Four years ago, John Bennetts stumbled upon a video that would transform his career. It featured a special machine that makes ice cream, the very one that Bennetts uses today in The Neighbourhood Ice Cream Shoppe.
It took Bennetts until June of 2023 to save up for the machine and to find the right place for his shop. Once the shop opened on 3rd Avenue in Williams Lake, business “spread right through till Christmas,” he said. Bennetts makes homemade ice cream for his customers which he says tastes just as advertised: “you don’t have to look at the label to see what the flavour is...you can close your eyes, and you know what it is.”
Bennetts said it can take 25 minutes to make one batch of ice cream, depending on the flavour. The process can involve dumping apple pies, lemon zest, or maple syrup in the machine to get the product just right, and while vanilla may be a classic favourite, Bennetts said “my key lime pie is to die for.”
The idea of owning his own business is not strange to Bennetts who comes from a family of business owners. His father was a businessman for a long time, and Bennetts “watched him struggle and succeed many times.” He said this prepared him well for the task, but it’s no simple feat owning a business, especially while juggling a separate job in mining.
“That basically took a pretty heavy toll on me physically...I was always on the go,” he said. This summer Bennetts decided he would focus all of his time on the ice cream shop, and thanks to a stroke of luck with the lottery, he was able to run the business comfortably.
It was “quite a shock after I got kicked in the pants,” Bennetts said. He had bought four lottery tickets in February but found himself stalling to check them. He remembers not wanting the disappointment of losing, especially after finding out the winning ticket had been sold in Williams Lake. When Bennetts finally checked and saw all the numbers on his ticket... “well, I won't repeat the four-letter word I said.”
After helping friends and family and making some investments, Bennetts used his more than $274,000 in winnings to ensure a smooth run for the ice cream shop this year. “That cushion has taken away a lot of stress,” he said.
As a final note, Bennetts urges people to save their receipts when buying lottery tickets. If you don’t, you’ll have to spend hours proving you’re the winner before accepting the cheque, he said from experience. Bennetts remembers when he finally got his winnings, he passed the cheque to his son and asked, “what does it feel like to hold a quarter of a million dollars in your hand?”
