Inspiration for Beachy Cream (continued...)

My next foray into ice cream was at Howard Johnson’s in Chatham, MA on Cape Cod where we spent our summers. I was 16 years old. It was basically a hot dog stand with stools at a counter and picnic tables outside. My grandmother would come in almost every day and order a chocolate ice cream soda with coffee ice cream and leave me a big tip. I wore a turquoise and white houndstooth checked uniform. I scooped a lot of ice cream that summer and I remember that the chocolate chip was always the hardest to scoop. I recently noticed that the colors I chose for Beachy Cream – the aqua and orange are very close to Howard Johnson’s colors!

Flash forward to 2009. I was living in Malibu and everyday I passed a tiny building for lease on the corner of PCH and Heathercliff Rd on Point Dume. It had a circular driveway that accessed both streets, a nice grassy area for picnic tables – an ideal location that would take advantage of the thousands of beach goers, and local residents – a perfect spot for an ice cream shop I thought. Until, I started talking to the City of Malibu, the Health Department and all the other regulatory bodies. I soon realized that unless I had lots and lots of money that it wouldn’t work.

Plan B: Buy an ice cream cart, make ice cream sandwiches (using my grandmother’s cookie recipe) and try to get some local businesses to sell them. I was so fortunate to have the help of Dolores Rivellino – owner of The Godmother of Malibu Café and Catering – who let me use her kitchen, and to Michael Osterman, owner of Pacific Coast Greens in Malibu who took a chance on me and became my first commercial customer.

Right around that time I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to do this all by myself, so I talked my long time friend (and expert baker) Debbie Kimble into becoming a partner and that allowed us to really take off. A defining moment was when we were featured on Daily Candy – and then the phone started ringing off the hook.

We had always done events, but then I got the idea to have Beachy Cream Girls – pin-up style models who wear vintage swimsuits and serve ice cream to party guests from their “cigarette” trays. This garnered us even more publicity and bookings. My daughter Beth Stockwell is now a partner in Beachy Cream and she handles our marketing, wholesale and Beachy Cream Girls.

In May we opened our first retail location at The Market at Santa Monica Place, and we hope to open more locations and expand our wholesale operations over the coming months.

-ANN