(speaks in foreign language)
>>Where did you go?
You could not have disappeared.
Oh, oh, here, here
you go, Jacomo!
(speaks in foreign language)
(laughs)
>>Loui
(laughs)
>>Our guest today
has been a fixture
in the Charlottesville
community since 1985.
He's never met a stranger,
eats ice cream for
breakfast every morning
and is famous for serving a
mix of tasty dishes, desserts
and good cheer at his
restaurant on the downtown mall.
Join us as we catch
up with Tony LaBua,
owner of Chaps homemade
gourmet ice cream.
Come on!
>>You know, it's the
same people every time
that place that
order, which is good.
Hey, how's it going?
>>So Tony,
what inspired you to
open an ice cream shop?
>>Oh, well my uncle
had the shop before me
for about 25 years, cross town
at the Dart Shoppers World.
>>Dart Shoppers World.
>>Dart Shoppers World.
And I came down to visit
one weekend and he said,
"Hey, I want to sell my
store, you wanna buy it?"
(laughs)
I went, "Okay".
And he said, you know your
grandfather's been doing it
for 50 years, I've been
doing it for 22 years.
And I said okay, and I
took it over from him.
>>But weren't you headed like,
you were just
coming through town.
You were gonna go to Florida,
you weren't even gonna stay.
>>I was going to
Sarasota, Florida
to open up a restaurant
at Saint Armand's Key.
>>So what's your
favorite flavor?
>>My four C's, which
is chocolate, cherries
and chocolate chips, which
are French Bordeaux cherries
marinated in a port wine.
>>Uh, it's outstanding.
>>Uh!
>>Simply outstanding.
>>And every morning
for breakfast?
>>Well I'll have a
spoon, or two or three
and maybe a little cup.
>>And why?
>>It wakes up the palate.
Put that in your mouth
and it goes, bam!
I'm awake.
>>Okay, all right, four C's.
>>Four C's, chocolate,
cherry, chocolate chip.
>>Do you put the whole
thing in your mouth?
>>I would, I would.
I wouldn't play games
with it, I would just.
(laughs)
And let it hit those
10,000 taste buds
that are in this
area right here.
And just let that, yeah,
yeah, there it goes.
>>It's the kind of yummy
flavor that almost hurts,
because everything's
going (mumbles)
>>Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
>>Oh that's really good.
>>Yeah.
>>You know your ice
cream isn't just here,
it's all over the place.
It's in restaurants.
>>We do, we do.
>>And Monticello.
>>Monticello, and we sell
cups of ice cream to them
and we sell to restaurants
around the town.
And we custom make ice creams
designed for their clientele.
>>Talk about some of these,
like talk about some
of the ice creams
that you put together
for Monticello.
This is really cool.
>>Well it's basically
vanilla chocolate.
And what we do with
them of course,
is as the season goes on,
they will like they
have fig trees,
and in the fall when
the figs are ripe,
we take them, we puree them,
and we make fig ice cream
based with their fruit that
they get off the trees.
>>Oh that's cool.
>>Right now we're developing
a new flavor for them,
which is a mint chip, but it's
coming from their mint plants
in Jefferson's garden.
>>That is so cool, I love that.
>>Yeah, yeah, so it's
delicious ice cream.
It's really top shelf.
>>What are the top
favorite ice creams
that your customers order?
>>Well, industry wide,
it's vanilla and chocolate.
>>Really?
>>Yeah, it's vanilla
>>Really?
>>and chocolate.
It represents 75 to 80%
of all ice cream sales
in the United States.
>>And here too?
>>And here too.
Some of our other
ice creams are,
you know people come
specifically for
those ice creams.
>>Like me with the
German Chocolate.
>>Yes, you with the
German Chocolate.
>>Oh my God, I mean
everything else looks great,
but that's the one I want.
>>Is it ice cream time?
>>It is for me.
>>I'll be glad to help you.
>>My favorite ice cream
is chocolate fudge walnut.
>>I like vanilla ice cream.
