Opening an ice cream shop was risky. Cuscuna, 54, was a teacher for more than 20 years. Smith was a Syfy screenwriter who also produced and directed audiobooks."The real impetus was just that joy that it brings when you make ice cream and you share it with people," Smith said."And I wasn't really getting that same sense of connection and fulfillment out of writing those monster movies.
They raised $19 million over multiple rounds of venture capital funding, creating more locations and opening their giant factory — the"Taj Mahal" of ice cream factories, Smith says — in 2018. The next year, Ample Hills had 13 shops, from New York to California to Florida, and $10 million in annual sales.
"The finance director came to us and said that he didn't think that we would have enough money to get through the winter of 2019 into 2020," says Smith."We immediately started calling our investors and said, 'We need to raise some more money.' And their answer was no."