Amy's was started by Amy Simmons in 1984, who, was working as a premedical major at Tufts University in Boston, worked for Steve's Ice Cream. After Steve's was purchased by a larger company, Simmons decided to open her own business. She and her business partner Scott Shaw eventually decided to open their own ice cream shop in Austin, Texas. They wrote a "hot check" for the lease of a store in Guadalupe and has since opened 13 more locations, with most of them in Austin. Amy's has been voted as the best Reader's Ice Cream for 8 years in a row by the readers of the Austin Chronicle, and has also been voted as the Best Neon numerous times. Many contractors have tried to persuade Amy into letting them open more chains of the popular store, but she announced in 2009 that she does not intend to rapidly extend the chain.
Two fun facts!:
- Amy's has a lot of creativity in their stores. For example, the paper application for wanting-to-be employees is a white paper bag. The only requirements are to write a name and contact information somewhere on the application. Applicants are encouraged to be creative and applications have included decorated bags, short stories, and videos placed in the bag. The bag does not have to remain intact; some applications have included only portions of the bag, puppets made from the bag, or the remains of a bag (ashes). The end product does not need to resemble the original bag.
- Amy's doesn't use a cold stone for a mixing board. The boards are room temperature and, per company claims, bring out the flavors in the different ice creams during the mixing process due to warming up the ice cream.
A few pictures:
(Amy's homepage)
--Star (Vandana)
Interesting. I wonder how they keep the ice cream from becoming too warm, and whether they have more steps for the application process. It's probably not wise, after all, to pick up anyone from off the street.-AS
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