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In 1996, Kim Malek became CEO and co-founder of a craft ice cream company with her cousin, Tyler Malek. Salt & StrawShe dreamed of opening an ice cream shop in Portland, Ore. “When I moved here, I was blown away by the experience of people I literally met on the street becoming some of my best friends,” Kim Malek said. Entrepreneur.
Portland is a “community-driven lighthouse,” Kim Marek says. No.3 A gathering place. She worked at Starbucks when it was first established, and the coffee chain was also invested in the idea of ​​spaces where customers could come together outside of their homes or workplaces.
Image courtesy of Salt & Straw. Tyler Malek on the left and Kim Malek on the right.
Salt & Straw (named after the way ice cream was made back then: frozen over rock salt and cooled with straw) was founded in 2011. Over the past decade, it has grown from a single cart to a fanbase in multiple cities thanks to its inventive flavors and local focus.
The company has expanded to Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada and Washington, and is set to open its first two stores in New York City later this month. Additionally, Salt & Straw has experienced a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27% over the four years since 2020, according to the company.
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Tyler Marek is Salt & Straw’s head of innovation and helps create the company’s monthly menu series, which will feature September’s Apple Series, which will include creations like the Apple Cider Donut and Green Apple Wasabi Sherbet, as well as classics like Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons and Salted, Malted, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.
Images/Photos: Salt & Straw
Salt & Straw’s commitment to the community has been strong for many years and is a thread running through everything the company does, Kim Marek said — an ethos that extends to the local businesses it partners with on flavor collaborations, its stores and surrounding neighborhoods, and even its own team dynamics.
“Through our ice cream, you can discover something you never knew before.”
Salt & Straw has always aimed to create a menu that reflects the region, incorporating the flavors of various farmers, artisans and makers.
In Portland, the company’s many local partners include a chocolate factory and cafe. Cloud Foresthave collaborated on flavors such as “Cloud Forest Chocolate Ishpingo & Mango” and “Cloud Forest Cocoa Hazelnut Magic Shell.” Sokol Blosser Wineryhelping create the hit Pink Rosé and Watermelon Sorbet. Durant Olive MillCraft canned cocktail company behind ‘Arbequina olive oil’ Straight Away Cocktaillaunched Lemon Marigold Amaro Sorbet in May. And nonprofit food upcycling company Urban collectionThis resulted in the creation of “Day-Leaved Bread Pudding with Chocolate Ganache.”
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Salt & Straw also boasts an innovative partnership with a Portland-based literary-inspired perfume maker. Fictional authorTogether, they developed a wearable fragrance called “Waffle Cone Scent,” with notes of vanilla, Saigon cinnamon, and whipped cream, and three edible fragrances called “Cocoa Cloud,” “Citrus Enchantment,” and “Floral Feather.” Ice cream is too cold to pick up any scents, but the pair will add new scents to the ice cream.
Images/Photos: Salt & Straw
When Salt & Straw opened its first location outside Portland, in Los Angeles, the company considered exporting ingredients from its home base, but then decided to “take the hard way” and work with local businesses to create flavors that reflected the region, Malek said.
“We’re looking for a combination of people who can give our customers an experience that’s exciting, that’s like a home run,” Marek says, “and through our ice cream, they can discover something they didn’t know before.”
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“We create a space where people get excited about these interesting ice cream flavors.”
Marek explained that Salt & Straw prioritizes a “one-to-one customer experience” at its restaurants, where customers can expect full attention from staff. To that end, Salt & Straw has been very intentional about its staffing model, making sure team members have ample time to talk with customers about menu items and answer questions.
“As a result, something magical happens in our stores,” Marek says.
Customers often chat with each other, too. “We’re creating a space where people get excited about these interesting ice cream flavors,” she explains. “They want to talk, which leads to more conversation and they want to connect with each other. Like, ‘Have you tried our Honey Balsamic Strawberry flavor? You’ll love it.'”
Images/Photos: Salt & Straw
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Marek said Salt & Straw stores also help bring people of all ages and walks of life together and foster unexpected connections — marriage proposals and job offers have even happened there.
At the very least, “it’s not uncommon to buy a scoop at the end of the experience for someone you meet at the back of the line,” Malek said.
Salt & Straw also makes a point of giving back to the communities around its stores. Malek said employees walk around the stores multiple times a day to collect trash, and the general manager is paid to attend neighborhood association meetings to get involved at a grassroots level, just like local storeowners.
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The company also partners with a local elementary school each year for a Student Inventor Series, giving students the opportunity to invent their own ice cream flavor. The winning flavor will be stocked in Salt & Straw stores, and the company will donate 15% of the flavor’s proceeds to the school where it was invented. The ongoing nature of these programs “complements the community element of this,” Marek says.
“We’re making a lot of efforts as a community to stay connected to each other.”
Marek said Salt & Straw’s community efforts start within the company, which means creating intentional communication points, like monthly town hall meetings where all employees can join to hear updates and ask questions. Salt & Straw also has digital platforms where people across the company can connect and get to know each other, share tips, podcast recommendations, and more.
Salt & Straw encourages interaction between its stores, provides budgets, occasionally holds contests that give employees a night off to win, and every October all of its general managers meet in Portland.
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“We come together once a year to hold learning events,” Marek said. “Even though we’re spread out across different regions and locations, we make a great effort to stay connected as a community.”
Recently, she’s excited about Salt & Straw’s partnership with Taco Bell to refresh the chocolate taco, saying it could give the company “avenues to do some really exciting, innovative things in the future that the world has never seen before with ice cream,” and, of course, she’s excited about an upcoming store opening in New York City.
Images/Photos: Salt & Straw
“We’re making a lot of efforts as a community to stay connected to each other.”
Malek said New York City had been the most requested location for a long time, but Salt & Straw wanted to take its time to find the right location.
“We didn’t want to enter New York City through the glitzy tourist destinations,” she explains, “we wanted to go to neighborhood spots where we could humbly get to know the people who live there and be a part of the community. So that’s how we thought about it.”
Salt & Straw will open at 540 Hudson Street in the West Village and 360 Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side. Over the next few days, the company will host a series of pop-up stores in partnership with local notables, serving ice cream and cookies at Levain Bakery on Sept. 6, bagel ice cream sandwiches at the Bagels pop-up on Sept. 7 and babka sundaes at Bread Bakery on Sept. 8.
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Marek is excited to introduce Salt & Straw to the New York community and continue to innovate along the way.
“My greatest hope is that Salt & Straw will be remembered as revolutionary not only for our customers but also for our team members in what it means to work in our industry and to be a place of community. [that’s] “This is a long-term dream of mine,” she says.
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