Launching an ice cream company in the middle of winter may not seem ideal, but then again, the same could be said for launching a food product during a global pandemic. As consumer tastes would have it, ice cream is considered a comfort food by many, and so along with other “necessities” like beer and toilet paper, ice cream has actually seen a surge in sales over the past year.
This is the world that Alec’s Ice Cream was born into when Alec Jaffe leased Three Twins Ice Cream’s vacated Petaluma production facility early last summer. This month, he unveiled his brand and its first five flavors: Tahitian vanilla bean, chocolate, mint chocolate chip, salted caramel latte and honey blueberry lavender.
Jaffe wanted to be close to where he sourced his primary ingredients, which he buys from just a dozen blocks away at the Petaluma Creamery.
“There is also a wealth of dairy-related knowledge here that I wouldn’t be able to find in Southern California. Although we are looking to innovate wherever we can, there are certain things that just don’t make sense to reinvent and that is where that knowledge base comes into play,” he said.