Gateway CEO had a site visit this week in Collinsville, visiting Uptown Scoops and spending the morning with owner Donna Green. Uptown Scoops is in it's third season as a beautiful destination in Uptown Collinsville. Serving top notch frozen custard and the best cookies in town, this location welcomes the community to hang out on the patio, under the pergolas with plenty of yard games, toys for the kids and table top games. Donna is also heavily involved in the local community serving as a City Council Member in her third term with the City of Collinsville. Donna shared some great insights with her background and experience in running a business.
- Know your why for opening any business. Uptown Scoops aims to serve the community with a family friendly environment and offers the opportunity to build a team to serve.
- Culture with your employees is so important. You can express when it may be a rough day, but you have to be ready to turn it on to serving your community well when you are with customers and teammates.
- Be present - for customers and your team. Make their day. Your job is to exceed expectations.
- Have fun in what you do! You want to create a great environment.
- Challenges will come in business. It's choosing to solve the problems and keep going.
- Always learn from your customers. Evaluate and make adjustments as needed.
- Be willing to be a servant leader.
- Social media and sales growth requires strategies that help meet customer needs.

It was a perfect morning to sit under the pergola -- and HUGE thank you for sharing your amazing cookies too!