She Imagined a Specific Type of Culture Before Starting Her Business — Then Grew It From 1 Cart to Cult Status: 'Magical Things Happening' When Salt & Straw CEO and co-founder Kim Malek dreamed up a Portland-based ice cream shop in 1996, she wanted to prioritize community in more ways than one.
By Amanda Breen Edited by Jessica Thomas
Key Takeaways
- Kim Malek co-founded the craft ice cream company with her cousin Tyler Malek, who's also the head of innovation.
- Salt & Straw collaborates with local businesses to come up with its one-of-kind flavors and other unique products.
- The company is committed to giving back to the communities surrounding its shops — and values connection from the inside out.
In 1996, Kim Malek, CEO and co-founder with her cousin Tyler Malek of craft ice cream company Salt & Straw, dreamed of opening an ice cream shop in Portland, Oregon. "When I moved here, I was struck by the experience of literally meeting people on the street who became some of my closest friends," Kim Malek tells Entrepreneur.
Portland is a "community-driven beacon," Kim Malek says, so the city was a natural spot to establish a third place that would bring people together. She worked at Starbucks in its early days, and the coffee chain also leaned into the idea of a space where customers could gather outside of the home or work.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Salt & Straw. Tyler Malek, left; Kim Malek, right.
Salt & Straw (named for how ice cream was made back in the day: frozen with rock salt and kept cold with straw) was founded in 2011. Over the past decade-plus, it's come a long way — from a single pushcart to a multi-city following thanks to its inventive flavors and community focus.
The company has expanded to locations in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada and Washington, with its first two New York City shops opening later this month. Additionally, Salt & Straw has seen a 27% four-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2020, per the company.
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Tyler Malek serves as Salt & Straw's head of innovation and helps shape the company's monthly rotating menu series — September's apple series boasts creations like "Apple Cider Donuts" and "Green Apple Wasabi Sorbet" — alongside permanent classics such as "Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons" and "Salted, Malted, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough."
Image Credit: Courtesy of Salt & Straw
Over the years, Salt & Straw's commitment to community has held firm, serving as a through-line in everything the company does, Kim Malek says. That spirit extends to the local businesses Salt & Straw partners with for flavor collaborations, its storefronts, the surrounding communities and its own team dynamics.
"You get to find out about something you might not have known about through our ice cream."
Salt & Straw has always aimed to craft a menu that reflects the community, featuring various farmers, artisans and makers in its flavors.
In Portland, some of the company's many local partners include chocolate factory and cafe Cloudforest, which has collaborated on flavors like "Cloudforest Chocolate Ishpingo & Mango" and "Cloudforest's Cocoa Hazelnut Magic Shell"; Sokol Blosser Winery, which helped create the hit "Pink Rosé and Watermelon Sorbet"; Durant Olive Mill, which is behind "Arbequina Olive Oil"; craft canned cocktail company Straightaway Cocktails, which released its "Lemon Mari Gold Amaro Sherbet" in May; and the non-profit food upcycler Urban Gleaners, which helped bring to life "Day-Old Bread Pudding and Chocolate Ganache."
Related: Want to Grow Your Business? Here's Why You Need Strategic Partnerships to Succeed.
Salt & Straw also boasts an innovative partnership with Portland-based, literary-inspired perfumery Imaginary Authors. They collaborated on the wearable scent "A Whiff of Waffle Cone," which includes notes of vanilla, Saigon cinnamon and heavy cream, among others, and on three edible fragrances — "A Cloud of Cocoa," "Swoon of Citrus" and "A Plume of Blooms." They add another layer to ice cream, which is typically too cold to be fragrant.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Salt & Straw
When Salt & Straw opened its first store outside of Portland in Los Angeles, Malek says the company considered exporting ingredients from its home base, but it then opted to do things "the hard way" and work with local businesses to create flavors that were reflective of the community.
"We look for a mix of folks that will provide an experience for our guests that's those home run hits that you're excited about," Malek says, "and then you get to find out about something you might not have known about through our ice cream."
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"We create a space where people are excited about these interesting ice cream flavors."
In its stores, Salt & Straw prioritizes a "one-meets-one guest experience," where customers can count on the staff's full attention, Malek explains. To that end, Salt & Straw is very intentional with its employee deployment model, ensuring team members can spend ample time reviewing the menu with customers and answering any questions.
"It results in some magical things happening in our stores," Malek says.
Customers will often chat with each other as well. "We create a space where people are excited about these interesting ice cream flavors," she explains. "They want to talk, and that leads to more talking; they want to connect with each other. Like, 'Did you try the honey balsamic strawberry flavor? You're going to love it.'"
Image Credit: Courtesy of Salt & Straw
Related: Why Customer Experience is the Secret to Revenue Growth and Business Success
According to Malek, Salt & Straw shops bring together people from different generations and walks of life and even help facilitate some perhaps unexpected connections — marriage proposals and job offers have been known to happen in line.
At the very least, "it's not unusual that someone buys a scoop at the end of the experience for the person they met behind them in line," Malek says.
Salt & Straw is also dedicated to giving back to the communities that surround its shops. Employees walk the blocks around shops multiple times a day to collect trash, Malek says, and general managers are paid to attend neighborhood association meetings, much like a local shop owner would, to get involved at the grassroots level.
Related: How Entrepreneurs Can Use Community Service for Growth
The company also collaborates with local elementary schools every year for a student inventor series, which gives students a chance to invent their own ice cream flavors. The winning flavors end up in Salt & Straw stores, and the company donates 15% of those flavors' proceeds to the schools that invented them. The ongoing nature of such programs "rounds out this community element," Malek says.
"We put a lot of effort into staying connected as a community with each other."
Malek says Salt & Straw's commitment to community starts within the company itself. That means setting up intentional communication points, like the monthly town halls where the entire company can call in to hear updates and ask questions. Salt & Straw also has a digital platform where people across the company can connect and get to know each other — exchanging information or even a podcast recommendation.
Salt & Straw also encourages and provides a budget for stores to connect with each other, sometimes hosting contests so employees at the winning store can have the night off. And, every October, all of the general managers gather in Portland.
Related: Community Is the Best Company Culture
"We get together once a year and have a learning event," Malek says. "We're all scattered throughout different regions and places, but we put a lot of effort into staying connected as a community."
These days, she's looking forward to reinventing the chocolate taco through Salt & Straw's partnership with Taco Bell, saying it could give the company "a runway to do some really exciting innovative things in the future that the world has never seen when it comes to ice cream," and, of course, to the imminent store openings in New York City.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Salt & Straw
"We put a lot of effort into staying connected as a community with each other."
Malek says New York City has long been the most requested location, but Salt & Straw wanted to take its time finding the right spot.
"We didn't want to enter New York City in a flashy tourist location," she explains. "We wanted to go to neighborhood spots where we could humbly get to know folks who live there and be part of that local community. So that's how we thought about it."
Salt & Straw will open at 540 Hudson Street in the West Village and 360 Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side. In the days ahead, the company will host a series of pop-ups with local icons, serving up ice cream and cookies at Levain Bakery on September 6, bagel ice cream sandwiches at PopUp Bagels on September 7 and babka sundaes at Breads Bakery on September 8.
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Malek is excited to introduce Salt & Straw to New York's communities — and to keep innovating along the way.
"My greatest hope is that Salt & Straw will be remembered as a revolutionary player in what it means to work in our industry and be in that community place, not only for our guests but also for our team members — [that's] my dream long term," she says.
