Background

I have always liked ice cream and enjoy it several times every summer with family and friends. At the same time, I have often wondered what ingredients are used, how the ice cream is processed, how much sugar it contains ... and so on. These were questions I had been thinking about for many years.

Then as always, I thought it would be nice to make ice cream myself. I also saw potential for it as a business: once the recipes were developed, much of the production process could be handled by an ice cream machine.

In 2021, I began experimenting with my own recipes and offered some of the first prototypes to family and friends, and at a market stand. The response was very positive. In 2023, I applied to Gründungsküche and decided to take the idea further and explore producing the ice cream on a more professional way.

Flavors

I developed Japanese-inspired three flavors:

• Matcha Cashew
• Miso Peanut Chocolate
• Soy Milk & White Miso

During the program, I worked on recipe development, production, branding and market testing. After testing the products with customers at Samstagsmarkt in March 2024, the ice creams moved from prototype to actual production and were sold in summer 2024.

The project became an opportunity to explore how Japanese flavours such as matcha and miso could be translated into a contemporary plant-based product for the European market.

Learning

At first, I thought that automation would make it relatively easy to turn the idea into a viable business. In practice, however, I encountered several challenges.

I realized that it was not easy to make it competitive price without compromizing ingredients. Especially matcha and miso price were expensive and the prices went up year by year. Another challenge was the additional effort and cost involved in storing, transporting, and selling frozen products.

Last but not least, I am not someone who eats a lot of ice cream myself. I learnt how important it is not only to find a viable business model, but also to work with a product that I genuinely want to keep producing and engaging with over time.

Recipe

Since I don't do the ice cream production in a commercial scale anymore, here I publish my recipe :) I wish you enjoy it!

COMMING SOON!