Pint-sized ice cream entrepreneur in P.E.I. tasting sweet success at Scooper's Dairy Bar

CBC

3 days ago

Inside a multicoloured minibarn at the Burdenell Riding Stables in eastern Prince Edward Island, an 11-year-old girl is serving up an ice-cold lesson in entrepreneurship.
For two years now, Roya Cooper has run the aptly named Scooper's Dairy Bar.
"We always liked ice-cream, and I wanted to start my own business," Roya said.
And so it was that with some help from her parents, a little inspiration from the competition and a lot of paint that Scooper's was born.
A pink, purple and blue fence surrounds the barn like an ice cream corral.
The barn itself is painted like the rainbow to represent the variety of flavours the dairy bar serves, said Roya.
"Death by chocolate, or chocolate chip cookie dough is the most [popular]."
Sales are pretty good. Roya said she can sell about 30 cones of her most popular flavours each day. Some of the profit is eaten up by horseback riding and her personal snack habit.
Serving up success
Roya has one employee who's 17 years old. Mom and dad are never far away, and her big sister is helping at the family stable right next door.
Managing the inventory and running the counter is all up to her. If she gets enough requests for a new flavour, she taps dad and he puts in an order.
She's learned a few lessons during her time in the business.
"You have to smile, you need to be good with money," she said. "You need to be very organized. You need to clean every single time. Wash your hands like a thousand times a day."
The most difficult part is scooping the ice cream: "It gets pretty hard in the freezer. You have to have muscles."
She gets the odd question from kids her own age — wondering why she's working at 11 years old.
"I tell them they should do it," Roya said, adding that it's a lot of fun.
"When the sun's shining and it's about Friday and Saturday and Sunday, those are the most busiest, funnest days."
In the future, Roya said she wants to continue as an entrepreneur.
In terms of university, she is split between a few options.