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    Jeni’s Expanding to Beechwold, Powell and Beyond

    The news broke about two months ago that Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams would be heading next to Beechwold. That news was later updated to include an expansion in Powell as well, marking the openings of their sixth and seventh stores in Central Ohio. We recently sat down with founder Jeni Britton Bauer to find out more about these new stores, their growing business, an upcoming recipe cookbook project, and more.

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    Walker Evans: I have to imagine you’re making your fans in Clintonville and Beechwold very happy with that new location.

    Jeni Britton Bauer: We’ve been working on getting into Clintonville for years. In the same way that we had been working on Dublin for years and Grandview for years and the Short North for a couple of years. We don’t do anything quickly. [Laughs] We had several locations that we had been working through and once Northstar opened up their second location, we started watching that spot and started talking to the landlord. It takes a long time for us to decide on a space and for us to negotiate the rent to where we can afford to put a store in.

    WE: What most attracted you to the Clintonville area?

    JBB: Clintonville is a place we’ve always wanted to be, and we’ve got tons and tons of friends who live there. A lot of people who work in our company live there. It’s a great community. Lot of walking in the community so that is perfect for us. And of course, being next to Northstar. That is ultimately why we chose that location over another one which was further south. Both were amazing and beautiful, but we really just wanted to try this out and see how this went together. I feel like we are such similar businesses with such similar ideals. We just really go well together. I mean, who doesn’t want to have dessert at Northstar? Those cookies are amazing! They’re like the best thing I’ve ever eaten! But ultimately, they don’t have a big dessert menu. So I think a lot of people will like the idea of going there and having dinner and then going next door for dessert. You can have your dinner made with ingredients grown on Sipple Family Farms and then go next door and have ice cream from Snowville Creamery and Wayward Seed Farm and Jorgenson Mint. It’s the perfect evening out! I wish the Drexel North were still across the street, remember that?

    WE: Yeah, I think I went there once back in High School.

    JBB: Yeah, me too. [Laughs]

    WE: I met with Northstar owner Kevin Malhame right after they opened Third & Hollywood, who said: “ We kind of have this unwritten guideline that if there’s not a sidewalk that leads to the front door that lets you get from home to the restaurant, then it’s probably not a good site for us. We want to be a part of real neighborhoods”. Is that a similar business mindset for selecting Jeni’s locations?

    JBB: Yes, however, the Clintonville store has the look of a strip mall and it is a new build, so there is no history there. We have other stores that are new, like Bexley, which is in a new building. But it has a unique setup, and it looks like an existing space in that neighborhood. This Clintonville building is kind of flat and there are few windows inside, so it is the most stripmall-esque place we’ve ever been… and that is a challenge that we are excited to overcome. Northstar has a great patio there and we are going to put out a beautiful patio too. The sidewalk and the businesses make that block and that’s why we are excited to be there.

    WE: Each of your stores has a different feel. How would you describe this new one?

    JBB: Yes, each store is meant to reflect the community. They should seamlessly fit right in and seem like they have been there for awhile. When looking at this Clintonville store, I decided that I wanted to do church pews. I don’t know why. I was thinking of this American Oak look, not really changing our look from the other stores, but doing something slightly different. I feel like this American Oak look is very Midwestern and American. Anyway, I was looking for fifteen foot long church pews to fit two of them in the space against the wall. Of course, I couldn’t find them… I was looking for something a little too specific. I went on eBay and there was nothing… I asked around and nothing… But one day recently, my son was sick and he was up at 4 in the morning, so I was sitting up with him. I went back on the computer and went on eBay and typed in ‘oak church pew’ and to my surprise they came up! I thought it wouldn’t make any difference since they were probably on the other side of the country and I can’t drive that far to pick them up… but I checked anyway to find out that they were already in Clintonville! I love when these little “charmed moments” happen! So, I called the guy the next day. He owns Midwest Photo Exchange and he is renovating a church and had these for sale. So we bought them all. They are sitting in our place now and they will be in our Clintonville store. We’re going to refinish them a little bit and add some marble tables and other things we’ve collected.

    WE: Is there a timetable for when the Clintonville store is scheduled to open?

    JBB: Usually it takes us three months. The buildout can go pretty quickly, but it is the permitting sequence that can take some time. Early fall this year for the Clintonville store. Probably for Powell too.

    WE: Well, let’s talk a little more about the Powell location.

    JBB: Sure. That store is right in the center of Downtown Powell, right on the corner. Almost an anchor I would say. It’s a big spot. We’re hoping that Candle Lab has signed a lease next door. Steve Weaver (Candle Lab Owner) was looking for a space and I told him that we had just signed a lease in Powell, so he was wanting to open a new shop near us. There is also a place called Local Roots near there, and Easy Street is opening a new space nearby. Liberty Tavern is another good Downtown Powell business.

