This young couple ditched the corporate world to sell ice cream sandwiches from a food truck
Coolhaus co-founders Natasha Case (M.Arch '08) and Freya Estreller started baking cookies, making ice cream, and combining them into “cool houses” in 2008. Now, Coolhaus operates a national fleet of 10 mobile ice cream trucks and carts (4 in LA, 4 in Dallas and 2 in NYC). Fans can also visit Coolhaus at its two Southern California-based storefronts in Culver City and Pasadena, or pick up a pre-packaged ice cream sandwich, pint of ice cream, or hand-dipped ice cream bar at one of 4,000+ markets in all 50 states, along with Asia and the Middle East.
"In 2009, Natasha Case and Freya Estreller, both in their mid-20s, wanted to take their nascent ice-cream sandwich side hustle, Coolhaus, to the Coachella music festival to test the idea on a large crowd.
"We went big, like go big or go home," Case tells CNBC Make It. "Almost like cart before the horse. You just do it, and you see what the response is." Before Coachella, Coolhaus was more of a hobby than a real business. They had sold their ice-cream sandwiches at a craft holiday fair, but that was about it.
Case had studied architecture at Berkeley and got a master's in architecture from UCLA. Estreller graduated from Cornell and worked in real estate development. So the duo used those themes to name their creations: The "Frank Behry" was two sugar cookies with strawberry ice cream in the middle. The "Mintimalism" was two chocolate cookies stuffed with mint chip ice cream.
Coolhaus now has 10 trucks: four in Los Angeles, four in Dallas and two in New York City. They opened a scoop shop in Culver City, Calif., and kiosks in Pasadena, Calif., and in the Dallas Farmers Market (the Texas location is a franchise). They've also expanded into selling wholesale and are currently in 6,000 retailers across the country from Whole Foods to Safeway."— Catherine Clifford, Aug. 16
Read the full article at the CNBC website.