Tony Belton had no intentions of becoming a business owner, but as the opportunity presented itself, he took it. Now he’s the owner of Classic City Creamery in Auburn and its mobile ice cream bar, The Scoop Hitchen.
For over 20 years he’s worked in marketing. In 2021 he started taking on social media marketing clients in addition to his full-time work. Through that, he was connected with the owner of Classic City Creamery in Auburn.
![]()
Jennie Renner, BrightpointTony Belton, owner of Classic City Creamery and The Scoop Hitchen, serves ice cream at Brightpoint's ice cream social.After a year of helping the business with its social media, the owner approached Belton and asked if he had any interest in taking over the ice cream shop.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, like, I don't know anything about running a business, but sure, let's do it,’” he recalls.
Contracts and payments were agreed upon, keys were handed over and Belton found himself the owner of an ice cream shop nestled in Auburn’s city square. He considers his acquiring of the shop to be a “right place, right time” type of ordeal.
As with most businesses, with new ownership came a few changes. Belton gave the place a bit of a makeover– including fresh paint inside and out and trendy new decor and menus. He says the shop is a place where people want to hang out.
“I kind of like to say that at Classic City Creamery, the ice cream is just a bonus because the shop itself is kind of a vibe,” he says. “Like it's cozy, but it's kind of fun and trendy. I wanted it to be a place where you would want to hang out.”
When it came to marketing and the overall atmosphere of Classic City Creamery, Belton had no problems implementing changes he knew would work, but he also had bigger dreams for the shop, ones that his experience in marketing didn’t prepare him for.
![]()
Classic City Creamery in Auburn
He had dreams of offering a wider variety of flavors at his shop and making the business mobile. Belton was a year into making payments to the former owner when he came across an opportunity that could make his dream happen—
a business loan from Brightpoint.
Brightpoint is a community action agency focused on helping families, individuals, and communities address the causes and conditions of poverty. They do this by working in three main areas, early childhood support, community services, and community economic development.
![]()
Matt Crouch, Vice President of Community Economic Development at BrightpointAs vice president of community economic development at Brightpoint, Matt Crouch oversees programs that assist with housing, personal finances, and small business loans through the Brightpoint Development Fund.
The Brightpoint Development Fund is a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) microlender, allowing them to borrow money from the Small Business Administration which they can lend out to businesses, up to $50,000. They are one of three in the state and the only one focused on the eastern side of Indiana.
The SBA regulates the eligibility terms and conditions of the loan, but Crouch says it’s pretty open. Almost any for-profit business or non-profit childcare business can apply. The biggest restriction is that businesses may not use the loan for real estate.
The Brightpoint Development Fund is also a U.S. Department of Treasury Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI).
With these certifications, Brightpoint has different criteria for loan applicants and a specialized application process that works differently than typical lenders might.
“Being a CDFI means more than just being able to loan dollars out,” Crouch explains. “It's also providing up-front technical assistance for the businesses– helping them with their business plan, with their projections, registering with the Secretary of State— anything that will give them a better chance at getting started and being successful.”
Financial institutions are typically concerned with the amount of risk that goes into giving a loan, which brings in the need for collateral and other factors that could rule out a potential client. Crouch says banks typically have an ideal portfolio in mind as well, which means smaller loans, like those often sought out by small businesses might not match the financial institution's goals for its own portfolio. As a mission-oriented lender, Brightpoint can help people who might not otherwise have access to this type of capital.
So if they approach a larger bank or credit union, they may not be able to access capital for a variety of reasons– no credit, low credit, maybe they don't have a lot of collateral— so we're here to serve their needs in these 17 counties,” Crouch says.
He says that’s how they were able to connect with and help Belton.
“He had reached out to several banks and been turned down,” Crouch says. “He had even contacted multiple entrepreneurial-support organizations and had been told ‘no’, but he kept trying, and eventually he found us.”
Belton says after finding Brightpoint he decided to apply and see if it would be the program to help his business dreams come to fruition.
