How This Founder Went From Side Hustle to 2,200 Franchises | Entrepreneur

Tony Lamb is the founder and CEO of Kona Ice, the mobile shaved ice franchise (ranked #30 on the 2025 Franchise 500) known for its tropical trucks, kid-friendly Flavorwave station and deep community involvement. Lamb started out in sales, then launched Kona Ice in 2007, initially as a side hustle to teach his kids about business. He felt the ice cream truck model was outdated, often associated with poor quality and unreliable operators. When he considered shaved ice — with its low product and labor costs and its more interactive nature compared to ice cream — he knew it was the right fit.

Kona Ice has since grown into a 2,200-unit national franchise that’s returned more than $200 million to schools and local organizations. Despite the growth, the brand’s $3,000 annual royalty fee hasn’t changed in nearly two decades.

During the pandemic, Lamb expanded his portfolio with Travelin’ Tom’s Coffee, a mobile coffee concept (#217 on the Franchise 500) named after his father and Beverly Ann’s Cookies, a dessert truck inspired by his mother.

Learn how Lamb built a recession-proof, feel-good franchise business — and what advice he has for aspiring entrepreneurs — here.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

How did your prior experience prepare you to launch a mobile shaved ice business?
I started selling vacuum cleaners during college, door-to-door, in Kentucky. I eventually graduated and ran six offices, had 300 salespeople and made “rock star” money for a while. It’s a tough business, but it teaches you everything about small business: marketing, customer interaction, sourcing and building teams. After that, I did marketing consulting for a while. That gave me the confidence to think, If I can figure out vacuums and mobile marketing, I can figure out an ice cream truck.

What sparked the idea for Kona Ice?
One summer, I was in my backyard, and an ice cream truck came down the street. My kids ran toward it, and it was everything you warn kids about: a shirtless guy in a white van with a few stickers on the side. I thought, This industry is already part of our culture, but it’s been dragged down to the lowest common denominator. What if we built something beautiful, open and interactive that parents could trust?

Lots of people have great ideas. How did you go from an idea to your first truck?
I knew how to make a vehicle look great because I’d built mobile billboard trucks before. I hired an engineer and a designer, brainstormed everything from layout to customer interaction and built the first truck in 2007. I thought I’d have, maybe, five trucks as a side hustle to teach my kids about business. But when I let someone in the next county try one and they succeeded, I knew I had something bigger.

You started franchising just a year later. Why so fast?
A guy saw the truck on vacation and wanted one in Nashville. I realized franchising was the best way to hold the brand tightly. Safety and trust were central, and you can’t get that if anyone can run their own version. I set the royalty at $3,000 a year — and I’ve never raised it. I didn’t want to get greedy. I wanted franchisees to keep the lion’s share of the money.

What were the key innovations that helped Kona Ice grow?
The big one is the Flavorwave, a self-serve flavor station on the side of the truck. It gave kids a “keys to the candy store” feeling and justified a higher price point. For franchisees in colder climates, we added the Kona Mini so they could work indoor events. And, from day one, our franchisees made money, which fueled growth.

The pandemic wiped out all events for a significant amount of time. How did you adapt?
We were 95% event-based, and within two weeks, every event was gone. I spent two days in the fetal position, then we launched “Curbside Kona” using adapted delivery software. Customers booked stops online; we optimized routes and texted them arrival times. That saved us in April and May. From there, we built a $4 million custom platform, Kona OS, which now handles everything from routing to marketing. It has made scaling much easier.

Kona Ice is also known for giving back. How did that start?
In 2008, during the economic crisis, PTAs told me they had no budget. I offered to come to schools, sell to kids and give the PTA 25 to 30% back. Shaved ice has great margins, so why not? It locked us into the community — we weren’t just selling a product; we were helping fund helmets, playgrounds, uniforms. That became our culture, and now our franchisees have given back over $200 million.

You’ve since launched Travelin’ Tom’s Coffee and Beverly Ann’s Cookies. What was the inspiration to launch those brands?
During Covid downtime, I dusted off some concepts I’d been sitting on. We prototyped a coffee truck and named it after my dad — a colorful, gregarious guy. It took off. Then I created a cookie-and-ice-cream truck named after my mom, using her college portrait on the side. Both brands use the same mobile vending principles that make Kona successful.

Looking back, what’s the single most important decision you made that set Kona Ice on this path?
Not changing the royalty. Investors have told me to switch to a percentage, but that’s not who we are. Keeping it at $3,000 a year makes franchisees healthy and keeps competition out. You can’t build what we’ve built and charge what we charge — and I want the people doing the work to make the money.

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