World's Smallest Ice Cream Parlour opens in Ramsgate phone box
They say good things come in small packages and Danny Montila is hoping to prove that right with his smallest ice cream parlour in the world - in a phone box, writes Marijke Hall
“I would rather sell ice cream from the beach than do another one of these building jobs.”
Be careful what you wish for. Or perhaps not in the case of Danny Montila.
The Broadstairs dad-of-two, not one to dismiss a crazy idea - and also fed up with traipsing to London to work at his building firm - decided selling ice cream is exactly what he’d do.
This was after he’d unexpectedly won an auction bid to take over two traditional red phone boxes on Ramsgate seafront, near Wetherspoon.
And so of course he put the two together and came up with, erm, something most of us wouldn’t have thought of - the smallest ice cream parlour in the world.
After all, size isn’t everything, right?
Called Ring Ring, the tiny venue will offer big and bold frozen treats and ‘freak’ ice creams with all manner of toppings.
And even better, throughout the summer holidays, the phone will ring everyday, at which point everyone in the queue will get a free ice cream.
He admits it’s not the first time he’s come up with a wacky plan.
“I used to run bars and clubs with my business partner and we were known for doing crazy things,” he says. “Like buying up an ice cream van and setting up a pop-up music festival with a DJ booth.
“When I saw these phone boxes for sale, I was talking to my friend about silly ideas and the smallest ice cream parlour came up. I put a bid on it and ended up winning.
“That’s how it all started, a bit by accident.”
Inspired by other converted small spaces, his friend who runs a zinc and copper interior company is fitting it out, making it look “swanky” inside, with all the required equipment.
“We want to deliver great big ice creams out of a very small space and it’s from this idea that Ring Ring was born,” says Montila.
“We’ll be doing the ice cream version of freak shakes, with lots of different toppings.
“So candy floss, marshmallows...one of them is going to be called 999 which will be a modern twist on the 99 but we’re keeping that a secret.
“It’s the ‘what’s your emergency?’ ice cream. That will entail lots of wonderful stuff.
“They’ll be big and bold, as big as we can get them. And very instagrammable. We’ll have a backdrop where people can take pictures. I’ve got a partner involved called Ben Moat who is running it. He’s got lots of ideas.”
Since Montila went public with Ring Ring, the 40-year-old has been inundated with people contacting him about it which prompted him to buy two more phone boxes.
“We’re now looking for permanent homes for them either at one of the shopping centres or Dreamland, somewhere that we can roll out the Ring Ring concept across the south east.”
So what about the other phone box in Ramsgate?
“We’re looking at another concept, so possibly the smallest pizza parlour in the world, but we’ll see, we’re working on that at the moment,” says Montila.
“We’re going to look to partner again with someone on that. So we’ll do it all up and get a young entrepreneur in with a good idea and support and mentor them to run it.
“There are so many talented people in Thanet doing amazing food and drinks and we’re sure there will be people out there who have some great ideas and want to jump on it with us and see where it goes.”
Montila’s background, while more recently in the property and building trade, was primarily in events and festivals, and he also ran a bar for 10 years, with big soul acts performing.
When he moved to Broadstairs with wife Evie, children Marlowe, four, and Paloma, two, and their “two crazy dogs”, commuting back to London for his building work was taking its toll.
“I remember doing a big job in a really affluent area in Chislehurst when it was hard getting materials and labour. When it was finished, I said to the people in the office ‘I’d rather sell ice cream from the beach than do another one of these jobs’. And it’s happened. I’m lucky, I’ve always enjoyed what I’ve done.
“Even the building I’ve loved, but when you stop enjoying something it becomes work. When you’re doing what you love it’s not.”