Tony Lamb isn’t a coffee drinker, but he does enjoy a cookie from time to time.
Luckily for Lamb — an entrepreneur in the mobile food franchise space — he recently launched a mobile cookie truck that can satisfy his craving.
“I can eat my way out of a 10-foot building made of cookies,” Lamb told LINK nky.
Lamb, founder and CEO of Kona Ice, launched two new mobile food concepts last year to compliment his large fleet of mobile shaved ice trucks: Travelin’ Tom’s Coffee Truck and Beverly Ann’s Cookie Truck. Kona Ice, based out of Florence, is the largest food truck franchise in the United States.
Travelin’ Tom’s serves frappes, iced teas, cold brew, lattes, cappuccinos and mocha while Beverly Ann’s dishes out cookies and ice cream. Beverly Ann’s signature menu item – The Ann-wich – is a scoop of ice cream sandwiched between two warm cookies.
Both concepts pay homage to Lamb’s parents: his father, Tom, and mother, Beverly Ann. For Lamb, personal attributes from his parents inspired how he branded both concepts. Lamb wanted to instill his father’s love for coffee into his coffee truck concept. For his cookie truck, Lamb said the best chocolate chip cookie he’s ever eaten was baked by his Mom.
Lamb wanted the branding of Beverly Ann’s to exude classic Americana. His marketing team took inspiration from painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell whose work often depicted idealized versions of American life.
“We did a very retro, kind of Norman Rockwell scene on the truck to take people back to that nostalgia of when grandmas baked cookies,” he said. “Everything seems to be better when it came out of your grandmother’s kitchen. That’s where we’re all at.”
Business diversification was part of Lamb’s rationale behind the coffee and cookie truck plays. According to a survey conducted by Food Beverage Insider, approximately two-thirds of Americans drink coffee daily. A Simmons National Consumer Survey found that 245 million Americans consumed ready-to-eat cookies in 2020. Both markets are larger than the U.S. shaved ice market, Lamb said.
Lamb’s prior experience in the mobile food industry made him confident in bringing both ideas to life.
“We can be where people are, compared to opening up a store and just praying to God someone walks by,” Lamb said. “We’ll just go get the people. That’s what’s always made Kona and this mobile concept so good.”
In October 2020, Kona Ice rolled out six prototype Travelin’ Tom’s coffee trucks. That fleet has since grown to 150 trucks with orders for nearly 300 more. So far, Travelin’ Tom’s trucks have only been made available to existing Kona Ice franchisees. Demand has been “spectacular,” Lamb said.
Beverly Ann’s is currently operating in Northern Kentucky, Lexington and Lafayette, Indiana, according to their website.
Longtime Kona Ice franchisee Sandra Andrews started operating a Travelin’ Tom’s truck last year. Andrews told LINK nky there is an overlap between the events Kona Ice and Travelin’ Tom’s both appear.
Traditionally, Kona Ice trucks are set up at events like community festivals, youth sports tournaments, block parties, and weddings. Travelin’ Tom’s trucks also appear at those events, as well as corporate events.
From her perspective as an operator, Travelin’ Tom’s appeals more to corporate crowds looking to grab a quick coffee drink or breakfast beverage at their respective event.
“Those folks aren’t always really interested in, you know, leaving your desk and going outside to get a cone of ice,” Andrews said. “Travelin’ Tom’s seems to have a better appeal for that group.”
Lamb attributes the early success of both ventures to Kona Ice’s strong culture and support infrastructure. Looking ahead, Lamb thinks these organizational characteristics will take Kona Ice to the next level as a company.
“We’ve built this infrastructure,” he said. “We’ve got all the systems and processes in place. We can support these things on the road. We can market for them. We can train, we can manufacture, we can supply all these things.”
