Sweeter On the Other Side
Jöne Pan / Jöne’s Gourmet Gelato
Often we dream of escaping cube farm life, or corporate America, and following the entrepreneur in our hearts. For many, that dream, remains just a dream — but not for Jöne Pan.
I initially met Jöne at a fulcrum stage of her career. She started her career like many of us have — finished school, got into corporate finance, excelled, started business school and somewhere along that route she realized she despised the Herman Miller cubicles, the buzz of overhead fluorescent lighting, and office politics. It was like an episode of Office Space she mentioned, “I tried to do everything wrong to get fired, and the more wrong I did the bigger of a promotion I seemed to receive.” In addition to the typical stressors Jöne also got physically ill at least once a month. Finally, one day she just quit. Flat out quit.
The next stage of her life involved purchasing a ticket to Paris and stepping off into the unknown. For Jöne, she has always had a love affair with food. The preparation, the aromas, from farm to table and of course delight in consumption. Jöne spent the next two years in Paris training, learning, absorbing and living in Michelin restaurants and as Chef de Cuisine at a private golf course crafting tasting menus and incorporating molecular gastronomy. Food breathed new life into Jöne. Although she enjoyed her newfound chef clogs, eventually 16 hour days took their toll, not to mention she was still consistently getting sick. Jöne and modern medicine couldn’t seem to figure out why she was consistently feeling ill.
After exhausting traditional western medical treatments, she sought out a holistic doctor who introduced her into the world of Paleo. Within weeks on a Paleo diet her symptoms and ailments all but disappeared. Jöne was a believer. She did not wish to go back into the corporate world, but couldn’t take the long hours the restaurant community demanded so she decided to dive head first into the world of coffee and started to work as a barista. This is where I met Jöne.
Being a barista was a pause in her career. The hours were limited, which meant she had time to think and focus her energy on other things. One of these things was ice cream and/or gelato. You see, Jöne has always had an affection for ice cream, but conventional ice cream was full of non-Paleolithic items like milk, sugar, and cream — not to mention ingredients such as corn syrup or whey protein. No problem thought Jöne, she was a classically trained chef and any chef worth her clogs knew how to make ice cream. She started to churn out batches and shared with her friends. From necessity and hobby turned into a business when people asked to purchase and Jöne realized there was not a commercially viable Paleo ice cream on the market. Jöne’s Gourmet Gelato was conceptualized.
Late last year she hung up her portafilter and focused all of her energy on Jöne’s Gourmet Gelato. Batches of testing, securing a commercial facility, and above all obtaining a Paleo certification for her product. Did I mention that this is all Jöne? From the branding, to the package design, to the receipes, to the certification process, to the marketing, to even the delivery — It’s all Jöne. Certainly no small feat.
Today Jöne’s Gourmet Gelato is all but ready for distribution. Jöne is happy with her product, has raving fans, and has figured out the production process. Jöne’s next steps are to secure distribution contracts, and hopefully encounter growing pains real soon. We’re sure it’s sweeter on the other side. We wish Jöne much luck in her endeavors. Check out/Order Jöne’s Gourmet Gelato here: www.jonesgourmetgelato.com
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