BOSTON — Through the pandemic, as many People in lockdown started baking sourdough and banana bread, Shelly Marshall contemplated the potential of powdered ice cream combine as a shortcut for churning selfmade batches.
A number of years earlier, she had opened a Caribbean-themed ice cream parlor in New York, serving scoops of guava cheesecake, soursop, and sea moss sorbet. Because the virus swept by means of town, she heated and whipped milk and eggs on the stovetop at residence to make ice cream for her children.
“I used to be like, ‘No one’s provide you with a Duncan Hines sort product you can simply dump in a bowl with some milk and blend it together with your hand or a spoon or one thing?'” she recalled. “I checked out what’s in Häagen-Dazs. It is cream, milk, eggs, sugar, taste. 5 substances. I assumed, how can I get the powdered type of these 5 substances and make ice cream like a dry, shelf-stable type of factor?
When Ms. Marshall started creating the idea, she requested a good friend in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for recommendation on the formulation. Kelly Williamson, whom she had met a number of years earlier whereas taking the ice cream brief course at Pennsylvania State College, had run her personal packaged ice cream startup for 5 years and had since sworn off the confectionery enterprise.
However Mrs. Marshall made a proposal: Would she be the Ben to her Jerry?
“I assumed she was loopy,” says Ms. Williamson, who has held numerous advertising and marketing and venture administration roles, most just lately at on-line residence items retailer Wayfair. “When Shelly approached me with the concept of an ice cream combine, I agreed to do some free recipe testing, only for kicks, to eliminate that previous ice cream itch.
“After which there was extra momentum behind it. She acquired nice suggestions from mentors and there was a variety of promise behind the concept of a powdered ice cream combine. … I wasn’t pleased the place I used to be in my enterprise profession, and I mentioned, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s do that collectively. ”
Shelly Marshall, left, and Kelly Williamson, founders of True Scoops. Picture: True ScoopsMonths later, True Scoops debuted. Initially, the product was packaged in pouches to be ready in a blender or ice cream maker. Earlier this 12 months, the pair unveiled a reformulated iteration packaged in pints that may be paired with a cup of half-and-half utilizing frequent kitchen gear.
“You simply make the combination in a bowl with an electrical mixer, you possibly can add spices and mix-ins to customise it, and then you definitely pour it again into the pint container and freeze it,” Ms Williamson mentioned. “You do not want something particular to make our product, that is what we like greatest about it.”
True Scoops ice cream mixes include sugar, dehydrated candy cream, natural tapioca syrup solids, skimmed milk powder, potato protein, and natural gums. Flavors embrace strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate.
“If you consider the style of Ben & Jerry’s, it is a base of chocolate, vanilla or strawberry, after which chocolate-covered peanuts or raisins or no matter has been added to it,” Ms. Marshall mentioned. “From our three bases you may make any taste and be actually artistic. That is why it says on the entrance of the pint: ‘The title of this taste is…’ and you’ll write that in.”
The startup additionally sells just a few dry sauce mixes in salted butterscotch and sizzling fudge flavors. Future product improvement can reply to the rising demand for low- or no-sugar desserts.
The merchandise can be found at maketruescoops.com and Amazon.com, in addition to Central Market shops and some specialty shops. The founders are planning a gradual retail rollout whereas gaining traction on-line.
“We have to construct a stronger model id earlier than we hit the shop as a result of it is a new class,” Ms. Marshall mentioned. “We’re not promoting one other muesli bar. Who will individuals examine us to? So we do the groundwork, first direct-to-consumer on Amazon, check drive there, earlier than going to the shop. As a result of as soon as we’re within the retailer, we wish individuals to know that True Scoops and ice cream combine exist.”
True Scoops will be offered in a wide range of locations within the grocery retailer, subsequent to toppings and ice cream cones, close to half-and-half cartons within the dairy field, or amongst packaged cake and brownie mixes within the baking aisle, the place Ms. Marshall argued that the title must be renamed “the maker’s aisle.”
“We can’t know till we go into the shop and check it,” she mentioned. “So the primary two years in retail would be the most important for us as we’ll check worth and check placement throughout the shop. We are able to purchase merchandise in every single place, besides within the freezer.”
The “blessing and curse of True Scoops,” mentioned Ms. Williamson, is the novelty of the product, a Betty Crocker-meets-Ben & Jerry’s innovation.
“Now we have a lot to persuade and study, however on the identical time individuals are blown away by the idea,” she mentioned. “They’re so enthusiastic about one thing new in ice cream that they will make it. The style and texture are a ten. We get nice suggestions on it. Folks love that it’s purposeful packaging. It is an actual win. We’re simply ready for that actual aha second when it kicks off.
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