By SARAH B. AUBREY
Indiana Correspondent

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — “I’d like to see car manufacturers produce cars at today’s prices, and sell cars at prices from 25 years ago,” said dairyman and ice-cream store owner Carl Chaney. “They wouldn’t stay in business.”

Staying in business, specifically the dairy business, is exactly what Carl and his wife, Debra, intend to do. For the past several years, they have been embracing change in order to do so.

“Debra and I knew we wanted to stay on the farm, but we were getting afraid we wouldn’t be able to,” said Chaney. He felt his family needed to diversify.

The Chaneys have been farming near Bowling Green since 1888, when Chaney’s great-grandfather settled the land on which they reside. By 1942, Chaney’s father was milking dairy cows, a tradition that continues today.

After extensive research and discussion, the couple decided to reduce their cow herd and turn three acres of their farm into an ice cream shop.

Fortunately, their location was especially suited for this endeavor because the farm is positioned along a major thoroughfare that runs through the busy college town of Bowling Green.
Since the added frontage was a plus, their 54 acres underwent life-altering changes.

While the remaining cows are still milked twice a day, the family farm now includes Chaney’s Dairy Barn, which houses a retail shop, café and ice cream-making facilities.

Though thousands of customers come out to the Chaney farm every year, the immediate family is still the core of their business. The Chaneys’ three children, Jessica, James Neale and Elizabeth, remain involved in various capacities as their individual lives allow. Jessica, the eldest, has a career and family of her own but assists her mother on business issues and marketing when she has time.
James Neale owns his company, Wrought Iron Concepts. His talents have provided a bounty of beautiful ironwork that is showcased throughout the property. Elizabeth – “the entrepreneur,” as her dad calls her – still lives at home and supports the business every day.

“In the morning she milks, then goes to school. After school she opens the new store, and at about 4:30, she comes home to milk again,” said Chaney, proudly.

Chaney’s father, the farm’s original dairyman, stays involved with farm work, and Debra’s mother is active in the store.

“There is no better way to raise a family than on the farm.” Chaney said.

The switch from production agriculture to that and consumer-centric products was a major undertaking that the Chaneys did not enter into lightly. Starting in 2001, the family spent more than two years researching and studying the concept. Learning the market before jumping in was a huge factor in the decision to start a new venture. As they studied, a plan began to emerge.

“Ice cream seemed feasible,” Chaney said. “When one obstacle came, we always seemed to be able to get around it.”

To learn more about the ice cream business, the Chaneys logged many miles traveling to various operations in Alabama, North Carolina, Ohio and Massachusetts.

“The site visits were probably the most important thing we did for research,” Chaney noted.

He also attended a short ice cream course at Pennsylvania State University, which he found extremely helpful.

As their ideas developed into a formal plan, the Chaneys were open with their peers and sought outside advice. They showed their business plans to others and made revisions based on feedback. Their accountant also helped with feasibility and financials during start up.  The local Small Business Administration office was another source of assistance, as was the nearby Western Kentucky University (WKU) marketing department.

Researching prices was important, so they checked the market for ice cream both locally and regionally to help establish their own price point. To learn more about the marketplace and estimate potential sales, Chaney examined things many producers never consider.

“I got a traffic count on the main road out here to get an idea of the potential stop-by business,” he explained.

Because there was no existing building for the ice cream store, the Chaneys worked diligently to research builders and decide on facility design. They broke ground for the shop in June 2003 and opened in October that year.

The Chaneys have made their brand successful and were voted Bowling Green’s best ice cream two years running. Inside the so-called “Big Red Barn,” more than 10,000 gallons of ice cream are produced each year and sold through the store and other avenues that have emerged as the Chaney family has developed their original concept.

In 2006, they added another store in downtown Bowling Green to take advantage of “walk-up” customers, or those who didn’t want to drive out to the country for a treat. After extensive research yet again, Chaney decided on the downtown location because in addition to foot traffic, the building has a drive-up window.

They have added a pavilion outdoors to host reunions and birthday parties, and a batting cage is a popular attraction during warm months. Like many agritourism ventures, the Chaneys constructed a corn maize, though the family put a twist on the idea: They added agricultural questions to the maize that must be answered correctly in order to receive the clues about the next turn in the maize.

In the fall, fun transpires when families are given flashlights to go through the maize at night. “We had one family that hadn’t come back in for a long time. I was worried they got in with the bull or something. But I finally heard them, just laughing and having a great time out there together,” Chaney recalled, adding he’s truly glad Chaney’s Dairy Barn is a source of family fun for his customers.

“We also have ice cream and a movie in the summer. We get sponsors that help pay for the rights to the movies.”
Their marketing efforts draw a crowd to Chaney’s and create customer loyalty that follows them off the farm.

“We now have a concessions trailer that we serve ice cream and drinks out of,” he said, adding the trailer can be seen around the area at festivals and parks.

The Chaneys also host several outings per year at the Dairy Barn, including their own birthday bash each October, a Kentucky Proud Festival and activities for National Dairy Month each June.

Adding value to the customer’s experience plays a major role in the Chaneys’ marketing plan, but promoting the positive attributes of agriculture is also very important.

School tours raise $5 per student, from about 6,000 children each year.

“I love the school tours. Each generation gets farther away from the farm. We are ambassadors for agriculture and want the (the students) to have a good experience and tell their parents about it,” Chaney said.