“More than ice” is a motto that caught Matt Almaroad’s focus.

It gave him a fantastic sensation about the company he was about to enter.

Receiving a Kona Ice franchise in Knoxville and the surrounding location is … perfectly … difficult right now. Four franchisees for the well-known deal with have split up the territory.

Almaroad, 39, whose winding lifestyle route turned toward the enterprise venture in January, 2020, commands Hardin Valley, Clinton and Powell.

“Those are all expansion locations,” Almaroad claimed. “Powell has been a staple of Knoxville for decades. There are some good people who I look ahead to performing with.”

What tends to make Kona Ice “More than ice” is the determination it tends to make to the community it serves. Almaroad mentioned he gives again to nonprofits 25% of the proceeds he would make off each and every event he’s been included. His get the job done with the Anderson County Schools, mostly Clinton Higher Faculty, netted a payback of far more than $3,500.

French-qualified

Whilst rising up in an Italian household in the Tri-Cities, cooking was at the epicenter of any social exercise. His grandmother’s impact steered him toward a challenging curriculum to turn into a French-experienced pastry chef at an Atlanta satellite university of Le Cordon Bleu.

Forty-two pupils started off the four-yr bachelor’s plan. Nine graduated.

Almaroad stated he took the awareness from the practical experience and labored at higher-conclusion restaurants in Atlanta and Asheville. He went back again to the Tri-Metropolitan areas and ran the kitchen at an distinctive private country club.

On a lark, he applied for a teaching posture with the Bristol, Tennessee, schools’ culinary software. He landed the career, going from multi-star dining places to large college pupils who may perhaps have never been in a kitchen area.

Over 13 a long time, Almaroad stated he trained much more than 1,600 pupils how to operate a tiny business enterprise. He was trained to certify graduates in sanitation and safety.