TAMPA, Florida — Eric Taylor seemed to have his life figured out: College (check), start his career as an engineer (check), get a good job with good pay at a good company (check, check and check.)
Then his cousin and childhood friend Antonio McBroom reached out from his college job at a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop in North Carolina — and with that, launched the beginnings of a historic ice cream team.
Today Taylor, 38, McBroom, 35, and partner Phillip Scotton, 31, own 10 Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops with 125 employees across six states. That includes the first Black-owned franchises in Florida, recently opening in Clearwater Beach and at the new Midtown Tampa development with Mayor Jane Castor in attendance. Adding those stores made their business, Primo Partners, Ben & Jerry’s largest franchise operator in the country.
