Tim Schimming, Brittany Malone and Isaac Collins will soon be operating their own chocolate stores.
Three recent graduates of the Steven L. Craig School of Business at Missouri Western State University have been awarded the opportunity to operate and eventually own a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store. Isaac Collins, Brittany Malone and Timothy Schimming will travel to Durango, Colo., next week for a period of intense training before taking over their stores later this year.
The three students took a senior-level class this spring to create business plans for a store and present their plans to an interview panel made up of representatives of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, including Frank Crail, the company’s founder, president and CEO; Steve Craig, founder and president of Craig Realty Group and benefactor of the Craig School of Business; six previous Missouri Western graduates who previously won RMCF franchises; Missouri Western faculty members; and other business leaders.
Collins, from Savannah, Mo., received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with majors in marketing and management in December 2011. He is currently general manager of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store in St. Joseph. Previously, he worked as a server at Olive Garden, marketing and public relations director at the Bartlett Center, merchandise/customer assistant at Sears and media specialist/sales associate at Best Buy, all in St. Joseph. Collins played defensive back for the Missouri Western football team.
Malone, from Kahoka, Mo., received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with majors in accounting and management last month. She currently works in customer service in the Aspen Leaf Yogurt store and the Hy-Vee Chinese/Italian/Sushi department, both in St. Joseph.
Schimming, of Maryville, Mo., received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a management major last month. He currently works as a Pizza Hut delivery driver in St. Joseph. Previously, he worked as a facilities technician for Word of Life Church and a roofer for Clayton Construction. He is the brother of Rob Schimming, who previously won a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store in Lake Elsinore, Calif.
The program to present graduates with this unique business opportunity was founded in 2009 by Craig, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Missouri Western. The goal is to speed up the training and development of entrepreneurs at the university. Craig provides initial capital for the stores, which the graduates pay back over time. The young entrepreneurs receive ongoing support from the Craig School of Business faculty and Advisory Council, and are expected to donate a portion of their store’s proceeds back to the school.
Students in the Management 499 Special Topics: Applied Entrepreneurship course were required to research the product, industry and market to assess the potential, then develop a business plan that articulated that potential and how they would operate the business successfully.
Missouri Western alumni are currently operating six stores awarded since the program began in Silverthorne, Colo.; Vicksburg, Miss.; Lake Elsinore, Calif.; Williamsburg, Iowa; and two in Omaha, Neb. Collins will take over the Iowa store and Malone will take over one of the Omaha stores, while those graduates take over stores in St. Joseph and in Utah. Schimming will choose from a couple of possible locations on the West Coast.
At a dinner the night before the newest winners were announced, the first winners, Seth and Kelsey Lyons, made the final payment to Craig on their loan, which totaled more than $200,000. That’s less than three years after the store opened. Other winners also made loan payments and contributions to the Craig School of Business. Crail presented two previous winners with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory’s “Rookie of the Year” awards: Brady Ellis and TyAnn Williamson, of Vicksburg, Miss., for 2010, and Leslie Oberg and James Burris, of Williamsburg, Iowa for 2011.
Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.