Third Hike Reflection

 For my third hike, I walked with Peter Mitchell, one of the co-owners of Mitchells Ice Cream. I really enjoyed this hike and found it super valuable as it taught me a lot of the ins and outs of running a successful business. Some of the main takeaways from this hike were the importance of consistency in producing a product or service, within industry standards, products produced on different dates and times, as well as physical stores, or locations. This is why the stores all have similar features like trains or similar menu boards, or even counters. Consistency with industry standards also means that the price that is paid for a scoop all the way to a quart of ice cream at Mitchell's will be very similar if not identical to the price for a competitor whether it be Graters, Jeni's, or Dairy Queen. Another lesson learned was the importance of not only providing a good experience for the customer but a good experience for the employee. The impact of providing a good experience for employees translates to more productive and happier employees who drastically improve the customer experience, and overall a more pleasant and happy atmosphere for everyone. My last big takeaway was the importance of not overstretching yourself. This lesson spans several different overarching points, the main ones being debt and expansion. Often when growing a company debt will be accumulated in order to help expand a company without requiring an individual to give up capital. It is extremely hard to know at what rate a business can be sustainably expanded while not going in over one's head in debt. In addition to this, it is important to not overstretch yourself in the expansion process. While talking to Mr. Mitchell, he told me he and his brother always decided that they wanted Mitchells to be a local, Cleveland Ice Cream shop. I found this really interesting and important as the expansion of a company often will come with quality issues, and a balance has to be found that maximizes the expansion while keeping quality high. Overall this hike was extremely valuable and taught me a lot about the ins and outs of owning and operating a business.



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