Most people would gasp at the thought of starting a business in February of 2020. Even more so, most would be alarmed by the idea of opening an ice cream shop during the thick of a Michigan winter. Despite the odds being stacked against him with a cherry on top, Matt Searles, owner and chief executive officer of Rollup Ice Cream & Tea, did both of these things—successfully. The shop serves rolled ice cream homemade from fresh milk and cream, as well as bubble tea varieties and rolled wraps at its locations in Kalamazoo and Portage. “Everything’s fresh and made to order. It’s absolutely amazing,” Matt says. Not new to obstacles of any kind, Matt was able to successfully open and grow his business during the global pandemic thanks to his unwavering positivity and belief in his plan. “There’s just something about it that I believed in,” continues Matt on the grit and perseverance it took to open the shop.

So, just how did Matt get here? We have to go back a few years in Matt’s journey to see how things rolled to this point. About nine years ago, Matt admitted himself to a recovery program to get clean of his addiction. “I was in a bad place,” says Matt. “I had made a lot of bad decisions in my life. I just woke up one day, and I thought ‘I either want everything to end or I have to change my life.’”

An Entrepreneur Gets Things Rolling

From that point on, Matt has only looked forward—both turning his life around by going back to school and starting his entrepreneurial journey. After recovery, Matt struggled to quit cigarette smoking, something he realized was getting in the way of the life that he wanted. At the time, he heard about the E-cigarette, which is what ultimately helped him break this other addiction in his life.

Matt started researching the E-cigarette industry shortly after, only to find that the industry was taking off with some projections at the time predicting that the revenue from E-cigarettes and E-liquid would surpass tobacco sales in 10 years. “I thought to myself, ‘If I just had a half percent of tobacco sales, we’d be set,’” he says. That’s when he put this idea into action. “I learned how to make E-liquid by myself, and then slowly brought on some other people. I’m a true believer that God puts people in my life that I need. Over the last nine years, God has done exactly that.”

After opening a retail shop and having steady growth, Matt eventually decided to quit his full-time job of ten years to go into the E-liquid business full time. With this courageous transition, his business, Hometown Vapor, grew from around $114,000 in sales the first year, to $746,000 the next year, to $1.3 million in sales the third year with about six employees. Manufacturing its own E-liquid, Hometown Vapor had tremendous success and grew its reach around the world. “It’s taken us to Columbia, Mexico, and almost every state in the country. We also did a lot of shows and met a ton of people—it became very successful.”

Just when the business was taking off, Matt encountered yet another obstacle to tackle—the growing regulations and restrictions in the E-cigarette industry. With the future uncertain for the industry, Matt began exploring new options to earn a living, thinking to himself, “We created this life around this industry. What are we going to do?”

Here’s the Big Scoop

It was during the height of this surmounting turmoil in the industry that Matt found himself in Tennessee for one of his daughter’s softball tournaments. After a game, his daughter asked to go out for ice cream. So, his family headed to the nearest ice cream shop—a rolled ice cream shop. “I walked in and there was a line to the door. I remember looking at my phone to look at the time and they closed in 20 minutes. I was thinking to myself, ‘Man, what’s going on today? It’s 20 minutes before close and there’s a line to the door,’” Matt remembers.

It was in that moment he decided this would be his new adventure. “God brought me to this little ice cream shop for a reason,” says Matt. About 60 days later, he ordered his first ice cream machine and cold grill which is the -20°F flat top that the fresh ice cream is made on. After experimenting with different flavors and batches, Matt was pleased with the product, knowing that it had great potential.

The Crème de la Crème of Good Decisions

Turning one of his vape shops into an ice cream shop was the crème de la crème of good decisions for Matt, even though it was really hard work. Despite doubt from some of his colleagues and friends, everyone came on board after their first taste of the new plan. “I remember one of my guys took a bite and said, ‘What did you do to this?’” Matt recalls. “It’s the freshness. We’re made to order—making ice cream right in front of you. The freshness plays a role in the flavor, the texture, and the richness. Everybody knows that fresh is better.”

Since opening on February 26, just about two weeks before COVID-19 came to Michigan, Rollup Ice Cream & Tea has been moving forward and not looking back. Early on, multiple news outlets reported on the new ice cream shop and Matt’s story which created a lot of buzz in the area. Matt describes the first few weeks, “It brought people in from Chicago, Detroit, Grand Rapids, and almost all of the surrounding cities. I had a two and a half hour wait for ice cream.”

Overcoming the Big Freeze of COVID-19

Matt admits that the first few weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic were very challenging for the company. “We were doing absolutely amazing and, then when COVID-19 hit, [business] just [about] absolutely died. I took all the employees off the schedule. It was just me, my wife, my son, my daughter, and one manager,” Matt says. This struggle lasted until Matt started advertising on Facebook in groups like the Kalamazoo Menu which miraculously helped restaurants in the community like Matt’s. The popularity of that page and others brought people back in the shop hungrier than ever. “People weren’t working, they got cabin fever. They were looking for somewhere to go—any place that was open that they could flood to.”

After all of the ups and downs, Rollup Ice Cream & Tea is thriving. There’s no sugar coating it: navigating these times has been difficult, but thankfully Matt’s determination has led to success in the end. Matt says, “We’re still doing really well. I’m looking at a spot to be our third location.”  To other business owners, he offers this advice: “You have to treat people fairly, you must stay honest with people, and then you’ll find that people are there to help and  work hard for you. It’s been a neat experience so far.”