(Photo Provided) Nate and Johanna McNabb take a break from serving Kona Ice in the rain at the Waterford Fairgrounds with their daughters Addi, Claire, Willow and Evie (pictured left to right.)

The new owners of the Mid-Ohio Valley’s Kona Ice franchise say they are eager to serve and give back to the community, one frozen treat at a time.

John Church and his wife Michelle operated Kona Ice in the area starting in 2016.

Before this, Church was a substitute teacher and taught welding at the Washington County Career Center, where new owner Nate McNabb was a student 20 years ago.

“I didn’t have him full-time, but I’d see him quite often. Ever since then, it seemed like we always kinda stayed in touch. We always kinda had similar interests, and we were always running into each other somewhere,” McNabb said.

“I knew he was a super sharp and incredibly talented guy, even at that age. He just got better and better at the stuff that he does,” Church said.

Church said he showed up to McNabb’s workplace, Chemours, three years ago with a Kona Ice truck. McNabb propositioned him about buying the operation once Church decided to retire, and Church took him up on his offer this year.

“They had us come in with the trucks and serve all their staff and all the guys that were working on a hot summer day,” Church said. “He’d started asking questions about the Kona trucks and asked me then if we ever thought about selling to let him know. And I said, ‘Well, you just keep checking back with me and someday we will.'”

“Sure enough, back in March he got ahold of us and said they would be considering retiring and said they’d be interested in selling to us if we were interested,” McNabb said. “One thing led to another, then we had everything finalized by May.”

Before Church passed his business along to Nate and his wife, Johanna McNabb, he said they talked in-depth to make the transition smoother so the McNabbs could hit the ground running.

“We spent quite a bit of time with them. We had them in the truck even before we sold. We had them in the truck working events with us. That was even part of the discovery process to make sure they even wanted to do it,” Church said. “We wanted them to have full disclosure because it’s not an easy job.”

“They’ve had the business for nine years, and they’ve established a great reputation. We couldn’t ask for a better handoff of everything,” McNabb said.

Now, Church is using his spare time to work on various projects around his farm.

Nate McNabb still works at Chemours full-time, but he said taking over Kona Ice and managing family life has also kept him on his toes.

“I work swing shifts, so that’s a juggle in itself. We’ve got four kids. We’re in sports and 4-H projects right now with the fairs going on,” McNabb said. “You’ve just gotta prioritize and execute whatever’s the most important.”

McNabb and Church both said that the most rewarding part of the job is seeing the smiles on kids’ faces when they see the truck and supporting organizations in the Mid-Ohio Valley by fundraising with them.

“It’s nice when you pull in somewhere, and you see all the kids’ faces start glowing and they’re excited to see you. Once you get parked, there’s a line of kids there waiting for you,” McNabb said.

“There’s very little retail-type situations where everybody is always happy when they come to your business. We never got complaints. It was just the most positive reactions that you can even imagine,” Church said. “But honestly the biggest thing was the amount of money we were able to give back to schools, youth sports leagues and other nonprofits over our nine-year run.”

Church said 80% of the events he worked involved Kona Ice as a fundraiser for the organizations that hosted them, and those organizations could receive up to 25% of the proceeds.

Over $700,00 was given back to the organizations that hosted Kona Ice at their events and establishments.

“It is just a great company. I know that most people advocate for what they like and what they enjoy, but we really have the data to back it up that says this is one of the best franchise businesses in the world. So it’s just a super cool system,” Church said.

McNabb says he plans to continue taking Kona Ice to schools, workplaces, and events like the Waterford Community Fair, taking place this weekend.

“Basically, we’re booked pretty much every day. Some days we’ll do nine to 10 different events. Anything from nursing homes to the chemical plants around here,” McNabb said. “When school starts back up, we’ll be in schools every day somewhere. We’ve been going to a lot of football practices.”

Church said that while Kona Ice was not started in the Mid-Ohio Valley, founder Tony Lamb was a 1997 graduate of Parkersburg High School.

“We often would get comments and people who come up to the truck that have known Tony in the past or actually some family members,” Church said. “We were the only franchisees in America that got to say that.”

According to McNabb, Kona Ice has given $200 million in total back to the communities it serves since the company started in 2007, and he said he is eager to continue that tradition in the Mid-Ohio Valley.