Check Out Erin Thurman’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Thurman.

Hi Erin, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started working for Angels Icehouse the summer of 2007 at the age of 19. I was currently home from college on summer break and needed a summer gig. I started waiting tables that July and once school started back, I would drive in every other weekend to make some extra cash.

Fast forward a few years, I came home from school and started bartending, then a little bit of managing and eventually was offered a full-time management spot. At that time, Angels had never had a full-time manager, the owners were running the show themselves. There was a lot of growth to be made over the next few years and a little trial and error on growing as an adult with one hiatus after meeting my husband and feeling the industry was not longer for me.

I actually stepped down to a part-time bartender/server and pursued a career in esthetics briefly. Fall of 2014 Angels came calling again! I laugh and say it’s my BURGERatory. For the next five-plus years, things were amazing! Angels was thriving, I had a son in August 2019 and sadly March of 2020 happened, don’t think we need any explanation there. Mary & Sara the creators of Angels struggled to keep things normal and operating profitably. Unfortunately, it was time to close that chapter and for Angels to start a new. In August of 2021, the business was purchased by a group of new owners and myself and the rest of the crew were brought back full time. Like I said our burgeratory.

I laugh, but Angels has created me and molded me into the woman I am today. I have learned so much over the last almost 15 years not just from the woman who made this dream a reality, but from the employees and the customers. How to treat someone with respect, what it’s like to be an employee and how I always wanted to be treated. I really try to do the same for our employees. I never want to run the business with me mentality, we are a team. I may be the one who pulls the strings behind the scene, but I do not run the show. Every single one of our team members do.

If you want to go way back into my life, lol My mother was a bartender at what was then Barbara Ellens in Bee Cave in summer of 1984 and my father owned the produce company called Fresh Start. A few years later, I became part of the story, and we moved out to Spicewood. We did a small time on a farm in town call RidgeTop which is not known as the Austin Zoo. My father for a time was a pretty well-known musician and songwriter. He recorded and played with a number of Austin Legends and country music stars, including Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Billy Joe Shaver and many many more! He even played at Farm Aid one year.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have had a lot of people in the industry amazed at how long some of our employees have been with us. Myself being almost 15 years, our kitchen manager 16 years and a handful of other employees five plus years. In our industry, that is really hard to do. It’s just a really high turn over rate. I will say again treating that staff how I would want to be treated and making the environment a team not a dictatorship has really helped. If you give someone ownership in their job, they will take a lot more pride in what they are doing.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
The hardest lesson I had to learn, ironically was job security. After being with a company at the time for almost 13 years, I really didn’t have any fear of losing my job. As I mentioned previously the company was doing better than ever! There was really nothing that was going to slow us down…. but there was… Esthetics was always my backup plan but I had not practiced in years, I had to start over. Now that I am back and things are once again better than ever there will always be that reminder that something could happen. However, I did learn that there is more to life than work. Spending that time at home with my son and husband gave me something that I otherwise never would have had. You forget sometimes how much is taken advantage of with the day to day routine of work. It was nice to slow down and take some time for myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.angelsicehouse.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angels_icehouse/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=angels%20icehouse