We were working with about $60K, which we had gathered together from small investments from family and friends, and then also a line of credit. We found our first truck on eBay and then found someone who could retrofit it for us. When we started to look at other ice creams, it became clear that we were onto something: this pure ice cream that celebrates exceptional ingredients was not happening anywhere, except maybe in people's homes or fancy restaurants. So we were aligned on wanting to do high-quality ice cream and not use any kind of stabilizers, fillers or gums. We wrote a business plan together while sharing an apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and started tinkering with recipes. O'Neill: E ven though Pete, Ben and I grew up on different sides of the earth, we have similar feelings about food and how it should be prepared, grown and made. We’ve been able to succeed and accomplish what we've accomplished on a shoestring because we plan ahead, but not too far ahead.Įldor: What did the early days of Van Leeuwen look like? As business owners, we can't be so set in the way we do things. ![]() You can't really go to school and learn how to be an entrepreneur, which is why it's so important to follow your gut.Īlso, we're never afraid to pivot. Karin Eldor: Congratulations on Van Leeuw en Ice Cream's 10th Anniversary! What’s the biggest lesson you've learned in the first 10 years of Van Leeuwen? We research and seek out well reviewed/rated ice creams whenever we travel and I’ll say we have place Van Leeuwen in the top ten in the US after our visit.The Melbourne-born, bicoastal O’Neill (she splits her time between New York City and Los Angeles, where there are currently three Van Leeuwen shops ) gave me the scoop on her balancing act. This really turned out to be an outstanding sundae with all the flavors working very well together. A single scoop sundae with brown sugar cookie dough chunk topped with salted caramel sauce, hot fudge, and whipped cream. I decided step outside my normal choice range to try something I came up with while waiting in line. Very customer friendly! She pronounced the ice cream as every bit as good as B&R’s Chocolate Mousse Royale (her fave). I was doing the ordering and I know she enjoys honeycomb candy, which they have here as a flavor, and the young man was kind enough to include a sample spoon of this alongside the chocolate fudge. The wife went with the type of flavor that is here go to all the time-chocolate fudge brownie. None of those were inspiring to us on this visit so we chose flavors from the more traditional side of the menu. The vegan offerings appeared to be a big draw, at least during our visit. Plenty of time to peruse the menu choices while waiting. Though a couple obviously still learning. But the young people behind the counter were able to keep up for the most part. Very cute small shop in the Seaport hood, near the Brooklyn Bridge. Had heard many good things about these folks ice cream and it more than lived up to the hype.
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