When naysayers explain why something I’m passionate about will never happen, I am fueled to persevere with prayer, patience, and persistence. I then move forward to conquer each challenge ahead with highly aligned teammates, equally yoked in fortitude and faith. This pattern of opportunity, obstacle, and high-impact outcome has repeated often over the past thirty years, and we are doing it again with Howdy Homemade Ice Cream.

We crossed a very important line last week.

We completed our equity raise and secured the growth funding necessary to open and operate 5-7 new stores in the DFW area over the next 18 months. The immediate cash flow of those stores and associated revenue streams will provide the capital needed to open more stores in DFW and launch additional markets at an accelerated pace. The engine is already picking up steam as we begin construction on our new location at the Southeast corner of Coit and Campbell in Richardson and move to lease negotiations in Southlake, Coppell, and the West Seventh area of Fort Worth.  

Our investors include friends, family, former colleagues, religious leaders, community leaders, neighbors, mentors, mentees, retired executives, early-career professionals, and people with a heart for the Howdy mission: making amazing ice cream and providing meaningful jobs to adults with special needs. We also met countless naysayers head-on and heard countless reasons we would never be able to raise these funds, why ice cream businesses are difficult to run, why we shouldn’t stick with Howdy's employment practices and instead have a “token” team member with special needs, and much more.  I keep a running list of what's “not possible” and check off each one as we achieve it.

With the equity raise complete, we are shifting into the next gear to increase sales and build new wholesale partnerships. We are securing exclusive relationships for ice cream distribution and sales with high schools, retreat centers, local colleges, churches, car dealerships, in-house corporate kitchens, hotels, and more.

We are crossing another line tomorrow… and using scissors this time.

Thanks to our partnership with the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce, we are celebrating the grand reopening of our flagship corporate location after completing a full-scale remodel over the summer. When 2026 started, the Inwood store had little outdoor seating, no shade, and desperately needed a facelift. We were told not to invest in this scoop shop because of its lack of visibility and hard-to-use position in the armpit of a shopping center. When we looked at the store, we saw something different, and thanks to our friends at Avilla+Castillo Architecture, we completely overhauled the Howdy patio into a favorite meet-up spot for families and community groups while also remodeling (and reimagining) the store interior. With these upgrades, our in-store sales have skyrocketed, and we now sell more scoops, pints to-go, and party packs than ever before.   

Each finish line or ribbon-cutting ceremony is the starting line for a new challenge. The lines that are guarded by the doubts of others are usually the ones that lead to the most impact when they are crossed. The barrier is the way, and that is why we are boldly busting through the next set of naysayers to build the Howdy model at scale.  

By the end of 2027, we will have opened at least 5 new Howdy Homemade Ice Cream stores in the DFW area.

By this point next year, we will announce the second major market for Howdy Homemade’s expansion and seek to have LOI and leases in place soon after.

By the end of 2030, Howdy Homemade will have dozens of stores throughout a handful of major markets, providing over 1,000 meaningful jobs to adults with special needs and still serving our super premium, award-winning ice cream.

By the time you read this post, we will be on to the next challenge, building meaningful solutions and solving tough problems together as a team. We are always looking for people to join the Howdy Homemade movement, and we are currently seeking an ice cream specialist to keep up with our rising demand (we can teach you how to make it), helpers to join our Heroes for our growing list of daily catering gigs, and another store manager to begin training as we gear up for a new store opening.

We are crossing lines and sincerely grateful to the naysayers who remind us to keep on going. We are not trying to prove that the Howdy mission can coexist with excellence. We're building a national brand where the Howdy mission demands excellence.