At a time when retailers across the country are struggling to find workers, Troy Knuckles, owner of the Aurora, Colorado, franchise of Howdy Homemade Ice Cream, has in addition to its general manager 11 employees and a waitlist of 40 to 50 applicants. Meanwhile, turnover is low, and his store’s customer service, he said, is top of the line.

After retiring from his role as chief revenue officer for a large telecommunications company, the Colorado native had a hard time figuring out what his next step should be. He wanted to do something meaningful but just wasn’t sure yet what that job would be. Then, last January, he was watching ABC World News Tonight with his wife when a segment came on about a restaurateur in Dallas who’d started a franchise called Howdy Homemade Ice Cream to give individuals with special needs the opportunity to be employed and show off their abilities. Something clicked for Knuckles as he watched the joy and happiness on the faces of the employees being interviewed. “I just said: ‘That’s it. That’s what I want to go do. I want to spend my life serving this population of people,’” he recalled.

He reached out to Howdy Homemade’s headquarters and got the franchise rights for most of Colorado. Ten months later, the first Colorado Howdy opened.

ICSC Small Business Center contributing editor Rebecca Meiser talked to Knuckles about his journey, what it’s like to manage employees with special needs, who Howdy calls “heroes,” and why all small business owners should hire individuals with disabilities.

What sort of training did Howdy Homemade offer you as a new franchise owner?

We flew to Dallas, [where Howdy Homemade is based]. We learned how to make ice cream and learned some of the ins and outs of managing people with disabilities. But Howdy is still a really small company, and we wanted to do a lot more training on our own. Especially when it came to managing employees with disabilities, you really need to learn from other people that have done it and take advice from parents that have children with a disability.

What were some takeaways about how to work successfully with individuals with special needs?

Very different than other jobs, we involve our heroes’ families as much as we involve the heroes themselves. When it comes to everything from initial interviews to the hiring process to training to communication, everything involves their families and/or caregivers as much as them. That’s very different from corporate America.

Can you explain the thinking behind this?

When you make a decision purposefully and intentionally to hire someone with an intellectual and developmental disability, you definitely have to be prepared to help them and coach them and develop them where their weaknesses are. Their parents and caregivers know them a lot better than we do and can really provide an important role.

Does the application process look different?

We have a written application that asks some questions that are a little bit different, getting them to talk about their disability and what they have a hard time with. They fill out an application, and then we have them send a video telling us why they want to join Howdy. The next step is a face-to-face interview, and that’s always with their parents or caregivers. A lot of times, that interview will be in our shop where we can actually do some practical testing to see if they’re going to be able to do what we need them to do [like] scoop ice cream, make a waffle cone, count money, work the register a little bit, greet customers — all that stuff.

That’s a little different than the traditional way of hiring employees. Why go to all this effort?

Our heroes are amazing. They’re the best workers out there. They show up on time. They love what they do. They treat our customers phenomenally. We couldn’t have a better population of workers. We’re excited to be creating jobs for them and helping them and their families out at the same time.

What sort of accommodations do you make in the store to help your employees succeed?

I’ve got bunches of examples. Some of our employees can read and write really well; others of them can’t. You’ve got to design your business processes in your store to be able to support employees that can’t necessarily read. We use a lot of numbers and colors as opposed to words, which helps them a lot. We do the same thing with our [point-of-sale] system. We use pictures and numbers as opposed to words. We also do a lot of hands-on training, where we show by example. We make our own waffle cones and waffle bowls right in the shop and are really hands-on with our heroes so they learn how to do that effectively. Some of them were phenomenal at it, and others need a little bit more practice. We practice that over and over and over again.

Why do you think this model works?

One of the big problems in other businesses is turnover and lack of staff. That’s not a problem we have. That really helps from a business perspective. We also get a lot of support from the intellectual and developmental disability community in Colorado once they hear about our mission. That’s helpful. Next, we just make great ice cream. People really love it. That’s probably got to be at the top of the list for sure. We make it all homemade right there.

Tell us about your ice cream. What makes it so great?

All the Howdy franchisees have some staple flavors. We have a license to create our own, as well. One we all carry is Dr. Pepper Chocolate Chip. Dr. Pepper has given us the right to use their name and their logo in ice cream, which is pretty cool. At our store, we make a lot of other really creative flavors. We have one called Cookie Nom’ster, which is basically cookies and cream dyed blue. It’s a takeoff on the Cookie Monster. It’s a really good flavor. Cinnamon Roll and Birthday Cake are also popular.

Is the store doing well?

We are. We opened at a very challenging time in Colorado. We built out a new ice cream shop in probably the worst time in human history, costs being the highest they’ve ever been with inflation and supply chain delays and so on. [So] we opened going into the winter in Colorado. That’s really tough with ice cream. Despite that, we are doing well. Our mission is to survive the winter and get into the spring and summer when ice cream really thrives. We’re doing that.

Are you looking to expand to other locations?

The mission is to create jobs. We very much want to open more locations. Our next one is targeted for Colorado Springs.

The tendency is to focus on what you’re teaching the employees, but have these employees taught you anything?

The joy they bring to life every day is amazing. One of the things they teach me regularly is what’s really important in life. It’s just being joyful and being content and just loving life. That’s what they do every day.

Any advice you would give to a small business owner thinking about offering job opportunities for individuals with disabilities?

Do it! There’s only benefits. Again, you have to be purposeful and intentional about it — you can’t just fly by the seat of your pants — but if you make the leap, the rewards are great.