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Donald Deibler Looks Back: What He'd Change About How He Got Here
03 Nov 2026
Donald Deibler is a business owner based in Hegins, Pennsylvania. He is the business manager of All Stars Ice Cream and Cafe Bakery, and he works alongside his wife, who owns Dead Horse Beer and Burritos. In this interview, he looks back at the choices that shaped his path and talks about what he would do differently if he were starting over.
If You Could Go Back and Change One Thing About How You Started, What Would It Be?
"I would have written my goals down sooner. I didn't always do that early on. I'd carry ideas around in my head for months instead of putting them on paper where I could actually track them. Once I started setting goals every January and checking in every month, I noticed I got more done in less time. I wish I'd built that habit in my twenties instead of figuring it out along the way."
You Studied Music Business at Albright College. Would You Choose the Same Path Again?
"I don't regret it. A music business degree isn't the obvious choice for someone who ends up managing a bakery and supporting a food and beverage business, but a lot of what I learned applies anyway: how to manage a budget, how to think about a brand, how to work with people who have very different jobs than you do. If I went back, I'd probably take the same classes. I'd just pay closer attention to the parts about day to day operations, since that's where I spend most of my time now."
Was There a Point Where You Changed Your Mind About How to Run the Business?
"Early on, I thought I had to have an opinion on everything. If a decision came up, I felt like I needed to weigh in right away. Over time I realized some of the best calls come from stepping back and letting the person closest to the problem handle it. My wife runs Dead Horse Beer and Burritos, and a lot of what I do is support that vision rather than redirect it. That took me longer to learn than it should have."
What's Something You Underestimated When You Were Younger?
"How much patience the slow parts of the day require. Growing up in Donaldson with five siblings, I was always moving, always into sports, always planning the next thing. Running a business taught me that a lot of the work is quiet and repetitive. Prep, cleanup, paperwork, the stuff nobody sees. I underestimated how much of the job is just showing up for that part, day after day."
If You Were Starting From Scratch Today, Would You Do Anything in a Different Order?
"I'd probably get more comfortable being in the kitchen sooner. I've always been interested in joining the cooks when I can, just to understand what the day actually looks like from that side. If I were starting over, I'd spend more time there early instead of assuming I'd pick it up later. It's harder to learn once you're already managing everything else."
What Would You Tell Yourself on Your First Day in This Role?
"Set smaller goals than you think you need. I used to set goals that were too big to check on monthly, so I'd lose track of where I stood. Now I break things down into pieces I can actually measure every thirty days. I'd tell myself to start that way from day one instead of learning it the hard way a few years in."
Looking Back, What Hasn't Changed About How You Approach the Work?
"The people around me. My parents and my siblings were my biggest influence growing up, and that hasn't changed. I still measure a lot of my decisions by whether they'd make sense to the people I grew up with. That part of how I think about the business has stayed the same since Pine Grove, even as almost everything else about the day to day has shifted."
Is There Anything You're Glad You Didn't Change?
“Staying close to home. I grew up not far from where I live now, and I never had the urge to build something somewhere else. Some people might see that as playing it safe. I see it as knowing where you're useful. I'm glad I didn't talk myself out of building something here.”
