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Kroozin Kooler Biography
We were sitting outside with the neighbors and all the kids on a day when the heat index was over 100 degrees and were thinking how nice it would be to have an ice cream truck come by. That is when the proverbial lightbulb over my head lit up. Our neighbor Jammie said I know what you are thinking and it is an awesome idea!!!
The next day Thursday June 25 2009 I went to the City Clerks office to see about getting a permit. They told me they do not issue permits for ice cream trucks, I was not the first person to ask and I surely wouldn't be the last. I told her I would be the first person to do something about it!! From there I walked down to the mayors office, he happened to be in and could see me. I told him what my intentions were, he agreed it would be worth looking at. The mayor told me to send a letter or e-mail and he would take it to the city council.
That Sunday Jen and I drafted an e-mail and sent it to the mayor. The very next day Monday 06-29-09 I get a call from the Rockford Register Star, (the local newspaper) asking me if I could do an interview. They saw it on the calendar for discussion that evening at the city council meeting. That evening it was brought up and referred to committee. The next week 07-06-09 the committee discussed the rules & requirements that would be needed to obtain a permit. They were all in agreement rather quickly. There were 5 councilmen at the committee meeting that makes up 1/2 of the city council and the mayor breaks a tie, so we have the votes needed.
With the city council so sure it would pass we went down to the county clerks office on Tuesday 07-07-09 to register our business name, "Kroozin Kooler Frozen Treatz". From the county clerks office we went to the Loves Park Police department to do our background check required to drive the ice cream truck (part of the code change stipulation). Well then we decided we need a logo. We called Tim at Accurate Business Controls who came up with a rough logo. By working with him on it for a few hours we came up with the current logo. We registered the website on Wednesday 07-08-09 and had business cards printed up.
We have found a few ice cream trucks online so we decided to go ahead with purchasing one. The ice cream truck we decided on was in Georgia. We have made arrangements with a trucking company to deliver it to us. Hopefully it will be here by Friday (07-17-09)!!!
The city council meeting on Monday 07-13-09 went well they brought up the proposed changes to the code and passed them.
Tuesday 7-14-09 the truck we bought from Georgia (off craigslist sight unseen) showed up around 9:00 at night. We let all the neighbor kids go for a ride around the block with us, then parked it. The following day I had to work at my real job so Jen went through and cleaned it inside & out, top to bottom. When I got off work I started installing the swing out arm that is required by the city and just kind of cleaning up the wiring that was hanging everywhere. We replaced burnt out bulbs and went shopping for new mirrors and a few accessories.
Sunday 7-19-09 Well we have finally had time to update the website with the latest. We started to clean up the wiring and ended up pulling it all out & redoing it all together. We added a few more flashing lights and made everything work. That took a long time. Friday 7-17-09 we took the truck in for a state inspection and a health department inspection both went well. Saturday 7-18-09 We got our delivery of ice cream and got the truck loaded up and ready to go. Sunday was some relaxing and memorizing where all 47 different variety's' of ice cream could be found in the freezer.
Monday 7-20-09 City council went well we won!!! 6-3 was the vote. The Yes votes belong to Greg Jury, John Pruitt, Clint Little, Mike Owens, John Jacobson, and Mark Peterson. The people who voted No were Janet Novak, Richard Brinker, and A. Marie Holmes and absent was Tom Laughlin. The media was out in full force before & after the meeting. We even did 2 live interviews!!! We gave the mayor a Batman ice cream which he shared with my son.
Tuesday 7-21-09 I had to get up early so I could do a live interview with the morning show on WTVO. That was at 6:45. When that was over I went down to the city clerks office to get my permit at 8:00 when they opened. At around 11:30 we took off and went out for about an hour before it started to rain :( We had a lot of fun in our first outing and look forward to the rain stopping to go out and try it again soon.
Saturday 4-24-10 Well it has been a while since I updated the Bio page so here goes, I will try to catch everyone up.
We had a great 1st year last year so we decided to buy another truck. When we got it it was nowhere near the description or the pictures of it. I spent a few months over the winter restoring it. The last time it was registered was 1983!!! It was a lot of work but it is really cool making a hunk of junk from 1969 like new again. We now have two trucks in our fleet "Red" the original 1975 we started with & now "Blue" the restored 1969. These trucks are original ice cream trucks made by General Motors for Good Humor way back in the day. These trucks rolled off the assembly line with the bells & caution signs & everything already on them. Here are a few pictures of our fleet. If you want to see the progress of "Blue" and other pics check out my Photobucket page.
Saturday 4-24-2010 Last week we secured our health department permits for both trucks and our walk in freezer we purchased over the winter. We did get Machesney Park and Roscoe to allow street vendors too!! We have paid our permit fees in Loves Park, Machesney Park, and Roscoe. The ordinances restrict us from starting until May 1st, so we will be patiently waiting one more week. Remember if you see an ice cream truck and it is not a Kroozin Kooler call the police and report them. We have spent a lot of time and money to do this legally and we do not appreciate someone coming in and doing it illegally without even a health department permit.