I'm pretty tried
and true to that,
but there's some caramel in it,
which is what I like about
if for it's, you know
the very slight variety
on the plain vanilla.
So yeah, it's good.
>>Yeah, kind of old time
ice cream if you will.
>>Give me it.
>>Please.
>>Please.
>>The best part for
me is when you get
the ice cream melting,
like towards the end
of the root beer float.
It's like the best part
of the whole drink.
It's like when you
get that nice blend
of the ice cream
and the root beer.
It's good.
>>The Four C's?
>>Yes.
Cups or cones?
>>Cones.
>>You've had an ice cream shop,
and you started with
an ice cream shop
for what?
Eight, seven, eight years?
And then you decided to
bring in other foods,
breakfast and lunch items.
Why'd you do that?
>>Well, back in 1985
when we opened up,
we were having trouble
getting through the winters
and it was costing
us a lot of money,
and we decided to add,
you know a lunch menu,
really at low prices because
we just needed cash flow
to get through a few months.
And we couldn't sell
much lunch items.
So we stopped the menu
and then we activated it
a year later and
did the same thing,
only we put it up
to regular prices
and we sell the
heck out of it now.
>>Oh so you put a
little more value on it
>>Put value on it, yeah.
>>And people wanted to
pay for it.
>>Yeah.
>>Yeah.
>>yeah, yeah, yeah.
People don't perceive,
you know quality
with inexpensive
even though you put
a brand name to it.
>>Tell us about
some of the tips.
Like give us some of
the, tell us your secrets
to being a small business
owner for so long
and being successful.
How'd you do that?
>>Humble.
>>Humble.
>>Humble?
>>Take nothing
for granted, okay?
No matter how
successful you are,
no matter how long
you've been in a place,
it takes years to
get a customer,
but it takes one wrong
word to lose them.
>>Oh, yeah.
>>I think a really
important factor, also is
in Charlottesville,
I think if you're
going to be successful,
matter of fact, I know if
you're going to be successful
in Charlottesville,
you better connect with
the community here.
And that includes all of
your nonprofit organizations,
the people who are in those
nonprofit organizations.
And when you're in
Charlottesville,
you have that opportunity.
I mean, there's hundreds
of nonprofit organizations
and I was involved with
so many different ones
in the early days.
>>Yeah.
>>And I know, so many
wonderful people.
And they would come here,
and I would come there.
And I think that's the basis
for how it all started.
Okay, so you want a
cheeseburger, is that correct?
>>Yeah.
And what do you
want on your half?
No, we'll do it the same.
(laughs)
>>People come here,
obviously for the food
and the ice cream.
But that's not even close to
the only reason they come here.
Talk about who
comes here and why?
>>Well, you know
I've often heard,
it's like their Cheers.
You remember the T.V. show?
>>Yeah, this is their Cheers.
>>You know it's
where everybody comes
'cause it's just a cool hangout.
It's a cool place.
>>And they know you
and they know your staff.
>>And they know us
and our staff.
Our staff's been here anywhere
between eight and 23 years.
And you know.
>>And you know them.
>>And we know them, sure, sure.
So it's an informal,
formal place.
At least staff wise,
you know everybody's
gonna mess with you if
they need to, you know?
(laughs)
So I think it's just.
>>Well you've never
met a stranger, Tony.
So I mean, you're
out here talking to
everybody all the time.
I mean, I can't even imagine
you not being out here.
>>I love people, I
love talking to people.
You know, all shapes, all
sizes, all intellects.
And I just love
talking to people.
Come on, you ready?
You ready?
>>No, I'm weak.
>>Go (laughs)
she's not weak dude.
She wouldn't have beat
me but she's not weak.
>>Talk about some
of the celebrities
who've come through here.
>>Oh, well some of
the celebrities.
>>Muhammad Ali.
>>Muhammad Ali, Sam
Shepard, Jessica Lange,
>>Oh right
Sissy Spacek, very good
customers years ago,
>>Yeah.
