Founder Jeni Britton Bauer Pioneers Unconventional Ice Cream Flavors
“I didn’t get into ice cream to make traditional flavors. I got into ice cream to tell a story.” This is the phrase that Jeni Britton Bauer, the founder of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, has lived by for over two decades — leading the gourmet ice cream movement through crafting unconventional flavors and scents.
And as someone who started making ice cream twenty-two years ago, Jeni has undoubtedly tremendously influenced artisanal ice cream while simultaneously watching the industry shift from right under her feet.
“When I first started out, we just had one brick and mortar shop in Ohio… now we’ve expanded to over 20 stores nationally — and our online sales are exceeding in-store sales in some cases.” Part of the shift is due to the growing on-demand economy, and the partnership with Postmates.
“I’m interested to see how this all goes down! It’s funny that people postmate a pint from a Jeni’s that’s a block away, but this is happening. Apparently… the story goes that Jesse Tyler Ferguson was spotted in LA standing right outside our Jeni’s Los Feliz shop, waiting for his Postmates order. But, hey… I’m just as guilty as the next of postmating a nice cup of coffee I probably don’t need.”
And in addition to online ordering another key lever Jeni believes will impact sales greatly is grocery inventory. At any given time, we usually have about 7 of our flavors on most shelves… and this [along with Postmates] allows ice cream to be popular not just during the summer months, but all year long.”
But what it is about Jeni’s that has allowed it to be so wildly successful amidst the chaos of brands now clamoring to make the most unique flavors, not to mention the changing tides of the brick and mortar economy?
According to Jeni it all comes to down to the flavor. “When I first started making ice cream, I was studying art at Ohio State University… and I was thinking to myself: how do I build an ice cream with a top note and a base note and not be held to conventional ice cream knowledge? I was more interested in how the flavor ‘blooms’ as you eat it, and the scent of it.”
For anyone that’s ever stepped foot in (or near) a Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, Jeni’s attention to scent is certainly noticeable; with aromas of wildberry lavender, brown butter almond brittle and salty caramel wafting through the door, it’s almost intoxicating as you walk by.“There are many ways to infuse ice cream with scents… steeping ingredients in essential oils for instance.”
Jeni’s ability to tell stories through intricate flavors though wasn’t always one that people appreciated surprisingly. “My first business failed… I thought I was a genius at the time, churning out all of these unusual ice cream flavors. I didn’t understand why people weren’t getting it… and then I realized. I wasn’t giving them enough of what they wanted. What they wanted, was the Salty Caramel. As long as I never ran out of the flavors people loved, I could keep failing with the wackier flavors. That was the key.”
So for the next 10 years, Jeni did just that. “Forget about venture capital… I spent this time working 12–18 hours a day on my business, learning from customers, about what people wanted…what flavors were working.”
In 2011 was then when business started to pick up. “We had opened our store in Ohio, then Nashville at this point and we were growing like crazy.” The question wasn’t if people were liking the flavors… it was now: “how do we get enough organic milk to support the demand and plan for the next year?”
“We’re not a company that was set up for global domination. We’re reliant on our dairy farms… and we like working directly with our farmers. We have a goat cheese maker, a strawberry maker… we wish we could grow faster, but we won’t grow at a rate that exceeds our fellowships with these farmers.”
But despite these growth hurdles, Jeni’s has still managed to dominate the all-natural ice cream trend (without stabilizers, emulsifiers, or dyes)— continuing to push the boundaries on what ice cream looks, smells and tastes like. “One of my newest creations is the Sundae Board… it’s like a cheese board, that swaps out the cheese for ice cream and buttermilk frozen yogurt.”
Interested in trying your hand at a Sundae Board? Join the club. Visit Jeni’s blog to learn more about how to masterfully create this board that is sure to impress your friends, and order the recommended pints on Postmates!