Thursday 10-21-10 We had a pretty good season in 2010 again. We shut down a little early though I think this time we missed out on about a month of nice weather, you can thank us for the unseasonably warm month of October!! We bought another truck for next year!! It will be called "Yellow" It is a 1996 Grumman Olson truck that was used as a locksmiths truck before. I have been working on making it into an Ice Cream truck for the past month. The brand new freezer should be here next week, then it is going to Campbells Automotive for an exhaust & some other minor improvements.
We have another big announcement also!! NEW for the 2011 season we will have Inflatable Bounce Houses for rent. We will be starting with 4 units, 2 15x15 bounce houses and 2 combo units with slides & everything. Keep us in mind when you plan a party!!!
We are also looking for about 4-6 more employees for the 2011 season.
9-6-2011
The business has gotten crazy what started as a 2nd job has become a 24/7 full-time job. Sorry for no updates this year but I will do a year in review for everyone & try to keep up with it better next year.
I got Yellow finished in time for the 2011 season so we had 3 trucks running all year. We operated in Loves Park, Machesney Park, Roscoe, and Rockton this year. About 1/2 way through the season I was running a route in Roscoe and saw a Cushman ice cream truck in a driveway that looked like it had been sitting there for a while. I have wanted one of those for a few years now. I gave a business card to the girl that lived there when she came out to buy ice cream and asked her to have her dad call me. He called me back about 20 min later & I bought it!! I shall name it Green!! I have been working on it a little bit lately and I should have it on the streets for the 2012 season, if I can get the cities to approve it!
Red had a tire with a giant bulge in in which Angie described as a Double D or larger, so Red got 4 new tires and since the rims were a goofy size it was cheaper to buy new rims too. So Red has a brand new set of shoes this year. I noticed a small bulge in a tire on Yellow too so we will see how that fares over the winter. The Vortec motor in Yellow is almost wore out so we are looking at a slightly used V-8 to put in it over the winter. We will see how all that goes. Red and Blue will be getting some new seals in the transmissions over the winter also and that should stop all the leaks!! Lets hope for zero mechanical problems in 2012!! Abig thanks to Mike at Campbells Automotive for all the maintenance and speedy repairs needed to keep the trucks on the road.
We are winding down for the season trying to run out of ice cream because we have had a few days of unseasonably cold weather and people are ready to say goodbye to summer and the ice cream trucks. (and hunting season opens Oct 1st)
The Inflatables didn't do very good this year but I figured they would take a year or two for them to catch on.
The 2011 season was alright and we are looking forward to 2012 being even better. I would like to thank all the drivers this year. Angie, Jessica, Brandon, Sandy, & Russ.
The next day Thursday June 25 2009 I went to the City Clerks office to see about getting a permit. They told me they do not issue permits for ice cream trucks, I was not the first person to ask and I surely wouldn't be the last. I told her I would be the first person to do something about it!! From there I walked down to the mayors office, he happened to be in and could see me. I told him what my intentions were, he agreed it would be worth looking at. The mayor told me to send a letter or e-mail and he would take it to the city council.
That Sunday Jen and I drafted an e-mail and sent it to the mayor. The very next day Monday 06-29-09 I get a call from the Rockford Register Star, (the local newspaper) asking me if I could do an interview. They saw it on the calendar for discussion that evening at the city council meeting. That evening it was brought up and referred to committee. The next week 07-06-09 the committee discussed the rules & requirements that would be needed to obtain a permit. They were all in agreement rather quickly. There were 5 councilmen at the committee meeting that makes up 1/2 of the city council and the mayor breaks a tie, so we have the votes needed.
With the city council so sure it would pass we went down to the county clerks office on Tuesday 07-07-09 to register our business name, "Kroozin Kooler Frozen Treatz". From the county clerks office we went to the Loves Park Police department to do our background check required to drive the ice cream truck (part of the code change stipulation). Well then we decided we need a logo. We called Tim at Accurate Business Controls who came up with a rough logo. By working with him on it for a few hours we came up with the current logo. We registered the website on Wednesday 07-08-09 and had business cards printed up.
We have found a few ice cream trucks online so we decided to go ahead with purchasing one. The ice cream truck we decided on was in Georgia. We have made arrangements with a trucking company to deliver it to us. Hopefully it will be here by Friday (07-17-09)!!!
The city council meeting on Monday 07-13-09 went well they brought up the proposed changes to the code and passed them.
Tuesday 7-14-09 the truck we bought from Georgia (off craigslist sight unseen) showed up around 9:00 at night. We let all the neighbor kids go for a ride around the block with us, then parked it. The following day I had to work at my real job so Jen went through and cleaned it inside & out, top to bottom. When I got off work I started installing the swing out arm that is required by the city and just kind of cleaning up the wiring that was hanging everywhere. We replaced burnt out bulbs and went shopping for new mirrors and a few accessories.