“I had no expectations, but going through the actual loan process was kind of fun,” Belton says. “It helped me learn a little bit more about making a plan– not like the marketing plans I’ve always done, but like a legit plan for a business.”
Loans and fun don’t typically coincide, but Belton had a different experience with
Brightpoint.
![]()
Classic City Creamery in Auburn
Business owners are typically expected to do it all– from finances to marketing and everything in between, including loan applications. Learning how to make their passion a successful business is tricky, which is why support like what’s provided at Brightpoint can make a big difference.
The Brightpoint Development Fund team is small. Five people, not counting Crouch, work closely with small business owners to complete, approve, and dispense applications and loans. Instead of being asked to show up with a complete proposal, different members of the Brightpoint Development Fund team walk business owners through the process.
“We have an individual whose specialty is helping them through the application process and really working on the client relationship, building a level of trust and helping them understand and fulfill the requirements,” Crouch says.
They also have a staff member who specializes in providing feedback on business plans and projections and another staff member who helps the entrepreneurs through any challenges they might encounter after the loan has been approved.
Crouch says the timeline for each application varies but is heavily impacted by the involvement of the business owner. In a typical year, work with around 40 potential applicants and approve around 15 loans. He says most of the applications that don’t make it to the approval stage are simply because they are left unfinished. Applications under $25,000 are reviewed by the Brightpoint Development Fund team and applications over $25,000 are reviewed by the Brightpoint Advisory Board.
![]()
Jennie Renner, BrightpointTony Belton, owner of Classic City Creamery and The Scoop Hitchen, at Brightpoint's ice cream social.For those who do complete the process, like Belton, the process of applying for the loan helped map out the road to making his ideas possible. Belton says with the Brightpoint loan he was able to finish buying out the original owner, making him the sole owner of Classic City Creamery. Then he was able to expand the types of ice cream the shop offered.
“We expanded our inventory and brought in vegan flavors and options because there really wasn’t any place in Auburn that was doing that,” Belton says. “I know just the way that life goes and society goes, there are more people who have food allergies and things like that so we definitely wanted to accommodate that.”
Part of expanding his inventory was making space for that inventory in his shop, so as part of his loan, Belton also bought more coolers for Classic City Creamery.
“One of the main things that I wanted to do through the Brightpoint loan was to be able to be mobile,” Belton explains. “Just to be able to do weddings and different events, like farmers markets and there’s all kinds of things going on for people who don’t necessarily want to come to the shop, but they still want ice cream.”
With the loan secured, Belton was able to buy and convert a trailer that now serves ice cream as the Scoop Hitchen all around the region.
“I’m just grateful for the opportunity to be able to get this loan and for the growth and expansion that it’s allowed for Classic City Creamery,” Belton says.
Crouch says walking through the process with entrepreneurs like Belton is important to help sustain local businesses long-term.
“We know those individuals have great ideas; And one day they may have more needs to buy real estate, more inventory, or more equipment. Having the initial opportunity through a CDFI to help them grow into a place where they can go back to a traditional lender or credit union is our goal,” he explains. “We want to help them now so that later on they can go anywhere to get funding and they will no longer need us– that helps our economy and improves the entire community.”
In the meantime, supporting small businesses and the owners behind them is just one of the ways Brightpoint is taking action in the community.
![]()
Jennie Renner, BrightpointTony Belton, owner of Classic City Creamery and The Scoop Hitchen, serves ice cream at Brightpoint's ice cream social.
“It is incredibly important to pool those resources as a community, to help them and lift them up,” Crouch says. “That's part of what a CDFI does and why it fits in so well with Brightpoint’s mission and values. We focus available resources as we help eliminate the causes and conditions of poverty. We're one of only three or four Community Action Agencies in the country that has a CDFI.”
For Belton, Brightpoint was able to show extra support as they invited The Scoop Hitchen to serve ice cream at their ice cream social in August.
“Some of the 120 or so staff that work out of our downtown Fort Wayne office enjoyed an afternoon of ice cream and comradery while supporting him at the same time,” Crouch says.
This story is made possible by Brightpoint.