Coolhaus is an American

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

company based in

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, founded in 2009 by Natasha Case and Freya Estreller.

History

Coolhaus started as an art project in 2008 and grew into a business by 2009. The name Coolhaus is a reference to architect

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theory, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Graduate School of ...

. Some Coolhaus flavors have names derived from architects and architectural movements. The co-founders started the company by selling ice cream sandwiches out of a

food truck A food truck is a large motorized vehicle (such as a van or multi-stop truck) or trailer equipped to store, transport, cook, prepare, serve and/or sell food. Some food trucks, such as ice cream trucks, sell frozen or prepackaged food, but m ...

at the

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colora ...

. Demand increased following media inquiries and social media exposure, and Case left her job at Disney to commit full-time to Coolhaus. Coolhaus added trucks in

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, in 2010 and

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in 2011, and opened its first storefront in Culver City, California, in 2011. By 2012, Coolhaus expanded to

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. At the time, it had a total of ten trucks and one

food cart A food cart is a mobile kitchen set up on the street to prepare and sell street food to passers-by. Food carts are often found in cities worldwide selling food of every kind. Food carts come in two basic styles. One allows the vendor to sit ...

. ''

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'' described Coolhaus as "the first gourmet branded truck with a national reach". Since 2011, Coolhaus has expanded into retail. In an interview with ''

Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

'', Case explained that retail distribution allows Coolhaus to reach as many consumers as possible. Between the spring of 2011 to the fall of 2014, Coolhaus went from 3

Whole Foods Whole foods are foods that are unprocessed and unrefined. Examples of whole foods include grains such as oatmeal and rice, fruits, vegetables, dried beans, nuts, seeds, unprocessed meats, and fish. Depending on the context this may sometimes refe ...

retail partner stores to 2,500. According to Case, the combination of food trucks, retail partnerships, and dedicated storefronts was essential for Coolhaus to achieve its reach. ''

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'' magazine named Case to its " 30 Under 30" for the category "Food & Wine" in 2012. In 2021, Coolhaus was acquired by The Urgent Company, a subsidiary of food technology start-up Perfect Day. This coincided with Coolhaus adopting Perfect Day's animal-free whey protein in all of their products. In 2023, The Urgent Company, including Coolhaus, was sold to US food tech firm Superlatus, which subsequently was acquired by TRxADE Health Inc.

Reception

Coolhaus placed second out of eight in the rating company

Zagat The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, coverin ...

's 2012 feature of New York's best food trucks, as ranked by Zagat editors.

InStyle ''InStyle'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine founded in 1994. It was published in the United States by Dotdash Meredith, and started originally as a brand extension of ''People (magazine), People'' before carving out its own ide ...

called Coolhaus the "ice cream brand for every craving imaginable".

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's morning television show ''

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'' posted Coolhaus recipes on its website.

Distribution

, Coolhaus runs two

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storefronts in

Old Town Pasadena Old Pasadena, often referred to as Old Town Pasadena or simply Old Town, is the original commercial center of Pasadena, a city in California, United States, and had a latter-day revitalization after a period of decay. Old Pasadena began as t ...

and

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights to the ea ...

Arts District, and operated ice cream trucks and carts in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

, New York City, and

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. Prepackaged Coolhaus ice cream sandwiches, ice cream pints, and ice cream bars were sold in retail outlets such as

, Gelson's Markets,

Sprouts Farmers Market Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc., is a supermarket chain headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. The grocer offers a wide selection of natural and organic foods, including fresh produce, bulk foods, vitamins and supplements, packaged groceries, meat, poul ...

Earth Fare Earth Fare is an American health and wellness supermarket with 20 locations in eight states throughout the southeastern United States. It sells natural and organic food that the company claimed to have the highest product standards in the United S ...

, Fairway Market,

Safeway Safeway, Inc. is an American supermarket chain. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, delicatessen, floral and pharmacy, as well as Starbucks coffee shops, and veh ...

Publix Publix Super Markets, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Publix, is an employee ownership, employee-owned American supermarket Chain store, chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, Publix is a Privately h ...

and Wegman's. Coolhaus was also sold online. In 2017, Coolhaus distributed its items in grocery stores and operated food trucks and ice cream shops. In 2024, Coolhaus is mainly available at Whole Foods. Coolhaus also expanded their market into Hong Kong.

Cookbook

Natasha Case, Freya Estreller, and food writer Kathleen Squires wrote a

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (food), course (appetize ...

called ''Coolhaus Ice Cream Book''. It was published by

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company ( ; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, and reference works. The company is based in the Financial District, Boston, Boston Financial District. It was fo ...

in May 2014. The book has recipes for ice creams, gelatos, sorbets, cookies, toppings, and shakes.

References

{{Street food Ice cream brands Brand name frozen desserts Companies based in Los Angeles Dairy products companies in California 2009 establishments in California Restaurants established in 2009

History

Reception

Distribution

Cookbook

See also

References