Ben & Jerry's

During the Summer of my sophomore year of high school, I was promoted to Shift Leader at the Ben & Jerry’s Plano and Highland Village Scoop Shops. I worked there the previous summer, but being a Shift Leader was a big learning experience for me in terms of being a recognized leader.

In a real-world team setting, I am responsible for the employees, guests, and the business for that particular shift. In addition to running a shift or a catering event, I create a “guest experience” that is not just a demonstration of professionalism on my team’s part but also creates a sensory experience orchestrated by the Shift Leader. A guest that comes into the Scoop Shop during my shifts sees a clean and friendly environment, smells freshly baked waffle cones and cookies, is offered tastings of incredible ice cream, and hears a playlist of great classic rock songs. I was young, but I was effective. Even if we had a rainy day or a slower shift earlier in the week, the team could count on me to often increase our revenue and product goals for the week.

​

Although I mostly work in the Summer at Ben & Jerry’s, they let me work on a couple of projects on my own time during the school year. I assembled the playlist of songs they use at the Scoop Shop to help set the mood when guests first enter. It allowed me to incorporate my love of music in a way that will benefit the business for years.

I also incorporated Ben & Jerry’s data into a capstone project at my STEAM school. During the pandemic, the Scoop Shop has remained open but had to quickly change how they did business. Most guests were all of a sudden ordering online or getting their treats curbside. My job was to analyze the data from different online delivery partners. My analysis already paid dividends in the business, and we expect that the Plano Ben & Jerry’s will have moved from a Top 50 to a Top 10 cake store for their franchise system.

They never had a high school student take leadership positions like this in the Scoop Shop before. There have been managers that also took control of social media accounts or a company social mission project, but nothing like this.