From bartering ice cream for meals to a $125M business: How Jeni’s founder launched her sweet treat empire

Jeni Breston eats a pint of ice cream brown butter lash every week. It is a suitable ritual for the 51 -year -old founder for the great ice cream from Jeni, who turned a $ 40,000 bank loan into millions of dollars in a candy operation. The company says it has achieved revenues of more than $ 125 million in 2023, with products in more than 12,500 retail sites and more than 80 independent stores across the country. The latest project in BRITTON, Floura, which sells the fiber -rich fruit bars made of barking foods filled with panels such as RINDS and Apple Cores, has so far collected about $ 2 million to bring the product to the market since 2024 Launch, according to Berton.

Bretton attributes the growth of ice cream to the lessons learned through relapses and flexibility. “You learn deeply through work and failure,” she says.

In 1996, Ohio State University, where she was studying fine arts, left to open a scoop, handy difficulty and present its creations in the farmers market in Columbus, Ohio. The store fought financially. Sometimes, the Breton was so tied to get money to the extent that she was driving ice cream with her colleagues. However, she was in her position on ice cream, where she developed the first wonderful flavor: salty caramel, which attracted customers from the neighboring states. Although the project was eventually closed in 2000 due to insufficient sales, Bretton says it has gained invaluable visions in developing flavors, innovation, customer service and brand loyalty.

She sought to improve her primitive skills in the field of cooking and adapting her product. Bretton joined the Ice Cream Cream Certainty course and volunteered on dairy farms to deepen her understanding of science behind the ice cream. With no official business education, it relied on self -books to develop, which would later form Jeni.

Two years later, she was ready to try entrepreneurship again. This time, she had a more advanced business model. She got a small work loan worth $ 40,000, designed by her boyfriend at the time, and began to provide a mixture of seasonal flavors and throughout the year. Within six years, Bretton Jenny sought four brick and mortar stores, launched the e -commerce charging, and established a wholesale operation. However, by 2009, with increasing production, distribution and sales increasing, the need for experienced driving. Let’s move to the next level, I made the pivotal decision to employ an executive director.

“In different ages of different companies, you need different leaders,” she explained. Its strengths lie in flavor, creative marketing and customer visions – not in financing, accounting or human resources. To fill that gap and pushed genetic growth, John Lowe, an experienced executive official with leadership experience at General Electric, was appointed as CEO.

Louie’s acumen has proven importance, especially during the outbreak of the 2015 Lystia, which forced Jenny to convert the focus of creative strengths and cooking in Bretton to crisis management, financial strategy, and technical operations. The outbreak of the disease led to a complete repair of the company’s safety protocols, the temporary closure of all 21 stores, and the destruction of 265 tons of ice cream. Louis helped secure a $ 1.5 million loan from the Ohio Agency invested in companies working with deprived communities and preventing financial collapse. In total, the company spent more than $ 2.7 million to move in the summons and implement overwhelming operational changes. This included the restructuring of Columbus, Ohio, the production facility to reduce mutual pollution, transfer fresh fruits and vegetables to a separate facility, and test each group of ice cream for safety.

The crisis was a turning point for Bretton, forcing her to face the challenges of her leadership – especially her reluctance to assume responsibility and communicate with clarity and power. When realizing these gaps, she rented an executive commander to teach her how to use their effect to enhance accountability, transparency and cooperation.

“I am from the middle west, and I really love confidence in people,” she says. “But I learned that I needed to stand, and when I believed in something, and when I thought something, I needed to hear.”

Bretton believes that self -awareness is necessary for leaders to push innovation and growth.

She refers to the current CEO of Jenny, Stacy Peterson, as evidence of this philosophy. Peterson, who played a pivotal role in the rapid expansion of Winsstop as head of technology, assumed Helm in Jenny in late 2022. As a new coming ice cream, the first matter of Peterson’s work was to deepen her understanding of the craft. She studied ice cream and dairy chemistry in Ohio while she was immersed in the coal stores directly to customers. Self -awareness often requires difficult decisions as well.

For Bretton, this meant the return of daily Jenny operations during the Covid-19s. Years of uncompromising dedication have affected their physical and mental health, leaving her stressful with a little left. She also realized that her deep participation as a founder – and perfection – was limiting the company’s growth.

“The plane is built, and if you continue to change and switch, it will remain on the ground, and do not rise to the level of its capabilities,” she says.

In order for Jenny to develop, Bretton was forced to abandon it. She believes that the ego is often the biggest obstacle to leaders who face a similar crossroads.

“People think they are so great that when they leave, there will be an indelible hole,” she says. “Regardless of how important a person is, the hole is always filled. Frankly, it is always better.”

This story was originally shown on Fortune.com

2025-03-19 17:33:00