July 27, 2011
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I don’t know about you, but this summer’s heat makes me crave two things: air conditioning and ice cream. I live in Chicago, and last week when temps broke 102, I cranked up the A/C, strapped on my sandals and headed out to find the best ice cream on the planet.
Snooping around my neighborhood grocery—head in the freezer (ahh)—I spotted a pint of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in The Buckeye State flavor—chocolate and peanut butter. I ran home, pint in hand and proceeded to eat the entire thing in one sitting. Yes, I’ll admit it was gluttonous, but it was also delicious; the calories were worth it.
With a little research, I learned that Jeni’s is the brainchild of Jeni Britton Bauer, a Columbus, Ohio, resident. Bauer started her company in 1996 and has grown it into a 10-store enterprise with a thriving e-commerce presence and wholesale clients nationwide. Jeni’s only uses quality local ingredients and offers inventive flavors such as Salty Carmel, Wildberry Lavender and Queen City Cayenne (chocolate and cayenne pepper).
Bauer also just released her first book: Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home.
I had to know more, so I called her up.
Q: How did you get started in the ice cream business?
A: By accident. Back in 1996, I was a 22-year-old art student with pink hair. I was working at a French bakery that made beautiful pastries, and thought about going to pastry school as a way to make money with something connected to art.
But then one day I went to the store and bought chocolate ice cream, and mixed cayenne pepper in it. The taste was incredible—icy and hot at the same time. I knew at the moment that making ice cream would be my life.
I convinced a friend to front me some money and go into business with me. We started selling ice cream at The North Market, an indoor public market in Columbus. I worked the counter every day for three and a half years.
Q: What challenges did you face starting out?
A: I really liked experimenting with flavors, but because I didn’t have any regular flavors, business didn’t go very well in the beginning. I stopped selling at the market in 2000, thought about the business and wrote up a business plan.
In November 2002, I opened back up at The North Market and had a line of customers from Day One. I’d changed a lot of things. I had regular flavors and no longer had pink hair. Now I wore starched white shirts; no longer did I look like a wild girl. I needed people to trust me.
Another challenge has been finding dairies to work with. Some ice cream companies use ice cream mix to make their product, but we wanted to have more control and work with local dairies. At first, I thought it would be easy; just call up a dairy and buy cream. But over the years, every organic dairy we would find would go out of business.
Today we have a healthy marriage to our dairy partner, Snowville Creamery, in southern Ohio.
Q: What has been your biggest success?
A: When we were starting out, no one took us seriously, but when we opened our first store (in 2006), one of the best chefs in the city put us on his menu. I framed that and realized we were going to be okay.
Q: How do you compete with the Ben & Jerry’s and Häagen-Dazs’ of the world?
A: We engage people with the customer service in our stores. It is not just about them getting a cone and leaving; it is about hearing music that goes with the ice cream and creating an environment around flavor. We like to slow people down and tell them where ingredients came from. The memory of that experience lasts a long time.
Q: What is your favorite flavor of the moment?
A: Rockmill Golden Ale & Apricots. We use ale from the local Rockmill Brewery and swirl it with apricots. It tastes like a French baguette with fresh jam.
Q: What are your secrets for success?
A: We have passion. We aren’t just about the ice cream; we have always been about bringing people together. We bring farmers and producers to our customers through our ice cream.
All of that instills a company that people can get behind versus having a hard concept. No one feels like they are being forced to agree with a concept. Instead, they feel that they are part of a rich community. Also, everyone in our company believes in doing what we do best and hiring other people to do the rest.
Q: What advice can you give to young entrepreneurs?
A: Start on a shoestring and build really slowly over time. There are no shortcuts. Just do it.
Also, hire well and fire well. Firing is hard to do when you are just starting, but your team is everything. One person can make or break your company.
Q: What does the future hold for Jeni’s?
A: Things are going really well right now. We have nine stores in Ohio and just opened one in Nashville—but our biggest store is online. Last year we sold 100,000 pints online and this year we are on track to double that. So as for the future, we want to see how things shake out. We have some ideas of opening in certain cities, but we will see how it goes.
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