Justin Woolverton
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Justin Woolverton | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles Columbia Law School |
| Occupation | Founder & CEO |
| Employer | Halo Top Creamery |
| Known for | Entrepreneur |
Justin Woolverton is an American entrepreneur and CEO of the confectionary brand, Halo Top Creamery. He founded the company in 2011, while still working as a corporate lawyer.
Woolverton created the original prototype of Halo Top ice cream as a lower sugar alternative for his own consumption. He officially founded Halo Top Creamery in 2011 and began to develop his idea. A range of Halo Top ice creams was first released in 2012. Sales of the product made it the best selling ice cream brand in the United States in 2017 in US grocery stores.
Early life & career
Woolverton became a lawyer after studying at the University of California Los Angeles and then at Columbia Law School.[1]
Woolverton began his law career working as a corporate lawyer in Los Angeles, California. In a number of interviews, Woolverton alluded to the fact he also wrote episodes and took improv classes.[2]
Career
Woolverton stated in interviews he was health conscious and would create recipes in his kitchen, instead of eating store-bought ice cream. Woolverton often made bowls of Greek yogurt with fruit, which would be sweetened with stevia.[3][4]
He eventually began to consider selling and scaling his ice cream.[5] While the ingredients were an ideal choice for what he wanted to produce, often the outcomes wouldn't be. Woolverton stated his first few batches were "hard and icy, like a yogurt popsicle."[6] In order to sell the product, he sought out a co-packer to use a large mixer. His attempt failed when the mix didn't produce the same results as in his kitchen. He then took a more scientific approach, carefully balancing gums, fibers and milk proteins to not only focus on the taste but the consistency of the ice cream.[2] Once the flavors were complete, Woolverton then began to experiment with overrun, a process commonly used in the ice cream industry. After a year of trial and error, Woolverton began selling Halo Top to stores.[2]
In 2012, Woolverton launched his product. During an interview with the BBC, Woolverton stated that the first year after launching the business was challenging. "It honestly took a year of complete failure at the beginning." Woolverton and his business partner, Doug Bouton, funded the venture from personal savings, friends & family and credit card debt. Woolverton used social media marketing as one of the main marketing strategies, sending vouchers to influencers in the health and fitness industry. The research group, Mintel, stated that this strategy was key to the success of Halo Top Creamery.[3]
Whole Foods became the first major company to agree to carry Halo Top, mainly in the Bay area. This connection allowed Halo Top Creamery to expand to other regions in the United States through partnerships with other Whole Foods regions.[7] While the expansion of the brand was good news, the move was costing the business financially - namely, the slotting fee that most retailers charged. Having only raised $500,000 up to this point with no outside investment, the company was only running on a month to month basis. The situation was dire enough that Woolverton applied for a predatory loan during this period but was rejected.[2]
Further problems in 2014 with both production and suppliers caused further problems for Woolverton. Sprouts announced that they would be removing Halo Top Creamery from 200 of their stores and production failures added to the financial problems. Woolverton and Bouton secured $1 million in funding from angel investors and CircleUp in 2015.[2]
In 2015, this success and promotion led to Halo Top having to rebrand. A competitor argued the brand's packaging and branding was too similar to theirs.[8] A GQ reporter ate nothing but Halo Top Creamery for ten days in 2016.[9] The article went viral and gave the brand much-needed exposure away from just health and fitness. By mid 2017, it was the best selling pint-sized ice cream in the US with 28.8 million tubs sold.[2]
By 2017, Halo Top had grown to annual sales of $342.2 million. Woolverton also spoke about how the product and model he created was now seeing similar brands for the major players within the ice cream market to try and compete with Halo Top Creamery by using the same product and model.[8][10][11][12]
During an interview with Inc. magazine, Woolverton explained that he wanted Halo Top to be a remote company, with its employees working from home and communicating through Slack and other messaging apps.[2] It was also rumored in 2017 that Woolverton had hired Barclays to shop for a $2 billion acquisition of the company, but those rumors proved to be untrue.[13][14][15]
Personal life
Woolverton currently resides in Los Angeles, California.[16][17]
References
- ^ Broner, Stephen J. "Before Halo Top became one of America's fastest-growing ice cream brands, it was on the verge of death". BusinessInsider.
- ^ a b c d e f g Helm, Burt. "Why the Most Hated-On New Ice Cream Brand in America Is a Booming $100 Million Business". Inc. magazine.
- ^ a b Cassidy, Anne (July 2, 2018). "The man who created a $2bn ice cream firm in his kitchen". BBC.
- ^ Gajanan, Mahita. "Halo Top CEO Insists His Ice Cream Is Healthy: 'People Can Eat the Whole Pint'". Fortune.
- ^ Earle, Paul (January 26, 2018). "Halo Top, And How To Be The Beatles Of Your Business". Forbes.
- ^ White, Ronald D. (September 15, 2017). "How L.A.'s Halo Top became America's bestselling ice cream pint". LA Times.
- ^ "Dreamers and Doers: With Justin Woolverton and Devin Dawson". FastCompany.
- ^ a b Brenner, Stephen J. "Before Halo Top Became One of America's Fastest-Growing Ice Cream Brands, It Was on the Verge of Death". Entrepreneur.com.
- ^ Snow, Shane (January 28, 2016). "What It's Like to Eat Nothing but This Magical, Healthy Ice Cream for 10 Days". GQ.
- ^ Grut, Oscar-Williams. "Hugely popular 'healthy' US ice cream brand Halo Top is coming to Britain". BusinessInsider.
- ^ Carey, Alexis (March 2, 2019). "Lawyer mates raking in millions after making dessert 'healthy'". News.com.au.
- ^ "Halo Top is launching three new flavours, and there are free samples to be had". Metro.
- ^ Hirsch, Lauren. "Exclusive: Halo Top ice cream maker explores sale". Reuters.
- ^ "How an ex-lawyer built Halo Top into an ice cream sensation with $347 million in sales". CNBC.
- ^ Abboud, Leila. "Halo Top challenges big brands for scoop of ice-cream market". Financial Times.
- ^ "Halo Top ice cream founder scoops out $5.6 million for Sunset Plaza home". LA Times. March 14, 2019.
- ^ "Behind Halo Top ice cream's low-calorie success". CBS News.