Howdy Homemade hires employees with special needs. The brand’s stores serve an array of ice cream flavors, such as Dr. Pepper chocolate chip and strawberry milkshake.
According to Tom Landis, founder and CEO of Howdy Homemade Ice Cream, he’s done three things right in his life: raising two kids and creating Howdy’s signature Dr. Pepper chocolate chip ice cream.
Landis started Howdy Homemade, a Texas-based ice cream shop that employs people with developmental disabilities, in 2015. The brand has since grown to eight locations, with more in development. Howdy has stores in Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Indiana and Colorado. All of Howdy’s ice cream is made onsite and the brand sells its products in some grocery stores.
Landis is an experienced restaurateur. He opened and ran a handful of sandwich shops in Dallas before transitioning into the pizza business and, later, Wingstop. “Through great franchise systems, I was able to work about 10 hours a week. This was an easy life, but it didn’t fulfill me,” Landis said.
At one of his restaurants, he noticed learning English was the biggest barrier for his employees. “I created English as a second language courses that took place between lunch and dinner in the restaurants, kind of transforming the restaurant into a classroom,” Landis said.
Now he’s trying to help more people with his newest endeavor, Howdy Homemade. Landis wanted to create a space with fewer safety issues—so anything with fryers was out of the question. He eventually settled on ice cream, so he could emphasize quality customer service for each guest.
“You walk in the door, we say ‘howdy’ in a friendly way, then we immediately start giving you free samples of ice cream,” Landis said. “When the customer’s holding six spoons in their hands, they’re giggling, because they’ve never had that experience anywhere.”
The unlimited samples might make an accountant cringe, but Landis doesn’t care. “Them getting multiple samples of ice cream is creating an incredible experience,” he said.
At Howdy Homemade, he has employees who care more about the franchise than he does. “Almost every restaurant owner I know talks to me about how hard it is to find good help and this and that and the other. I’m calling baloney,” he said. “Not only do I have employees that are proving it, but I have literally hundreds of people that want jobs, but they’re not getting a chance. They’re qualified and everything.”
A lot of people get bored with restaurant jobs because of the constant repetition, Landis said. “In Texas, there’s 3.2 million Texans alone with special needs. And you know what? So many of them … they love repetition,” he said.
Customers have raved to Landis about Howdy’s flavors, such as Cookie Nomster, strawberry milkshake and, of course, Dr. Pepper chocolate chip.
But because of the workforce Landis draws from, some don’t expect the ice cream to be so tasty, an assumption he cannot stand.
“What might be the biggest word that frustrates me more than anything is the word ‘actually.’ You know why? People come in and you know what they say? ‘This is actually really good,’” Landis said. “There’s a bias there that because we’re on a mission to create jobs for special needs, our ice cream is probably not good.”
Now that the company has gotten some publicity (including an article in People magazine) and is gaining brand awareness, Franchising President Carell Grass plans to grow Howdy more in Texas as well as across the southeastern United States.
“We’re looking for people who fit well into the culture, and obviously the culture in the brand is all about creating jobs for folks with special needs,” Grass said. “So, if potential franchisees have a tie or some affiliation with folks who have special needs … that oftentimes gives them a unique perspective on how it is to own and operate and work with special needs individuals and those with IDD,” or intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Howdy’s No. 1 goal is to create jobs, Glass said. Every location employs as many as 20 individuals with disabilities and special needs. “They can go out and provide more economic stimulus within their community and learn skills that can help and that they can take into their community,” Glass said.
Landis said he’s “almost intimidated” by his franchisees, because several of them have children with special needs, which is a full-time job on its own. “I don’t have a child with special needs, and I will never ever understand it, as much as I try to,” Landis said. “So those that do have a child with special needs and want to franchise, I mean they’re lightyears ahead of me already.”