Flushing resident Omar Karim gets ready every morning to open up his Cold Stone Creamery ice cream store in West Nyack. While he might have been selling medical supplies just two years earlier, Karim was determined to open up his own shop.
The 26-year-old, who lives with his father Manzar and mother Silvia, did not know what to expect when he first started exploring his business opportunities in 2005. However, he did know what type of venture he wanted to pursue.
“I always wanted to open up a food franchise,” Karim said. “My research showed that Cold Stone Creamery takes fewer royalties from their stores than most other franchises, so it was an easy choice for me.”
Karim recalled when he first wanted to purchase the ice cream store located at 4394 Palisades Center Drive, and said he never would have had a chance to own it, if not for Tony Calvacca and New York Business Brokerage, Inc. (NYBB)
A brokerage firm serving New York State businesses since 2003, NYBB is a premium service brokerage firm that helps in the evaluation, sale and acquisition of small to mid-sized private businesses.
Over the last four years, NYBB has helped open 50 businesses in New York, a third of which are located in Queens, according to Calvacca.
“We are committed to helping our clients investigate and purchase quality businesses in New York, and in Omar’s case, we helped someone open up his own successful ice cream parlor,” Calvacca said of Karim’s Cold Stone Creamery store, which was found on the NYBB’s “Businesses for Sale” list on their web site.
Karim first secured a $400,000 loan to purchase the rights to the store from NYBB. Though, soon after Karim met Calvacca, it became apparent there would be a lot of work that went into owning a franchise store.
“The most important step we helped Omar with in securing his business, was due diligence,” said Calvacca.
Due diligence is a critical review period during which brokerage firms help store buyers thoroughly examine the financial background of the store being bought, as well as the previous owners. According to Calvacca, this scrutinizing of financial records and business operations is crucial to opening a legitimate, moneymaking store.
“It’s an extremely important investigation which allows people like Omar to be confident they’re getting good value in their purchase, and not being duped,” he said.
In February, Karim was talking with Calvacca, and researching his business. Once his analysis was complete, Karim was ready to train.
“Franchises are notoriously detailed in their training,” said Karim. “Having NYBB and Tony help me through, talking me through what would happen next was not only helpful, it was imperative.”
Over the summer, Karim had to undergo store training at Cold Stone Creamery’s corporate store in Times Square for 10 days, learning how to make the ice cream and other store specialties. Then, he had to fly to the company’s headquarters in Arizona for business training, to learn how to manage payroll, take inventory and properly staff his store.
“It was hard, because I wanted to open the store as manager in July,” Karim said. “But due to my training, I had to assume my management role in early August, so I lost some summer profits.”
However, by the second week of August when his store opened, his business attracted so many customers that he felt satisfied with his purchase.
“Business was great,” he said. “It has slowed somewhat because of schools re-opening and the weather getting colder, but I still stay open until midnight on the weekends because there are so many people who come in those evenings.”
Calvacca stopped by Karim’s store soon after it opened, and was amazed with Karim’s work.
“He has done such a wonderful job, maintaining his product and getting customers in,” he said. “The ice cream we had was just taken out of the machine, and boy was it right on.”
Karim said the profit he is making from his Cold Stone Creamery store is what motivates him to drive one-and-a-half hours everyday, to and from his shop. However, Karim attributes much of his success to Calvacca and NYBB, without whom he said he would not even have the store.
“I very much doubt I’d be standing here today as a business owner if it wasn’t for Tony and the New York Business Brokerage,” he said. “I’m eternally grateful.”
