“Why not?”
The now 18-year-old launched Izzy’s Ice Cream in March, a real-fruit ice cream truck serving desserts made with locally sourced fruit and sustainable packaging.
The truck can be found parked up in the community or at events around the Bay of Plenty, such as at birthday parties and school fundraisers.
It is bright pink – as “there was no other colour” Talbot says she would have considered – and bean bags and outdoor games are often set up out front.
Talbot told the Rotorua Daily Post she got the idea from hours spent watching people online renovate and customise food trucks.
“That is so cool,” she thought.
“I’m doing that one day.”
Talbot said her business teacher had “somewhat of an idea” the project was becoming more than just a classroom exercise.
Though most people did not realise or see her vision, she said.
People brushed the idea off as “cute”, assuming it was “going to be some dumb ice cream stand”.
Launching a business was not the typical path for someone in their last year of high school, Talbot said.
Many of her peers were heading straight to university, and Talbot admitted feeling some pressure to follow suit.
She chose the ice cream truck – a decision she was now “very glad” she made.
Talbot said she was working shifts at Domino’s Pizza and put away every pay cheque.
She leaned on advice from her mother, who co-owns a local painting business, to help navigate the process.
Talbot completed the Food Business Registration requirement with Rotorua Lakes Council.
She said the registration included a Food Control Plan and a verification audit assessing food safety systems, health and safety processes, scope of operations and management competency.
This would be reassessed in 12 months, she said.
Talbot said opening day was “stressful” and she was “very scared of what other people would think”.
She parked the truck on a patch of grass outside her house, where friends, family and neighbours became her first customers.
“It went great,” Talbot said.
Success continued, the truck proving especially popular with Kawaha Point School students. Talbot often parked nearby for when the school day ended.
Talbot said food vendors could trade in designated council zones with a paid permit. If she wanted to trade elsewhere, she needed permission from the private landowner.
Opening an ice cream truck after the “busy” summer period might not have looked like the smartest business move on paper, Talbot said.
But the quieter winter months had given her time to figure things out.
She learned the importance of keeping a checklist of “everything to remember”, ensuring, for example, the ice cream scooper would never be left behind again.
Real-fruit ice cream truck, Izzy’s Ice Cream, was created during a Year 13 business class.
Talbot is beginning a business and leadership course at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology this month to further develop her skills while continuing to run the business.
She said she had taken on two employees and was fielding inquiries from future brides keen to have the truck at their weddings.
Three weddings were already booked for the start of next year.
Talbot said launching a business at 18 gave her a head start, allowing plenty of time to grow and build on it.
It was an opportunity she wanted other young people to have too.
Talbot planned to launch “One Scoop Forward”, a grant designed to help aspiring young entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground.
She intended to fund the initiative through earnings from Izzy’s Ice Cream.
As the business grew, Talbot hoped to secure external grants and funding to expand the programme.
The initiative would target people aged 17 to 21 who have a business idea but lack the funding to get started.
Talbot said she had been fortunate to have support and resources available when launching her own business and wanted to give others the same opportunity.
“If you have an idea … just go for it,” she said.
“Even if you fail, at least you know you tried.”
Details of the grant were still being finalised, with Talbot hoping to launch it in November.
Talbot said the business had exceeded her expectations.
She enjoyed being her own boss and spending her days doing something she genuinely loved.
Talbot’s long-term goal is to open her own ice cream parlour, which she wanted to achieve within the next five years.
Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.