Ice Cream King Shares his Secrets

After years as a chef in the fast-paced world of fine dining, Chad Townsend decided it was time for a change.

He purchased an expensive Swiss-made food processor that would finely puree frozen foods such as ice cream or sorbet. His wife, Lauren, allowed him to make this purchase under one condition: he had to have it paid off by the end of the summer.

What started as a fun summer hustle turned into a 10,000 sq. ft. Ice Cream Manufacturing and Franchising business. Growing his homemade Ice cream Business, he had to put processes in place and hire people he can trust.

In this episode, Chad and Aaron discuss what it takes to scale-up food manufacturing, how to find good franchise partners, and their strategy for coming up with new flavors.

TIMESTAMPS:
01:41 How Millie’s Homemade Ice Cream came to be.
06:27 The learning curve it took to scale up.
09:51 Documentation of their processes and the need to constantly improve how they do business.
12:48 Research and Development of Millie’s Flavors.
18:45 Trusting the people they work with.
23:53 The challenges of logistics.
27:10 The non-negotiables as a franchising business.
32:21 The ideal franchising partner.
35:37 Chad working together with his wife.