King Kone’s pastel-colored exterior and smiling staff oozes with a sweetness that matches its ice cream.
King Kone’s pastel-colored exterior and smiling staff oozes with a sweetness that matches its ice cream.
Gail Hewitt, who owns King Kone in Chardon with her husband, Mitch Hewitt, said their original tagline was, “May all your memories be sweet.”
That sentiment and King Kone’s cheery atmosphere has made it a well-known and beloved Chardon staple.
It’s unsurprising the stand netted almost 1,900 votes in an informal Facebook poll by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation to place fourth in the “Ohio Ice Cream Battle.”
The Hewitts have owned King Kone for over eight years. While Gail hadn’t set out to run an ice cream stand, she and her husband saw it as a worthy business venture with its established customer base.
“We knew that we could clean it up, make it more comfortable, more colorful,” Gail said. “We wanted it to be just a huge hangout place for kids, grandparents, people bring your dates here, people bring your families here.”
But it’s been more than an ice cream stand. Gail teared up as she spoke of the connection families have to King Kone.
“We’ve had situations over the years where people … remember this place and people have passed away and they used to come here,” she said. “Their families come here just to remember them, to celebrate them.”
Newlyweds have stopped to celebrate, still wearing their wedding clothes, because their first date was at King Kone. Students have asked their dates to prom and homecoming at the stand.
“It’s truly a place where anybody can come and make memories and create memories,” Gail said. “It was really just our vision for it, just a family place for people to come.”
The employees display a positive attitude with Gail’s rule: they have to smile.
“You have no idea what somebody’s gone through that week or that day or that moment,” she said. “That’s what we’re here for is to make everybody’s day a little bit better. And If we can do that, I feel like we’ve accomplished our goal.”
State-mandated masks have posed a challenge to that policy, as has the coronavirus. Gail said King Kone rarely has customer service issues, but this year, customers have been angry, even at one another.
One of the signs outside King Kone reads: “We will gladly serve both, but we prefer JOY over anger.”
Gail described a close relationship with her employees, who are primarily in high school or college. The 30-plus employees traditionally have game nights, do workouts together or go out for breakfast in early August, though the COVID-19 pandemic has cancelled some of those plans.
Joey Dinko, a 21-year-old college student, worked at King Kone throughout his time in high school. He came back during this summer.
“It’s really fun to work here,” Dinko said. “Everyone here is very welcoming and we all get along great. It’s one of those places where you actually can be friends with your coworkers. I still am good friends with people I used to work with here and people that work here now.”
Dinko credited his bosses for the positive atmosphere.
“They allow us to have more of a fun, laid back work environment, but also work very hard at the same time,” he said. “It’s good to have that balance between those things.”
King Kone has a thriving social media presence with over 7,000 Instagram followers and over 2,000 followers on Twitter. Gail said Mitch runs their social media accounts and the free services are the main way King Kone advertises.
King Kone’s Instagram features mouthwatering photos of their cold treats, with the employees taking many of the photos. Gail said the staff will create original ice cream creations and post them to social media. If the treat gains popularity, like the No Name, the stand will run out of toppings during the week.
The social media posts have drawn in customers from outside Geauga County, as well as King Kone ice cream trucks, she said, adding customers from the Westside of Cleveland make the drive to Chardon just for King Kone.
Chardon’s loyal customer base also continues to expand. Kristen Sironen, a teacher at Maple Elementary School, said she’s been told by her colleagues getting King Kone is a must.
“Everybody talks about it and I was like, it’s time for me to try it,” Sironen said.
Sironen’s niece and mother had helped her set up her classroom for the upcoming school year. As a reward, Sironen said she decided to treat them to ice cream by stopping at King Kone for the first time.
Gail said she appreciates the time King Kone fans took to vote for the stand.
“I don’t take anybody’s time for granted because I’m always running around. So for anybody to even take the time to vote, I appreciate it,” she said.
Gail credits the community for King Kone’s win.
“We know that all of our success is based on our community and customer base and the support that we’ve gotten from them,” she said. “We’re proud of (the fourth-place finish). We’re proud of what we created down here.”
King Kone is open from 11 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Gail said the stand is busier at night with families and young people, but during the day, their lines are normally small.
