VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- If you want to know what's really happening inside Sundae Scoop, all you have to do is glance up when you walk in.
The sign next to the front door reads "Do what you love." Rest assured, Philip Harrell is doing it.
"I like to make people happy. I enjoy service," the Kempsville ice cream shop owner said. "I enjoy just…the way people feel."
But finding out how he could make a living selling happiness was a journey that took the U.S. Army through stints selling textbooks and Geico homeowners insurance. He says he also spent time driving for Uber and Lyft.
Around then, is when he got an idea.
"Everyone who thinks about ice cream, talks about ice cream, they do it with a smile," said Harrell. ”(I) went online and I’m like, ‘how do you make ice cream?’"
Ice cream school in Missouri followed, Harrell said. He also spent time in Charlotte, N.C. and Texas through the learning process.
“Myself, my wife, my kids. We grabbed paintbrushes, we turned on YouTube and we started building," he said.
In 2021, Sundae Scoop opened its doors near the intersection of Kempsville Road and Centerville Turnpike in Virginia Beach, featuring 18 homemade ice cream flavors each day; Virginia Beach Butter Pecan and Cookies on Cookies (chocolate chip, cookies-and-cream and cookie butter) among the favorites. Other popular flavors include banana pudding and ube.
Harrell says he makes gallons to keep up with the demand for his creamy, rich dessert and word has traveled fast in the last two years.
Sundae Scoop has its storefront, but it also visits football games, breweries and sells at the Virginia Beach Neptune Festival.
August is National Black Business Month celebrating the country's Black-owned businesses. According to the Pew Research Center, just 3 percent of U.S. businesses were Black-owned in 2020.
Harrell says the way he looks is part of the reason he chose the ice cream business.
“You don’t see Black people owning ice cream shops. I’m like one of one in Hampton Roads for (owning) a traditional ice cream shop," he said. "I would really want people to start associating Black and brown people with customer service.”
During the interview, Harrell took a call from a man looking to open an Italian ice business and needing advice. Harrell says he hopes to help as many people get started as he can, passing along what he's learned on his own journey.
"I really want to create other entrepreneurs. I want other people to enjoy the experience of using their talents.”
Serving a little hope, with every delicious scoop of ice cream.
