In 1996, Kim Malek, CEO and co-founder with her cousin Tyler Malek of the artisan ice cream company Salt and Strawdreamed of opening an ice cream shop in Portland, Oregon. “When I moved here, I was blown away by the experience of literally meeting people on the street who became some of my closest friends,” says Kim Malek Entrepreneur.
As Kim Malek says, Portland is a “community-driven index,” so the city was a natural place to establish third place that may bring people together. She worked at Starbucks in the early days of the company, and the coffee chain was also leaning toward the idea of a space where customers could meet outside their homes or workplaces.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Salt & Straw. Tyler Malek, left; Kim Malek, right.
Salt & Straw (named after the old method of creating ice cream: frozen with rock salt and kept cold with straw) was founded in 2011. Over the past decade, it has grown from a single cart to a multi-city operation thanks to its creative flavors and community focus.
The company has expanded to locations in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada and Washington, and its first two stores in New York City will open later this month. Additionally, Salt & Straw has seen a 27% four-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2020, according to company data.
Tyler Malek serves as Salt & Straw’s head of innovation, helping shape the company’s monthly rotating menu series—September’s apple series includes creations like “Apple Cider Donuts” and “Green Apple Wasabi Sorbet”—along with staples like “Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons” and “Salted, Malted, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.”
Photo credit: courtesy of Salt & Straw
Over the years, Salt & Straw’s commitment to community has been strong, a consistent thread through every little thing the company does, says Kim Malek. That spirit extends to the local businesses Salt & Straw partners with on flavor collaborations, its storefronts, its surrounding communities and its own team dynamic.
“Our ice cream can teach you something you might not have known.”
At Salt & Straw, we have all the time strived to create a menu that reflects the community, which is why our dishes feature produce from a number of farmers, artisans and makers.
In Portland, the company’s quite a few local partners include a chocolate factory and a coffee shop Foggy forestwho collaborated on such flavors as “Cloudforest Chocolate Ishpingo & Mango” and “Cloudforest’s Cocoa Hazelnut Magic Shell”; Sokół Blosser Winerywho helped create the hit “Pink Rosé Wine and Watermelon Sorbet”; Durant Olive Millwho is behind “Arbequina Olive Oil” – a company that produces canned craft cocktails Quick cocktailswhich released its “Lemon Mari Gold Amaro Sherbet” in May, and a nonprofit food recycling organization Urban Collectorswho helped create “Bread Pudding with Stale Bread and Chocolate Ganache.”
Salt & Straw also boasts an progressive collaboration with a Portland-based perfumery inspired by literature Imaginary authorsThey collaborated on a wearable scent, “A Whiff of Waffle Cone,” which features notes of vanilla, Saigon cinnamon, and whipping cream, among others, and three edible scents—“A Cloud of Cocoa,” “Swoon of Citrus,” and “A Plume of Blooms.” They add one other layer to ice cream that’s normally too cold to smell.
Photo 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 headquarters but ultimately decided to take the “harder” route and partner with local businesses to create flavors that reflected the local people.
“We’re looking for a mix of people who are going to give our guests an experience that’s all about those home run hits that you look forward to,” Malek says, “and then you might learn something that you might not have known through our ice cream.”
“We’re creating a space where people are excited about these interesting ice cream flavors.”
In its stores, Salt & Straw focuses on a “one-on-one guest experience,” where customers can count on the full attention of staff, Malek explains. To that end, Salt & Straw is very intentional about its staffing model, ensuring that team members have ample time to review menus with customers and answer any questions.
“This is what makes magical things happen in our stores,” says Malek.
Customers also often talk to each other. “We create a space where people are excited about these interesting ice cream flavors,” he explains. “They want to talk, and that leads to more conversation; they want to connect with each other. For example, ‘Have you tried the strawberry honey balsamic? You’re going to love it.’”
Photo credit: courtesy of Salt & Straw
Malek says Salt & Straw stores bring people together from different generations and backgrounds, and have even helped make unexpected connections—there have been marriage proposals and job offers along the way.
“At the very least, “it’s not uncommon for someone to buy a scoop of ice cream at the end of a meal for the person behind them in line,” Malek says.
Salt & Straw is also dedicated to giving back to the communities surrounding its stores. Employees walk around the stores several times a day to pick up trash, Malek says, and general managers are paid to attend neighborhood association meetings, as are local store owners to get involved on a grassroots level.
The company also partners with local elementary schools each 12 months on a student invention series that provides students the probability to come up with their very own ice cream flavors. The winning flavors go into Salt & Straw stores, and the company donates 15 percent of the proceeds from those flavors to the schools that got here up with them. The ongoing nature of such programs “completes that community element,” Malek says.
“We put a lot of effort into staying connected as a community.”
Malek says Salt & Straw’s commitment to community starts with the company itself. That means creating purposeful communication points, like 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 from across the company can connect and learn—share information, even recommend podcasts.
Salt & Straw also encourages and provides budgets for stores to team up, sometimes hosting contests so the winning store’s employees can have the night off. And every October, all the CEOs meet in Portland.
“We meet once a year and have an educational event,” Malek says. “We’re spread out across different regions and locations, but we put a lot of effort into staying connected as a community.”
He’s currently looking forward to reinventing the chocolate taco with Salt & Straw’s partnership with Taco Bell, which he says could give the company “the scope to do some really exciting, innovative things the world has never seen in ice cream in the future,” and, in fact, the imminent opening of stores in New York City.
Photo credit: courtesy of Salt & Straw
“We put a lot of effort into staying connected as a community.”
Malek says New York has long been a top location, but Salt & Straw wanted to take its time finding the right spot.
“We didn’t want to go into New York City in a flashy, touristy place,” he explains. “We wanted to go to places in the area where we could humbly get to know the people who live there and become part of the 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. The company will host a series of pop-ups featuring local icons in the coming days, serving ice cream and cookies at Levain Bakery on September 6, bagel sandwiches at PopUp Bagels on September 7, and cupcake sundaes at Breads Bakery on September 8.
Malek is excited to bring Salt & Straw to New York communities and goals to innovate along the way.
“My greatest hope is that Salt & Straw will be remembered as a game-changer in what it means to work in our industry and be part of this community, not only for our guests but also for our team members,” [that’s] “This is my long-term dream,” he says.