Apr. 27—A Northwest Missouri sweets shop is in the national spotlight thanks to an upcoming appearance with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
Maryville, Missouri, based Kool Kats, which serves shaved ice, shakes and other desserts, will be featured on the May 24 premiere of "Food Stars," a new show from Fox that will have entrepreneurs squaring off for a $250,000 prize.
The experience has been nerve-wracking but also encouraging in seeing other business owners overcoming struggles similar to his company's, Kool Kats co-owner Aaron Valentine said.
"You get to see people's breaking points," he said. "You get to see them go from like, 'I'm the strong, tough cookie,' to, like, bawling their eyes out, talking about how they miss their mom, you know? And so it shows that all these people are human."
It's been a long process for Valentine, who at 21 years old says he is the youngest of the show's 15 contestants. Valentine has been involved with Kool Kats since he joined Dave Ackman a couple of years ago, intending to increase the business' social media footprint.
"He gave me a very unique opportunity. Without my experience at Kool Kats, obviously, nothing that I've done up to this point in my life would have ever been possible. But I'm very excited to see where I've come from and then see the things I'm doing now."
Valentine's time on "Food Stars" afforded the opportunity to capitalize on the experience and perspective of other business owners, something he said he also had the advantage of receiving from Ackman.
"I've been able to teach Aaron about the old ways of marketing of, you know, face-to-face, mailing out thank-you cards to customers, going door hanging, physically door hanging coupons on people's doors. And those are things we did 30 years ago," Ackman said. "Nowadays with the new technology, you can do a lot of marketing and it doesn't require a whole lot of physical work, but both ways are very effective. And as a team together, we can just do amazing things because we both have knowledge and insight."
While there is the fiery intensity often associated with a Gordon Ramsay show, there also will be a divergence from the atmosphere that comes with a cooking show, Valentine said.
"There's all kinds of special guests that come on that you never think would be on a Gordon Ramsay show," Valentine said. "You can tell he's trying to reach a different crowd than his typical cooking shows, and it'll be super entertaining."