BILLINGS- What started as a summer side hustle to help pay for college has grown into a full-fledged family business.
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Every August, Billings families know to look for the Kyndall Peach stands. But for the families behind these seasonal businesses, summer sales are about more than making extra money. They’re about building something that can last.
Kyndall Hinkle started selling peaches while she was in college, with help from her parents.
The idea was simple: Use the money to help pay her way through business school.
“I thought I’d only do it to put myself through college, but then people kept asking, ‘Are you going to keep bringing peaches?’” Hinkle said.
She did.
Fifteen years later, the business brings four semitrailer loads of peaches to Billings every August. And they sell out year after year.
Hinkle’s parents are still involved, but now her own children are learning the business, too.
Six-year-old Adelyn helps wherever she can.
“I like to help customers, I like to do the book, I like to help my mom,” she said.
For Hinkle, the business is also a way to teach her children about finding opportunities and building something of their own.
“There are so many opportunities, figuring out what is your niche, your passion,” she said.
Across Billings, another family is turning a summer business into a lesson in entrepreneurship.
Siblings Rigley and Rock Beals spend their summers working from the bright-pink Bailey’s ice cream truck.
Their parents bought the truck to help their children earn money for college.
“The money that we make from the business, it goes into our college accounts,” they said.
But the siblings say they’re learning more than how to sell ice cream.
“We learned how to manage the money and how to start growing a business,” they said. “And this year is our busiest year, and this year is just even crazier.”
The Beals say they will likely end up selling the ice cream truck eventually to allow another family to learn the ins and outs of fostering a summer job.
It's something they say the original owner did too.
Two families. Two summer businesses. And two different approaches to turning seasonal work into something bigger.
Hinkle's dad Ken Miller never thought the peach business would grow as it did. He now reflects on the first summer they brought peaches into Billings.
“In my wildest dreams I never thought it would turn into three semitrailer loads,” he said.
Behind the stands, trucks and ice cream windows is plenty of work and plenty of lessons.
“You wouldn’t believe how much work actually goes into behind the scenes,” one of the families said.
And for these parents, the goal goes beyond the money.
“They want assurance that life is still good,” Hinkle said.
