#TTGSparked with Natasha Case

One of the masterminds and CEO/co-founders of the awesomely cool ice cream company Coolhaus, talked to us for this months #TTGSparked. Natasha Case talks about what inspired her to combine ice-cream with architectural design, the wildest ice cream sandwich flavors created, tips for young entrepreneurs, and how she balances her relationship and business with Freya. She also gives us the inside 'scoop' on whats to come for Coolhaus in 2017!

What inspired you to combine ice cream with architectural design?
Coolhaus is very much about making architecture and design accessible using food as the medium. I would be pained to find a 'food medium' more accessible, widely loved, nostalgic, fun, endlessly crave-able than ice cream!

What do you think makes Coolhaus unique and sets it apart from a regular local ice cream truck or other food trucks?
I think it is very much about our story, a brand that emerged from the recession, founded by two women in their 20's, two women who drastically changed their career paths (and fell in love while at it!), taking a huge risk changing the ice cream/ice cream novelty game, takins a huge risk hitting the road with a barely-drivable ice cream truck with social media as their microphone, and of course, calling attention to our design backgrounds.

Coolhaus trucks and decorated with images of works created by architects. Are these architects' local projects or worldwide masterpieces?

A combination of both - we have everything from the international starchitect, to local heroes - men, women, young, old. We also feature a lot of design movements - like 'Mintimalism (Double Chocolate + Dirty Mint Chip).'

Can you speak about some of the eco-friendly characteristics of Coolhaus?

Absolutely, one of my favorite topics. I like to say we think outside the box even for eco-friendly choices. For example, I developed the edible wrapper so that you could literally eat the packaging upon finishing an ice cream sammie... it's particularly nice when you've push cased a sammie from our truck that no trash is left behind on a streetscape. The wrappers also happen to be great for custom branding (we print on them with edible/vegetable based ink!), so that is a double perk. Our trucks are also vey eco-friendly - they can be entirely off the grid, and rehabbing a truck [from literally a junkyard in one case] is so much lower of a carbon footprint than building a new vehicle and especially a scoop shop. 

Does each truck offer then same flavors and architectural design elements or is each truck different?

The options for flavors, although always rotating, pull from the same core inventory. Each truck is somewhat unique (they are all custom, rehabbed step vans) and the branding is similar- although because our branding/visual identity is always evolving, a newer truck may have some newer components of design depending on what was/is current at the time. 

What have been some of the wildest and most innovative ice cream sandwich flavors ever created at Coolhaus?

Friend Chicken & Waffles, White Chocolate & Kalamata Olive, Pastrami, Fas Food/Milkshake & Fries, Chocolate Chipotle BBQ.

Do you have any advice or helpful tips you learned from your entrepreneurship that may be helpful to young, inspiring entrepreneurs?

You can walk through a wall when you don't know it's there. That is to say, you may take risks that you don't even understand when you are starting out... but that's a good thing, because it is precisely those kind of risks that produce truly unique, disruptive brands. 

Can you share some of your career highlights with us?

One would definitely have to be when Jeff Skoll (first employee at eBay) purchased the Coolhays Ice Cream Truck Party for $100k, all of the proceeds of which went to No Kid Hungry/Share Our Strength... and then we received an emotional hug and personal thank you from their board member, Jeff Bridges! Another would be the day we published the cookbook - going from a Good Morning American segment to meetings Martha Stewart and doing her radio show... a few years later, meeting Martha Stewart and doing a keynote address at her conference was awesome! 

Any new Coolhaus products in the works for 2107?

LOTS! We have four new pints coming out: ‘Street Cart Churro Dough,’ ‘Milkshake & Fries,’ ‘Farmer’s Market Strawberry Cheesecake’ and ‘Chocolate Malt Crunch Time.’ We also have new amazing dipped ice cream sandwiches, including the ‘S’mores,’ ‘Banana Stand (Snickerdoodle & Double Chocolate + Banana ice cream dipped in Crunch Peanut Butter,’ ‘Classic (Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies + Tahitian Vanilla Bean ice cream dipped in Dark Chocolate), and ‘Breakfast (Fruity Cereal cookies + Orange Creamsicle ice cream dipped in White Chocolate). We’re super excited for all eight.

What do you enjoy doing when you aren’t working?

We love being active, so tennis, golf, we are on an LA Recreational basketball team, hanging with our dogs (Hamilton the mini schnauzer and Scoob the lhasa apso), hosting dinner parties, gardening, long getaway weekends (just came back from Sonoma/Big Sur/Ojai), and reading the New Yorker.

How do you maintain a well-balanced relationship and business with Freya?

I think the fact that we do so many other activities together keeps our dialogue and interactions diverse and exciting. I do think you need to establish boundaries, too: times when you can talk about work and times when you both agree to shut off. Also, Freya is no longer day-to-day at Coolhaus, but she is an active board member/equity holder… I also hold a small amount of equity in her new business, Ludlows Cocktail Co, and am a board member as well. So, when we do help each other in biz at this point, it’s from a more 10,000ft perspective that is really fresh and helpful.

You can check out www.cool.haus for more information, locations, shop, catering and events, and of course flavors! You can also follow Coolhaus on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. 

If you would like to be featured on our #TTGSparked make sure you check out our TTGDeck!