Not many newly-engaged couples would decide to put off their wedding to open an ice cream trailer, but that’s exactly what Carly Youlton and Daniel Hipp did.
Youlton, a chiropractor, and Hipp, a chef from Germany, met a few years ago while Hipp was working as a chef in Greater Victoria. After moving in together to a condo in Esquimalt, Hipp decided he wanted to try a different career path. So the duo began putting ideas together — they wanted to do something that would allow them to both move around and work for themselves.
That’s when they decided to build a food trailer and sell ice cream.
“Have fun in life, this is something really cool and Daniel is really excited about it. We both like ice cream and we both like making people happy,” Youlton said.
The duo quickly went to work, purchasing an 18-foot-long by eight-foot wide flat-deck trailer and rebuilding it from the ground up, with the help of a local builder.
Things didn’t slow down for the couple and on Jan. 1, they got engaged.
Youlton and Hipp originally planned to have the wedding in the spring. They had picked out the menu, days for the honeymoon, planned a guest list, and Youlton even bought a wedding dress.
But they quickly learned it would be too stressful to try and plan a wedding at the same time they were launching the ice cream trailer.
Youlton admits it was a difficult decision choosing the ice cream trailer over her own wedding.
“We’d been talking about getting married for a long time and we’d been talking about the food trailer for a long time,” she said. “There’s plenty of time for (a wedding) and you can’t control when the best time is to start a business. You have to take advantage of the time and season. This was our priority.”
The fruits of their labour over the past year recently paid off. Two weeks ago, Youlton and Hipp opened Carly’s Cool Creamery, selling various flavours of Island Farms ice cream at the parking lot outside the Cambie on Esquimalt Road.
While they haven’t set a date for their wedding yet, Youlton and Hipp are excited the trailer has breathed new life into the township they have both grown to love.
“It feels like it brings new life to that side of Esquimalt. Everyone seems really excited to have something there. Who has seen an ice cream shop on wheels before?” Youlton said, adding people have been very receptive to the business.
“We wanted to provide something that makes people happy and where a family can come and not spend more than $5 on an ice cream cone.”
For more information about Carly’s Cool Creamery visit their Facebook page Cool Creamery.