
Here's the Scoop... We are Closing Our Doors Downtown
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It's Not Goodbye, It's See You Later...
Here's the "tldr" for our "I ain't reading all of that" readers. We're closing the doors to our Downtown Tampa location but this is far from the end of Sweet Mama's, this is just a chapter closed and we plan to be everywhere (we literally mean everywhere) by 2035. Feel free to keep reading if you're interested in seeing how that will be done. If not, we look forward to serving you at our next location!
Hurricane Milton
We are going to keep things really transparent in this post because, why not ? As a company we are not sad about closing because we know our trajectory is very promising and in business 'losses' are usually accompanied by BIG wins. We are sad that we won't be able to see you all in the interim but how does that saying go ? "Absence makes the heart grow fonder".
So it all started with Hurricane Milton(October 2024). Hurricane Milton's damage in Tampa Bay was worse than any Hurricane that has hit Tampa in the last decade. Milton racked up billions of dollars in damage across Florida alone and took away the invaluable possessions of many. We were grateful to have only experienced a small fraction of Milton's wrath, but unfortunately it was enough to knock us off of our feet.
The building of the space we inhabit is very old, dating back to the 1930's, which sets the stage for its fragility to natural disasters. During Milton the shingles on the roof of the building flew off and caused extreme leakage through our roof and subsequently caused our mineral fiber ceiling tiles to get soaked and cause a huge mess in the store. The first cleanup of the store was easy but the bigger issues presented themselves over time because the roof continued to leak from rain water. We won't paint a detailed picture of the damage over time but just think: water+Florida humidity+closed space.
Fast forward to December 2024 and the building roof was finally fixed! But our lease was to end in December and we hadn't made the decision to renew it since we were waiting for the outcome of the repairs. Our leasing company presented us with the renewal costs and new contract and the price of rent increased drastically, so we made the decision to not renew at that location.

Location, Location, Location !
A big part of the reason we wanted to provide you with this article was to give you insight on the realities of startup business and provide a source of learning for future and current business owners.
We acquired this space by proxy of an amazing organization that has helped us in unimaginable ways. We were fortunate to have experienced what it meant to be in a storefront and learn the pros and cons. Our pros were: Amazing customers, more space, direct access to water(coming from a foodtruck), a bathroom, overall more comfort for guests and employees. Cons : Location, location , location ! Although we were right in the center of downtown our location was not ideal for the average pedestrian or driver in Downtown Tampa. Foot traffic in the corner of downtown we are located is not heavy and was heavily contingent on what events were going on that week/weekend. We also want to specify... lack in said foot traffic is in reference to our target audience, not everyone has a sweet tooth. The majority of our business came from tourists' Google searches and often times those customers were making 1 mile treks to visit us from the other side of downtown. Driving to this location was also challenging due to limited parking especially during high volume downtown days(Lightning Games, Parades, Festivals).
A big learning lesson for the future of Sweet Mama's was that storefronts are only worth it when they're worth it. Tailoring a storefront to the target audience is key, make it as easy as possible for your target audience to reach you.

The Future of Sweet Mama's Ice Cream
We would never present you a problem without a solution. In no world would we expect you to operate without a Cookie Mama or a Mrs.Brownie. Which is why from the beginning our plan was divide and conquer. Seeing Sweet Mama's nationwide through franchising has been one of our longterm goals for two reasons. Reason 1: We want to empower future minority entrepreneurs to engage in a business that has an impact deeper than just the product. Reason 2: We want our customers to have the special experience of visiting Sweet Mama's whenever they are in different city and having a place to call home away from home.
Sweet Mama's Ice Cream will be expanding by means of franchising in the near future. We want Sweet Mama's to remain a brand that prioritizes community and relationships across every location. Part of our initiative to embark on this journey was previewed when we presented our 'Life is Sweet In Tampa Bay' campaign. Growth, Community and Genuine Smiles is our goal.

To paint a picture, imagine visiting another city and while in the mall theres a pink ice cream kiosk that says "Sweet Mama's Ice Cream". Or picture being in a different city and seeing a pink ice cream truck drive by playing nostalgic ice cream truck music and on the side of the truck it says "Sweet Mama's Ice Cream". This vision is why we are not sad about closing the chapter at our downtown Tampa location. Although we will miss all of our guests we will cherish those memories until we see you again.
We want to give a special thank you to the Tampa Downtown Partnership, who has helped us grow and gain the opportunity to expand in the downtown Tampa area. If not for their grace and support we would not be where we are today.
We thank you so much for all of the wonderful memories and look forward to taking the next step with you.
For anyone interested in opening up a Sweet Mama’s Ice Cream franchise in Florida, please reach out to us via email or through Instagram DM for more information.

- Sweet Mama🤍
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