Sunday 7-19-09 Well we have finally had time to update the website with the latest. We started to clean up the wiring and ended up pulling it all out & redoing it all together. We added a few more flashing lights and made everything work. That took a long time. Friday 7-17-09 we took the truck in for a state inspection and a health department inspection both went well. Saturday 7-18-09 We got our delivery of ice cream and got the truck loaded up and ready to go. Sunday was some relaxing and memorizing where all 47 different variety's' of ice cream could be found in the freezer.
Monday 7-20-09 City council went well we won!!! 6-3 was the vote. The Yes votes belong to Greg Jury, John Pruitt, Clint Little, Mike Owens, John Jacobson, and Mark Peterson. The people who voted No were Janet Novak, Richard Brinker, and A. Marie Holmes and absent was Tom Laughlin. The media was out in full force before & after the meeting. We even did 2 live interviews!!! We gave the mayor a Batman ice cream which he shared with my son.
Tuesday 7-21-09 I had to get up early so I could do a live interview with the morning show on WTVO. That was at 6:45. When that was over I went down to the city clerks office to get my permit at 8:00 when they opened. At around 11:30 we took off and went out for about an hour before it started to rain :( We had a lot of fun in our first outing and look forward to the rain stopping to go out and try it again soon.
Saturday 4-24-10 Well it has been a while since I updated the Bio page so here goes, I will try to catch everyone up.
We had a great 1st year last year so we decided to buy another truck. When we got it it was nowhere near the description or the pictures of it. I spent a few months over the winter restoring it. The last time it was registered was 1983!!! It was a lot of work but it is really cool making a hunk of junk from 1969 like new again. We now have two trucks in our fleet "Red" the original 1975 we started with & now "Blue" the restored 1969. These trucks are original ice cream trucks made by General Motors for Good Humor way back in the day. These trucks rolled off the assembly line with the bells & caution signs & everything already on them. Here are a few pictures of our fleet. If you want to see the progress of "Blue" and other pics check out my Photobucket page.
Saturday 4-24-2010 Last week we secured our health department permits for both trucks and our walk in freezer we purchased over the winter. We did get Machesney Park and Roscoe to allow street vendors too!! We have paid our permit fees in Loves Park, Machesney Park, and Roscoe. The ordinances restrict us from starting until May 1st, so we will be patiently waiting one more week. Remember if you see an ice cream truck and it is not a Kroozin Kooler call the police and report them. We have spent a lot of time and money to do this legally and we do not appreciate someone coming in and doing it illegally without even a health department permit.
Thursday 10-21-10 We had a pretty good season in 2010 again. We shut down a little early though I think this time we missed out on about a month of nice weather, you can thank us for the unseasonably warm month of October!! We bought another truck for next year!! It will be called "Yellow" It is a 1996 Grumman Olson truck that was used as a locksmiths truck before. I have been working on making it into an Ice Cream truck for the past month. The brand new freezer should be here next week, then it is going to Campbells Automotive for an exhaust & some other minor improvements.
We have another big announcement also!! NEW for the 2011 season we will have Inflatable Bounce Houses for rent. We will be starting with 4 units, 2 15x15 bounce houses and 2 combo units with slides & everything. Keep us in mind when you plan a party!!!
We are also looking for about 4-6 more employees for the 2011 season.
9-6-2011
The business has gotten crazy what started as a 2nd job has become a 24/7 full-time job. Sorry for no updates this year but I will do a year in review for everyone & try to keep up with it better next year.
I got Yellow finished in time for the 2011 season so we had 3 trucks running all year. We operated in Loves Park, Machesney Park, Roscoe, and Rockton this year. About 1/2 way through the season I was running a route in Roscoe and saw a Cushman ice cream truck in a driveway that looked like it had been sitting there for a while. I have wanted one of those for a few years now. I gave a business card to the girl that lived there when she came out to buy ice cream and asked her to have her dad call me. He called me back about 20 min later & I bought it!! I shall name it Green!! I have been working on it a little bit lately and I should have it on the streets for the 2012 season, if I can get the cities to approve it!
Red had a tire with a giant bulge in in which Angie described as a Double D or larger, so Red got 4 new tires and since the rims were a goofy size it was cheaper to buy new rims too. So Red has a brand new set of shoes this year. I noticed a small bulge in a tire on Yellow too so we will see how that fares over the winter. The Vortec motor in Yellow is almost wore out so we are looking at a slightly used V-8 to put in it over the winter. We will see how all that goes. Red and Blue will be getting some new seals in the transmissions over the winter also and that should stop all the leaks!! Lets hope for zero mechanical problems in 2012!! Abig thanks to Mike at Campbells Automotive for all the maintenance and speedy repairs needed to keep the trucks on the road.
We are winding down for the season trying to run out of ice cream because we have had a few days of unseasonably cold weather and people are ready to say goodbye to summer and the ice cream trucks. (and hunting season opens Oct 1st)
The Inflatables didn't do very good this year but I figured they would take a year or two for them to catch on.
The 2011 season was alright and we are looking forward to 2012 being even better. I would like to thank all the drivers this year. Angie, Jessica, Brandon, Sandy, & Russ.