    WE: As Jeni’s has continued to expand, I’ve often wondered when you’re going to run out location options in Central Ohio. Certain neighborhoods seem to be a better fit than others for an upscale ice cream shop concept. Are you already looking at expanding further outward?

    JBB: We would love to be in Cleveland. That is what we are thinking about next. We are selling more and more of our ice cream in little tiny grocery stores outside of Columbus. And our home delivery business, which is when we ship ice cream directly to your doorstep, has exploded this year. It has become a bigger business for us than any one of our store locations. That’s huge and I feel like there is no end to that. But I love the retail experience because I love the customer side of it and we can’t do that as much through the home delivery service. So, maybe Cleveland will happen next. You are right… we don’t want to be on every corner here in Columbus… but at the same time, we open tiny stores because they are meant to serve a neighborhood. When we open a store like Grandview, we did that to serve Grandview. Having people drive in from everywhere else is awesome, but it can sometimes be a little too much and the lines are too long and we can’t get people through fast enough. So that is still an opportunity for us since we open tiny stores with seven seats. Those places are really meant for people who walk in from the neighborhood.

    WE: The Jeni’s Google Map shows all of the nationwide grocery store locations where you can buy pints of Jeni’s. It’s growing and become quite an impressive map.

    JBB: It’s fun that we are getting crowds in some of those spots! When we are in a market in Ann Arbor or Milwaukee, people are showing up in crowds to get our ice creams and they are writing about it online which is really interesting to me. It’s crazy! They’ve got crowds of people in those stores taking pictures and putting it online, which is super exciting for us.

    WE: Yeah, that’s pretty much how ‘word of mouth’ is spread these days. People love sharing their experiences online.

    JBB: I was especially to see such a big reaction in Milwaukee! Wisconsin is a dairy state and it’s a big deal up there. They have really good ice cream shops there, so that’s pretty cool.

    WE: Heh. So they are willing to accept the imported product from Ohio?

    JBB: Yeah, and be super excited about it too! It is really neat.

    WE: So, let’s talk a little bit about the book you’re working on.

    JBB: It will be out in another year. It’s been a lot of fun to work on. There were a lot of things I didn’t know about the process that I’ve had to learn. The book will be a little bit of everything… it is a cookbook… it has a lot of profiles of Ohio farmers, the people we work with and know well… also flavor stories for each flavor. There is a lot in the book about Ohio, of course. The recipes that we have created for the book mimics the end product – the flavor, texture, consistency, finish… all of the stuff that we do in our big kitchen, so that it is scoopable and lickable on a cone. Most home ice cream isn’t like that. We actually built a little test kitchen which only has home equipment so that we could test these home recipes.

    WE: Nice. Whenever I make homemade ice cream, it turns out as hard as a rock.

    JBB: Yeah! It is crumbly and it doesn’t usually work well. Even if you’ve made the recipe from The French Laundry, it’s the same way. The thing is, chefs in restaurants don’t use home recipes when they make ice cream. They have lots of different ingredients that they can use to help make really yummy scoopable ice creams… they’re not just doing a custard base. But at home you don’t have access to a lot of those ingredients or equipment, which makes it harder. So this book is all about that… making ice creams where the end result is this artisan experience that’s sturdy. You can make your own flavors or you can make our flavors. All of our best-sellers will be in there.

    WE: Are you planning on going on a nationwide book signing tour once it’s finished?

    JBB: Oh, yes! By then we may even have a truck or something that we are driving with our ice cream from city to city. It will be really fun. Our publisher is Artisan, who publishes Thomas Keller and all of the best chefs. We have a really high-quality publisher and they only do a few cookbooks a year. They are a family owned company like we are. They make cookbooks like we make ice cream. It’s pretty amazing. We are going to have a nice running start with that fact that we are with the best cookbook publisher in the nation. I think everyone is going to take notice.

    WE: Sounds great. I look forward to reading it, and look forward to the two new stores coming this fall. Thanks for taking the time today.

    JBB: My pleasure!

    Want to find out more about how Jeni’s got their start, what sort of local business resources they utilized and what advice they have for aspiring local entrepreneurs? Check out the following feature on TheMetropreneur.com: “Building an Ice Cream Empire, One Scoop at a Time“.

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    Walker Evans
    Walker Evanshttps://columbusunderground.com
    Walker Evans is the co-founder of Columbus Underground, along with his wife and business partner Anne Evans. Walker has turned local media into a full time career over the past decade and serves on multiple boards and committees throughout the community.
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