Marketing Meets Waffle Cones: Hillcrest Students Turn Uncle Eddie’s Into a Real-World Case Study
The lesson began with the scent of waffle cones and the sweet aroma of ice cream in the air. Instead of desks and whiteboards, Hillcrest Academy’s marketing class gathered around the ice cream coolers inside Uncle Eddie’s ice cream shop, notebooks open and ice cream cones in hand. Behind the counter stood owner Kurt Frustol, scooping generously while preparing to give students something even richer than dessert, an honest look at the challenges of running a small business.
Frustol started with a scoop of Blueberry Waffle Cone for the teacher, before beginning to tell the story of Uncle Eddie’s. The counter became a classroom. Frustol spoke, students leaned forward, cones in one hand and pens in the other, eager to capture insights they’ll use to craft a marketing plan.
What makes customers choose Uncle Eddie’s?
When do families tend to visit?
How do people usually hear about the shop?
What marketing efforts have worked, and what haven’t?
Frustol answered each question thoughtfully, occasionally reaching for another waffle cone as if fueling the conversation by fueling students. Students fired questions back quickly, scribbling notes and comparing observations as they worked to understand not just the shop’s products, but the story behind it.
For Frustol, Uncle Eddie’s is more than a place that serves ice cream. It’s part of the rhythm of the community. Families stop in after ballgames. Kids celebrate birthdays with a scoop stacked high in Uncle Eddie’s loft. Summer evenings bring lines out the door as neighbors gather around picnic tables and share stories on the back deck.
Yet like many small businesses, marketing remains a constant puzzle. How do you reach new customers while staying connected to the people who already love the shop? How do you tell your story in a way that invites people to walk through the door? Those questions became the assignment for Hillcrest’s marketing students. Over the next week, the class will take everything they learned during the visit and transform it into a professional marketing proposal designed specifically for Uncle Eddie’s.
Students will build a full marketing plan that includes several key elements. They will begin by developing customer personas, identifying the different types of people who visit Uncle Eddie’s, from families looking for a Friday night treat to teenagers stopping in after a game. Next, they will design a customer journey map, tracing how someone discovers the shop, decides to visit, and becomes a returning customer. From there, the class will propose brand messaging and storytelling strategies that capture what makes Uncle Eddie’s special. They will explore how photos, videos, and social media content can highlight the energy of a summer evening at the shop or the craftsmanship behind a freshly made waffle cone. Students will also suggest visual content plans, seasonal promotions, community partnerships, and social media strategies that could help Uncle Eddie’s strengthen its presence in the region. At the end of the week, the students will present their work as if they were a professional marketing firm pitching for a real contract. Because in many ways, that’s exactly what they are practicing.
Throughout the year, Hillcrest’s marketing class has been preparing for this moment. Students have studied story-based branding, learning how strong businesses clarify their message and invite customers into a compelling narrative. They’ve experimented with storyboards, video production, and photography, creating marketing content for Hillcrest events and programs. They’ve discussed how brands build trust, how stories shape decisions, and how good marketing helps people quickly understand why something matters. Now they are stepping beyond theory and into practice. Instead of analyzing a company on a whiteboard, they are learning how to listen to a real business owner, identify real needs, and craft real solutions in a real community.
Experiences like this reflect Hillcrest’s commitment to hyper-practical learning. Education here is designed to develop students who do more than absorb information. They are encouraged to observe carefully, ask thoughtful questions, and apply what they know to serve others. That means stepping outside the classroom and into the community. Whether it’s through internships, service projects, or business partnerships like this one, Hillcrest students regularly encounter opportunities to connect their learning to the real world around them. The goal is simple but profound: to cultivate young men and women who think clearly, communicate well, and contribute meaningfully wherever they go.