of Honor.
Andrew Hull, 16, and Michael Hull, 17, had a health inspection and opened their trailer for the first time last Wednesday.
According to the ice cream truck’s website, it will be operating from noon to 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday this summer.
The truck is partnered with Dole and carries the company’s Dole Whip. The truck serves pineapple and raspberry flavors every day with a rotating assortment of other flavors from day-to-day.
Andrew Hull said he and his brother have always enjoyed ice cream and, during a trip to Hawaii, they tried pineapple ice cream and loved it.
“It’s like the best ice cream I’ve ever had,” he said.
The location, right alongside the Lake Bella Vista parking lot, is an excellent space because it gets traffic from the Veterans Wall of Honor, the lake and the various trails that meet near the lake, he said.
It’s also been a great learning opportunity that’s taught him more than business classes at school, he added.
The business is named after Willy, a cat the family accidentally acquired when the two were children.
Willy hitched a ride home on the family car and stuck with them after, he explained.
“The craziest cat you’ve ever seen,” Andrew Hull said.
That occasionally-fiendish
feline would often need a treat and became quite partial to ice cream, he added.
The idea to start an ice cream business came up last year, but it didn’t get their parents’ blessing at the time, he explained.
After working to put together the money last year and earlier this year, the two brothers got the go-ahead to start their business.
Their mother, Neighbors Real Estate proprietor Julie Hull, said that the boys did everything short of working with the health department, which required a legal adult.
They put together the money to buy the trailer, though the equipment inside was covered by a loan, she added.
“I’m proud, extremely proud,” she said.
Michael Hull said he’s excited to have the business open and he’s extremely pleased with how the trailer itself turned out, particularly the logo.
“It feels very nice,” he said. “We’ve achieved what we set out to do.”