Catholic/Christian led

Howdy Homemade Ice Cream

511 E. John Carpenter Fwy

Funding Status

Raised

Goal

$75,000

Investors

Summary

Tom and Margaret Landis are the founders of Howdy Homemade Ice Cream, an operator, caterer, and franchisor of retail ice cream shops. Howdy Homemade has been recognized multiple times for award-winning ice cream (e.g., State Fair of Texas) and award-winning employment model (2025 National Down Syndrome Congress Employer of The Year). Howdy Homemade means award-winning ice cream fueling an incredible mission to employ 1,000+ adults with special needs.

Business Plan

The Need

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Disability Employment, just 22% of people age 16+ with a disability are employed. Howdy has pioneered the Howdy Way, creating customer-facing employment opportunities for adults with special needs (affectionately called our "Heroes") for more than 10 years. And our Heroes LOVE working. Working at Howdy Homemade provides Heroes with community, friendship, a place of belonging, dignity through work, and an opportunity for career advancement.

The Opportunity

Growing a multi-site restaurant concept requires investment. Each Howdy Location takes approximately $100,000 of equipment purchases and another $100,000 of general contractor + aesthetic work to make an ice cream shop ready for service. Unlike most concepts, the beauty of Howdy Homemade is in the simplicity of the business model. Ice cream and employing joyful Heroes solves most restaurant concept challenges: we have virtually zero food waste, employee turnover, or any issues with no-shows or missing shifts among our workforce. We also have the unique advantage of being a largely B2B-driven sales opportunity, with catering driving a meaningful and growing percentage of our store revenue each month (30%+).

Owner Information

Tom Landis, Margaret Landis, Jeff Schiefelbein, Nick Bezner

Tom and Margaret Landis are the founders of Howdy Homemade Ice Cream. Prior to launching Howdy Homemade, Tom successfully ran and exited other multi-site restaurant concepts for 20+ years. In those restaurants, Tom identified employees who needed a hand to make an improvement in their lives, first by creating English-language training for his Spanish-speaking employees, and then realizing that his employees with special needs required a different approach, and thus Howdy Homemade was born.