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Ice cream is a multi-billion dollar market dominated by legacy brands like Ben & Jerry’s, Blue Bell, and Breyers. Ice cream on paper should be a worthwhile business. It’s a frozen perishable product with decades of proven unit economics, business plans, and can be scaled into massive quantities. The global appeal has made the industry a target for private equity who have invested millions into Van Leeuwen, Salt & Straw, and Jeni’s under the bet they can one day become the Haagen-Dazs for the next generation.

Yet ice cream is a strange business. It’s so low margin that the owners of Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s not only engage in shrinkflation to squeeze out profit from each pint, but have been actively offloading their ventures. These conglomerates also own other brands from Klondike, Breyer’s, and Talenti to Good Humor, Magnum, Drumstick, and Dreyer’s. Despite having the leading brands and economies of scale, Nestle, Unilever, and Kroger have each concluded that the ice cream business is just not worth it. Retail concepts like Baskin Robbins and Cold Stone Creamery that once dominated in the 2000s have also experienced similar stagnation. In this episode, we’re diving into the curious business of ice cream from the macro-to-micro starting from the big brands all the way to 3 independents in New York City, who have found unique success in this oddly difficult industry.

🍦 SAM'S FRIED ICE CREAM (Sam)
www.samsfriedicecream.com/
www.instagram.com/samsfriedicecream/
37B Orchard St, New York, NY 10002

🍦 SMOOVE CREAMERY (Christy)
smooveicecream.com/
www.instagram.com/smooveicecream/
279 Grand St, New York, NY 10002
1285 E Calaveras Blvd, Milpitas, CA 95035

🍦 IL LABOTORIO DEL GELATO (Jon)
www.laboratoriodelgelato.com/
www.instagram.com/icecreamlab/
188 Ludlow St, New York, NY 10002

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