ORLANDO, Fla. – Glen Providence wears many hats as the leader of a nonprofit, the publisher of a small newspaper and the owner of his own ice cream company.
In his day job, Providence is the head of Hebni Nutrition — an organization that offers help to underserved communities, giving them access to and education about nutritious meals. In his entrepreneurial endeavors, Providence is spreading joy with Smile Ice Cream Company.
“It was a passion project,” he said. “I wanted to do something food related and ice cream popped into my head.”
Providence had made some ice cream as a kid and he wanted to recapture some of that nostalgia.
“There was a magic moment when you’re with your kids, you’re with your family, you’re out and you say, ‘You know what, let’s go get some ice cream,’” he said. “And in that moment, when you get there, it’s a feel-good moment.”
Providence “went to ice cream school’ to hone his craft, but the equipment he needed to produce ice cream on a commercial level was a little out of his price range.
“God is good. About a month later — when you graduate from the course you get enrolled into an ice cream Facebook group, and someone was selling one of these machines — again, brand new $15,000 — he was selling for $6,000,” he said.
Providence then took a road trip to South Carolina to pick up the machine.
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“I left at two o’clock in the morning — didn’t tell a soul because people (would say) ‘You’re crazy,’” he said. “Drove up, picked up that machine, was back in Orlando at 6 p.m. that evening and that was the beginning of the ice cream journey.”
Providence then spent 2019 perfecting his flavors. Through the pandemic, he would provide catering orders with Smile, offering single-serving containers for events.
“I was doing great. I really was not looking for a location. I wasn’t actively looking but I knew when the right opportunity presented itself I would know,” he said. “I was doing all these ice cream catering and people always ask me, ‘Where can I buy this?’ I didn’t have an answer.”
Eventually, the opportunity presented itself. A friend working in real estate had an opening at a shopping center near the intersection of Fairbanks Avenue and Edgewater Drive in Orlando.
“I went back and it was like, ‘This is it. I can make you go at it,’” he said.
Smile Ice Cream Company opened its brick-and-mortar location on May 3.
“Everything is made right in-house. It’s not being trucked in from a factory, you know, and it’s great. I love the connection to the community,” he said.
On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Providence shares some of his favorite flavors with Candace Campos and Lisa Bell. He also talks more about his work with Hebni and his paper, The Midtown Press.
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