Liftoff Creamery Owner and Operator Ryan Lynch serves up a scoop of strawberry ice cream on Aug. 22 at the local chain’s new Greenwood ice cream shop. Mia Lehmkuhl | Daily Journal
An airline pilot longed to scoop ice cream. He soon founded a business that paid homage to his love for desserts and aviation.
Ryan Lynch, owner and operator of Liftoff Creamery, now has four locations in or around the Indianapolis area. The most recent addition opened in July at 1280 U.S. 31 North in Greenwood. Lynch said the idea for Liftoff Creamery began during his travels around the world as an airline pilot. Though, for him, his passion for aviation began early in life.
“I’ve always had the passion since I was five years old to fly airplanes,” Lynch said. “I started flying actual airplanes at 14 years old, so I’ve been doing it since. I travel all over the world.”
This love for flying also resulted in the creation of the Nation Aviation Youth Resources Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to help children learn about aviation or who might be interested in the industry. While owning and managing his ice cream shops, Lynch said he still takes to the skies.
“I tell folks I have the best office in the world,” Lynch said. “I’m at 30-something thousand feet where I just get to travel and stuff, and I’ve always had the passion to fly a big airplane somewhere domestic or international.”
Liftoff Creamery sources its ice cream from Ashby’s Sterling Ice Cream, a Michigan company. Liftoff Creamery typically offers 25-30 flavors that vary with the season. Ice cream can be served in all manner of ways with various toppings to mix in such as fruit, nuts and other candies, making for endless flavor combinations, according to their website.
And, when it comes to his favorite ice cream treats, Lynch said his favorite is strawberry ice cream in a waffle bowl or waffle cone.
How he manages manning a plane and operating businesses is something Lynch credits to his staff. Lynch also spends time working at different locations after he comes back home from flights to make sure everything is running smoothly and moving forward. To Lynch, scooping ice cream is something he always wants to do.
When looking to the future, Lynch plans to continue to expand Liftoff Creamery with the addition of new locations.
“On the west side of town, I’m looking at currently, right now, also on the north side, I’m trying to just diversify, to have a location on each side of town just to spread our awareness who we are, what we do, to the community and serve a great treat, of course, as well,” Lynch said.
Even in the face of data on small business failure, Lynch encourages potential entrepreneurs to go for it. There are many resources to help avoid headwinds and ensure smooth flying.
“You may get hesitant about doing it at first, but if that is your ultimate goal … go for it. There’s a lot of resources out here, depending on what part of town …,” Lynch said. “There’s business coaches out there. There’s other resources like I said, they’re available and just do some research, or also potentially reach out to some of the business owners and ask them how they got started.”
