Sweet Izzy's Ice Cream Shop (ice cream, coffee, lattes, pastries, baked good, smoothies, cookies, gifts, take-out, catering, wifi, indoor seating, dessert tables, birthday parties) located in the J.R. The story of Sweet Izzy's... Growing up, I only ever wanted to own my own business, nothing else seemed like a good idea for me (profession wise). I loved volunteering at kid's consignment sales, wor
king in retail, selling food at restaurants, etc... I loved the idea of people coming to me, handing me money and in return, I handed them goods and I made a profit. I seemed to be fascinated by this from a young age and something I had to do in my future. At the same time, my favorite grandparent growing up was a true Entrepreneur. "Isadore" was his given name, he never liked his name so he changed it to officially to Irving. For some reason, my Father started to call my grandfather "Izzy", for short! Izzy is what I remember always hearing my father say to my Grandfather so it was a name that was always in my mind over all these years. My Grandfather had a very successful women's skirt manufacturing business in New York City and he was my ultimate idol. I adored Izzy, were very close when I was young and since his passing when I was a pre-teen, I always envisioned myself opening my own business and having him look down on me from above, smiling and proud! I have always known that I get some of my entrepreneurial spirit from my grandfather, which always makes me so happy to think about. Since I can remember, all I ever wanted to do was to own my own business. I used to exercise in the mall with headphones on daily, listening to motivational speakers like Tony Robbins and trying to dream up what business I can open. When I graduated from college with a restaurant management degree, I no longer wanted to be in the restaurant business (I was burnt out from working in the restaurant business for over 12 years) and I started a few of my own small businesses. I started with a home travel agency business, then a chocolate making business where I was selling chocolates at a local flea market. Next I took over my Mother's web design and web hosting business for a few years. That business started to change and so I decided to take a stab at retail. I opened an online store selling boutique pet products, mostly for dogs. I built an eCommerce site a few times over, hired an assistant and that business lasted about 17 years. I always had the business bug in me. Part of that came from my Mother (AKA Grammy), part of it came from Grandpa "Izzy". When my only child was born, my husband and I named her middle name after my grandfather, "Isabella". My father has always called our daughter "Izzy" as well as his own Father. Combine all of those factors together and that is where the Sweet Izzy's name was born from! While my daughter was young back in New York, I was heavily involved in her school PTO's and PTA's. I organized and planned many of her school dances and events. I even did dessert tables for some of the school events over the years. I did a lot of fundraising for the PTA's and PTO's and I enjoyed helping out and making the kids smile. My greatest hobby was planning and executing my daughter's insane themed birthday parties each year, from soup to nuts. About 3-4 months before each year's birthday in August, I got into party planning mode and never stopped until the day after each party. I would dip chocolates and make these crazy cakes and insane candy/dessert tables. I would plan the entertainment, craft my heart our and go to all ends to style the parties. What I loved most was making the kids smile, that's what it was all about for me and it was something I was just completely passionate about. Everyone always said I should go into party planning but I never wanted to go into business doing it. I thought I would be too meticulous and never be able to make any money that way. I always knew I wanted to incorporate my party and dessert table skills into some sort of business but just didn't know into what. About 10 years ago I started to get really sick and started not being able to work as hard or as efficiently. I got sicker and sicker and could no longer run my business. I ended up closing down my ecommerce business and selling it. My husband and I decided to make a move down south for a better, less stressful life and to be able to survive on one salary for a few years while I got healthier. Chapin was very similar to the town on Long Island we lived in, Wading River, it was just warmer and had a bigger mix of people from different places. I fell in love with Chapin's small town charm, the people and the lake! We moved here with 25 people from New York and New Jersey! The minute I got here I was still going through some major medial issues but I knew I wanted to open a business here, I just didn't know what yet. My dream was always to open a store front. I kept looking around Chapin saying to myself, what is Chapin missing and whatever it is, could that fit in with my experience and passions? And then it hit me, ice cream was missing from Chapin, especially good soft serve (which I grew up on) and I realized maybe I could finally incorporate my party and dessert table skills into a real store front business. I somehow convinced my super supportive husbands, a few family investors, got our teen daughter on board and Sweet Izzy's Ice Cream & Coffee Shop was born. FINALLY I "Jumped" (thank you Steve Harvey!) and I haven't looked back since and loving every minute of it!
