High Road does more than just ice cream
Chicago About a year ago, Pastry Chef Rebecca Haynes passed her boss’s office one morning, and he muttered, “stuffed cookies,” in place of saying “good mornings.” Ms Haynes met with Keith Schroeder, co-founder, CEO, and chef of High Road Craft Ice Cream in Marietta, Georgia, to discuss the idea after refuelling with coffee.
What is he thinking, I wonder? During a virtual taste on October 21 with retailer buyers and the media, Ms. Haynes stated, “We make ice cream.” Because how awful could a brownie-stuffed chocolate chip cookie be? That’s what we came up with when we sat down in his office. It began when we attempted to use the same device that produces.
Wallops were a relatively new product on the market. These are frozen novelties in the form of hand-held bon bons, with an ice cream centre coated in cookie dough. Dark chocolate covers the entire dessert.
A method was developed by Ms. Haynes and her operations team to introduce brownie batter into the middle of cookie dough. Chocolate chip came first, followed by peanut butter.
Hand-packed onto trays, the ready-to-bake frozen cookie dough is free of artificial flavours and preservatives. The two types are being introduced into national retail freezers.
The new innovation was made available for participants to experience virtually through the tasting. They received some pints of ice cream and a box containing nine of each variety. Participants baked.
This is the company’s mission. The goal of High Road, which was founded ten years ago by husband and wife combination Keith and Nicki Schroeder—a James Beard Award-winning chef and designer, respectively—is to provide handcrafted goods with a culinary flair.
Mr. Schroeder declared, “We cut zero corners when it comes to quality.” Some people could label us as control nuts. We interpret it favourably. Everything is made by our passionate team of chefs in-house, even our slow-cooked strawberries and Aztec chocolate.
Our products are equal parts science and magic, as we like to imagine. All of this adds up to a distinction that we are certain you will notice in each bite.
After several years in the culinary industry, Mr. Schroeder decided to get his master of business administration degree. He made artisan ice cream his final project. That project eventually became High Road and the husband and wife team were busy developing premium ice creams “by chefs, for chefs.”
High Road’s beginnings were about providing high-quality ice cream desserts to restaurants, hotels and resorts, often working closely with the chef to create a signature flavor. But soon after the company was formed in 2010, friends asked if they could buy the ice cream, he said.
“So, we opened our factory to the public on Saturdays,” he said. “The lines grew and so did our fan base.”
A few years later, the Schroeder’s were approached by Whole Foods Market, Austin, Texas. The natural foods retailer lent them $50,000 to purchase a filler to package pints for stores in the Greater Atlanta area. “It’s been 10 years of learning,” Ms. Schroeder said. “We have our hands into a lot of different products.”
The creative team is already working on the next generation of stuffed dough products. To support the company’s growth, High Road has acquired the former Three Twins Ice Cream plant in Sheboygan, Wis. The acquisition will grow the company’s capabilities, doubling the brand’s packaged ice cream capacity, strengthening its march to national distribution, and allowing for significant logistics adaptability and efficiency.
The new facility will bolster company goals to grow revenue to over $100 million. The Schroeder’s want to become the highest caliber craft ice cream manufacturer at scale in the United States.
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“The executive team at High Road has been ambitiously acquisitive in recent years and 2020 was no exception,” said Christian Rodriguez, COO. “Once we quantified the operational and logistical savings from the efficiencies that we would gain via this expansion, coupled with it being in the middle of the Dairy State, it was a no-brainer for us.”
Bryan Freeman, chairman of the board, said, “Adding the Midwest facility to our manufacturing footprint is another example of the High Road team executing on our mission to make beautiful craft ice cream and novelties at scale. It’s surprising how many ice cream brands do not make their own products.”