Teen employee starts initiative to save beloved Palatine ice cream shop

Just a few years in business, Daisy's Malt Shoppe has established itself as a beloved go-to spot among the Palatine community, particularly teenagers.

So when 17-year-old employee Ellie Roy started a GoFundMe to help the year-round ice cream shop weather the COVID-19 pandemic, she had no doubt the response would be positive.

But the outpouring of support — with nearly $7,000 raised in just two weeks — surprised both her and owner Brian Wallers, who initially was reluctant to give his consent for the online fundraiser. Besides the impressive monetary donation, the initiative also prompted a flood of customers, they said.

“They were buying ice cream for the whole family, stocking up, giving big tips, just being very generous,” said Ellie, a senior at Palatine High School. “It was unbelievable.”

Wallers said he was shocked and grateful. “It made us feel like everything we've been doing is worthwhile, if people care that much about it.”

Wallers opened Daisy's Malt Shoppe in 2015 at 807 N. Quentin Road, a space previously occupied by Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. The 40-year-old said he'd worked at bars and restaurants, rising up from bouncer and server to manager, and wanted to open a business that would appeal to the widest audience.

“Ice cream is something that kind of crosses all boundaries,” he said.

Wallers named his shop after his childhood beagle Daisy, of whom a portrait hangs above the 1950s-style glossy white tables with chrome trim, red chairs and black-and-white checkered floors.

The shop sells “super-premium ice cream” from Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Co. of Madison, Wisconsin.

“It has the lowest air content that you're going to find in an ice cream before it becomes a custard. It's very rich, very dense, all organic,” Wallers said.

Other offerings include handmade cones, cookie bowls, vintage sodas and, the latest addition, ice cream cakes.

Wallers said his business philosophy derives from everything he learned during his years in hospitality.

“Generally, it's profit first, customer second and staff third,” he said. “The way I am looking at it is, customer first, staff second and profit third. If you do it that way, you do it the right way, the genuine way, and people feel appreciated and respected.

“I gotta make money, too,” he added, “but for me it's more than starting a business. I wanted to start something that becomes part of people's lives, part of the community, and something generational that perhaps will be there after I'm gone.”

Resident Meghan Haddad, who has four teenage children, said what's made a real difference is that Wallers employs local youths and partners with charitable causes such as local PTAs to raise money with a portion of ice cream sales.

Daisy's has become a community hangout for families, and especially teenagers, many of whom have contributed to the GoFundMe, Haddad said.

“The energy inside is always vibrant and hopping. There is always music playing. It's just a fun place,” she said.

Working at Daisy's, where normally there is a line out the door in summer, also is really fun — and Wallers is an “amazing” boss, Ellie said. “Me and my friends joke about it all the time. We don't know how we're going to have another boss in the future because he's so great.”

While the pandemic has been rough on all small businesses, it's been particularly difficult for Daisy's.

Wallers has been dealing with health issues since last year, so he hasn't been able to work at the shop every day like he did for the first four years. A few of his employees came down with COVID-19 this summer, so he closed for a month — even longer than advised by health authorities, he said — during what normally would be peak sales time.

He obtained a $10,000 forgivable loan through the federal Paycheck Protection Program early on, but other funding opportunities didn't come through, he said.

Wallers said he's optimistic that Daisy's can make it through March, when he expects sales to pick up after the winter lull. The GoFundMe has made it likely he can stay in business through January, and it's a short jaunt after that, he said.

“That girl just melted my heart,” he said of Ellie's initiative. “What she did was not just for me, but for us as a staff ... but more importantly, for the community.”

Visit the online fundraising page at www.gofundme.com/f/help-keep-daisys-malt-shoppe-afloat.