In 1996, Kim Malek, CEO and co-founder with her cousin Tyler Malek of the artisan ice cream company Salt & Strawdreamed of opening an ice cream shop in PortlandOregon. “When I moved here, I was blown away by the experience of literally meeting people on the street who became some of my closest friends,” shares Kim Malek. entrepreneur.
Portland is a “community driven lighthouse,” says Kim Malek, so the city was a natural place to create one the third place that would bring people together. She worked in Starbucks in the early days, and the coffee chain also leaned into the idea of a space where customers could congregate outside of home or work.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Salt & Straw. Tyler Malek, left; Kim Malek, right.
Salt & Straw (named for the way ice cream was made back then: frozen with rock salt and kept cold with straws) was founded in 2011. Over the past decade-plus, it's come a long way—from a single carriage in a multi-city pursuit thanks to its creative tastes and COMMUNITY the focus.
The company has expanded to locations in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada and Washington, with the first two New York City stores opening later this month. Additionally, Salt & Straw has posted a four-year 27% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2020, for the company.
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Tyler Malek serves as Salt & Straw's head of innovation and helps shape the company's monthly rotating menu series — September's apple series boasts creations like Apple Cider Donuts and Green Apple Wasabi Sorbet — alongside the classics of permanent as “Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons”. ” and “Salty Malty Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.”
Image Credit: Courtesy of Salt & Straw
Over the years, Salt & Straw's commitment to the community has held firm, serving as a byline in everything the company does, says Kim Malek. This spirit extends to the local businesses that Salt & Straw partners with for its flavor collaborations, its storefronts, the surrounding communities and its team dynamics.
“You might learn about something you might not have known through our ice cream.”
Salt & Straw has always aimed to create a menu that reflects the community, featuring diverse farmers, artisans and creators in its flavors.
In Portland, some of the company's many local partners include The Chocolate Factory and Cafe cloud forestwhich has collaborated on flavors like “Cloudforest Chocolate Ishpingo & Mango” and “Cloudforest's Cocoa Hazelnut Magic Shell”; Sokol Blosser Winerywhich helped create the hit “Pink Rose and Watermelon Sorbet”; Durant Olive Millbehind “Arbequina Olive Oil”; craft canned cocktail company Cocktails immediatelywhich released Lemon Mari Gold Amaro Sherbet in May; and the nonprofit food producer Urban Gleanerswhich helped bring about “Daily Bread Pudding and Chocolate Ganache.”
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Salt & Straw also boasts an innovative partnership with Portland-based perfumery inspired by the papers Fictional authors. They collaborated on the wearable fragrance A Whiff of Waffle Cone, which includes notes of vanilla, Saigon cinnamon and heavy cream, among others, and on three food fragrances – A Cloud of Cocoa, Swoon of Citrus and “A Flowering Stem.” They add another layer to ice cream, which is usually too cold to be flavorful.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Salt & Straw
When Salt & Straw opened its first store outside of Portland in Los Angeles, Malek says the company considered exporting ingredients from its home base, but then decided to do things “the hard way” and work with local businesses to create flavors that reflected the community.
“We're looking for a mix of people who will provide an experience for our guests, like those hits at home that you're excited about,” says Malek, “and then you can learn about something you might not have known through our. ice cream.”
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“We create a space where people are excited about these interesting ice cream flavors.”
In its stores, Salt & Straw prioritizes a “one-meets-a-guest experience,” where CLIENTS can rely on the full attention of the staff, explains Malek. To that end, Salt & Straw is very intentional with its employee placement model, ensuring that team members can spend plenty of time reviewing the menu with customers and answering any questions.
“This results in some magical things happening in our stores,” says Malek.
Customers will often chat with each other as well. “We create a space where people are excited about these interesting ice cream flavors,” she explains. “They want to talk, and that leads to more conversations; they love CONNECT with each other. Like, 'Have you tried the strawberry balsamic flavor with honey? You will love it.”
Image Credit: Courtesy of Salt & Straw
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According to Malek, Salt & Straw stores bring people from different generations and walks of life together and even help facilitate some perhaps unexpected connections—marriage proposals and job offers have been known to happen in tandem.
At the very least, “it's not uncommon for someone to buy a scoop at the end of the experience for the person behind them in line,” says Malek.
Salt & Straw is also dedicated giving back to communities surrounding its shops. Employees walk blocks to stores multiple times a day to pick up trash, Malek says, and general managers are paid to attend neighborhood association meetings, just as a local store owner would, to get involved in basic level.
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The company also partners with local elementary schools each year for a Student Inventor Series, which gives students a chance to invent their own ice cream flavors. The winning flavors end up in Salt & Straw stores, and the company donates 15% of the proceeds of those flavors to the schools that invented them. The ongoing nature of such programs “completes that element of community,” says Malek.
“We've put a lot of effort into staying connected as a community to each other.”
Malek says Salt & Straw's commitment to the community it starts within the company itself. This means setting up intentional communication points, such as monthly ones municipalities where the entire company can call in to hear updates and ask questions. Salt & Straw also has a digital platform where people across the company can connect and get to know each other – sharing information or even a podcast recommendation.
Salt & Straw also encourages and provides a budget for stores to network with each other, sometimes hosting contests so that employees at the winning store can have the night off. And, every October, all the general managers get together in Portland.
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“We get together once a year and we have one learning event“We're all scattered across different regions and countries, but we've put a lot of effort into staying connected as a community.”
These days, she's looking forward to recreating the chocolate taco through Salt & Straw's partnership with Taco Bellsaying it could give the company “a runway to do some really exciting innovative things in the future that the world has never seen when it comes to ice cream” and, of course, the upcoming store openings in New York City .
Image Credit: Courtesy of Salt & Straw
“We've put a lot of effort into staying connected as a community to each other.”
says Malek New York City has long been the most sought-after spot, but Salt & Straw wanted to take its time finding the right spot.
“We didn't want to enter New York City in a prominent tourist spot,” she explains. “We wanted to go to neighborhood places where we could humbly get to know the people who live there and be a part of that local community. So we thought about that.”
Salt & Straw will open at 540 Hudson Street in the West Village and 360 Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side. In the coming days, the company will host a series of pop-ups featuring local icons, serving ice cream and cookies at Levain Bakery on Sept. 6, bagel ice cream sandwiches at PopUp Bagels on Sept. 7, and babka sundaes at Breads Bakery on September. 8.
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Malek is excited to introduce Salt & Straw to New York's communities—and for her keep innovating along the way.
“My greatest hope is that Salt & Straw will be remembered as a revolutionary player in what it means to work in our industry and be in that community, not only for our guests, but also for our team members. our – (this is) my long-term dream”, she says.