JoDora Pender passes a neon-blue water ice through the window of her Sweet Drips food truck in Fort Myers. It sits long enough for a quick photo, then starts to melt, dripping clear-blue liquid onto the truck's steel counter.
It's a sticky 92 degrees out, perfect ice cream weather, or as Pender sees it, perfect Sweet Drips weather.
"I always wanted my own ice-cream truck growing up," Pender says. "I'm from Naples and we had a small little ice cream truck I'd ride around in when I was a kid. When I grew up and still wanted to do that, my dad was like: Really? But here we are."
Sweet Drips didn't start as a truck. It started in September 2018 as a table and pop-up tent Pender would drag to Dunbar High School football games and local events. In February 2019, Pender found a small trailer in Key West with enough room for a freezer and a single employee.
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In June, she added a second, far larger trailer to her lineup, with space for hot foods such as cheesesteaks, grilled cheese sandwiches and pretzels — and for her two brothers, Jeremiah Livingston and Tyreese Houston, who are her right-hand men.
"I wanted to kind of crawl with it first," Pender says. "That's why I started small and worked my way up."
"Worked" being the key word.
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Pender, a 27-year-old single mom with two young daughters, works as a nurse at the Lee County Jail. She's studying for her bachelor's degree at Galen College of Nursing in Tampa. And, in her free time, she's living her dream of owning an ice cream truck — or rather a water ice/gelato/pretzel/cheesesteak/doughuts/fried Oreos/funnel cakes truck.
Those doughnuts, fried to order and topped with everything from Oreos to sprinkles to fresh strawberries, are Pender's other babies.
"I spent forever perfecting my doughnut recipe," she says, laughing. "I finally got it just right and now I do not eat them. I've lost 35 pounds since I stopped, I swear."
As part of our ongoing series with Southwest Florida's Black chefs and restaurateurs, we spoke with Pender about life as a young business owner of color. These are her answers, edited for space and continuity.
On Sweet Drips being a family affair ...
My brothers help me a lot, they get a lot of stuff pushed on them. It's for their best though, to keep them out of trouble.
My younger brother, he plays football now for Dunbar High School, but when he's not paying football, he's here. My other sibling, he's my doughnut man. He does the doughnuts. If he's not here, we don't have doughnuts. We make our doughnuts fresh, cooked to order. We also do funnel-cake fries, churros, fried Oreos, basically fair food, and that's all him.
Those two, they are my biggest priority of it all with this truck, and they have fun while they're here. They invite their friends, their friends spend money, it's all good. Everybody loves sweets. You can't go wrong with it, you've got to fill that craving.
On her work ethic ...
I'm 27. I'm a nurse. My kids just wanted to do something fun, and this is what we ended up with. My family has a food truck right up the street, Deep Down South BBQ, that's my uncle. Eventually, hopefully, we can merge together into a real restaurant if that makes sense one day.
He's like the savory and I'm like the sweet.
I was born in Naples and mostly raised there. I graduated from South Fort Myers High School, class of 2011 with Sammy Watkins. I cheered and ran track, but mostly I worked. I was always busy with jobs. I was working, working, working all the time growing up. My parents instilled that in me from a young age.
Actually, I just got off work then came straight here to help set up. I go back to school on Monday in Tampa, so I'll have that to balance, too. And I've got my daughters. But we make it work. I have to. I want this for my brothers and for my girls.
On being in the food business ...
My mom and dad are bondsmen, yeah, so, we didn't grow up in food. I don't know why I got so attached to it? I started out with just ices. I was using a different product in the beginning and I realized that product wasn't very good after awhile, so I met a guy on Facebook and we work together now, he's out of Bradenton. It's Q&S Kool Cups, and his product is actually amazing, made by him in Bradenton. I work under his umbrella. He makes the product for me. He's from (Philadelphia) originally, so that's why most of my recipes are from Philly. We use the recipes, but we make the food here.
Except for my doughnuts, those are my doughnuts.
On overcoming obstacles and the lack of Black restaurateurs in the area ...
The biggest struggle I faced in the beginning was money. Everybody has that obstacle when they start. I never wanted to say: Hey, I'll go get a loan. I wanted to kind of crawl with it and that's why I started small and worked my way up.
Clientele is another one, it's hard to keep them. People are obviously doing things from home these days, or they have their set business they go to. I do give away a lot of free stuff, just to bring out business. That's why I try to be present in the local community, so when they see my name or see my truck they can be like: Oh that's icee girl! She's the one we saw at the football game or wherever.
Now my struggle is marketing. Marketing is expensive, but it's important. I think that's why a lot of Black business don't do well, because marketing is so tough. We're computer savvy in here and I've got a lot of young ones helping. I've got one person working on our Instagram, which is big, important. My brother is the face of the window. My other brother is the cook. We're trying to show people this is family.
Her advice to other young aspiring restaurateurs ...
Just crawl before you walk. Don't try to go out there and get the biggest thing because it looks good. If you have a great product, it will sell itself. Focus on what you're about to sell, rather than how your setup will look. People will purchase what they enjoy. And keep it consistent or you will lose clientele. Cheaper is not better.
On Sweet Drips' humble beginnings ...
When we started, I'd just get a U-Haul truck for events. We had this freezer that we lifted up to take in and out, in and out, it was horrible. But it was an experience, and now I can show my brothers and daughters, look, you can start anywhere. You don't have to have anything given to you. I saved up $10,000 to get this trailer alone, while going to school, working, being a mom. It wasn't easy. It's been long nights, long days, not much sleep, but I look at this and it's mine.
During the week, Sweet Drips parks at 2438 Fowler St., Fort Myers. For the truck's weekend events and information on birthday parties and catering, visit facebook.com/sweetdrips239 or call 239-321-3798.
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