>>when we first opened up.
We've had Jimmy Buffett here.
Barbra Streisand on the mall.
I've had Paul Newman in
here, Joanne Woodward.
>>Wow.
I want to know from
your perspective,
why Charlottesville?
You love Charlottesville, why?
>>Yeah, well you know
when I first came here,
I thought well this
is nice, you know.
I've got an opportunity,
what we'll do,
we'll get this store and
we'll try and franchise it.
We'll see how far
we can take it.
And then the longer I was here,
the more I realized this
is a really neat place
and the people were
great and you know,
they were welcoming me.
>>Tony is funny, ha ha ha.
(laughs)
Tony knows, he says
he loves me to death.
I love him to death.
We just get, we've
always got along.
>>Yeah, yeah,
everybody loves her.
People come in
just to see Granny.
Where's that Granny?
Granny here today?
>>Yep, yep.
(laughs)
>>When we answer the
phone when she calls,
we go, "Chaps"...
>>I do.
>>Granny here.
(laughs)
>>It's nice to have a
place that has lasted
and sustained kind
of in it's true form
rather than something that's
been bought by somebody else
and kind of salvaged
that doesn't have
that authentic charm
of local family and you know,
kind of carrying through
over the generations.
That's cool.
>>The sauce is
really what does it.
It's a nice toast, good
toast on both sides,
it's delicious.
I don't know how
else to describe it.
(toast crunches)
Pretty glutinous.
(laughs)
>>What are some of
the favorites here?
The lunch items.
>>Oh, one of our, one of
my favorites of course,
is my chicken salad
bacon provolone
on grilled Italian
sesame semolina bread.
Oh my God.
>>Is that on the menu,
or is that just what
>>Yeah,
>>you make for yourself?
>>no.
>>No, no, no.
It's on the menu.
>>Okay.
>>It's to die for, I mean,
it's, this real Italian
bread that just grilled
and bacon and egg salad and
provolone, absolutely fantastic.
>>I've gotta have
that sometime, okay.
>>It's really wonderful.
The Philly cheese steaks,
my burgers are world class,
100% sirloin tips, ground down.
We season, lightly season them,
just to bring out
the meat flavor
and their top shelf, you know?
>>You've had your
staff from anywhere
from eight to 20 some years.
>>23 years, yeah.
>>So what's the secret to that?
That's a pretty big deal.
>>It is, especially
in a, you know,
1200 square foot store with so
many different personalities.
>>Yeah.
>>I certainly make them
have my personality.
(laughs)
No, no, you know that's a
little, it's a little nutty.
It's a little, it's a blending.
I think the basis for it all,
is that I'm not their
boss unless I need to be.
As long as that
structure's in place
and they know what
we expect out of them
for interactions with people.
>>So what about the future?
You're always in here,
not just holding court
but talking and working
things out with people
and what in the world
are you gonna do
if you're not here doing that?
>>Well, that would be
part of the sale or part.
>>Oh, you come with it?
(laughs)
Right there, you
sit on the stool.
>>I just don't want
to be, you know
doing a lot of the heavy
lifting type of stuff.
You know the ice cream stuff and
what we do is pretty physical,
>>Yeah.
you know?
To get everything
set up in the day
and to keep us going because
we do make everything here.
>>Right, everything
from scratch.
>>Everything is made
here from scratch.
>>You do your cones,
everything, your ice cream.
>>Yeah, yeah.
>>How do you feel when you
walk out here in the morning.
You walk out, you
come here, you set up,
you walk out, you're
taking to people,
how do you feel?
>>I feel like renewed in life.
Happy, happy, I'm
happy, you know?
>>Yeah.
>>I mean I walk out
this door every day.
And I'm just again,
thankful and blessed
that I've had the
opportunity to be here
in such a great town.
>>Come to get some ice cream?
>>Yeah, take a little stroll and
get a little scoop of ice cream.
>>Come to get some ice cream?
>>Yeah, take a little stroll and
get a little scoop of ice cream.