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Jeni's Total Recall, Hollywood Gelato & a Brazen Bear
The Broken Cone: Ice Cream & Gelato Newsletter
The Broken Cone
August 25, 2025
Jeni’s Total Recall, Hollywood Gelato & a Brazen Bear
This is the Ice Cream & Gelato newsletter. Essential updates for Scoopers, Chefs & Entrepreneurs.
Every Monday we bring curated News and spotlight everything from shops, flavours, marketing, operations, and founder stories. Not just sweet talk.
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Estimated read time: 3 minutes 16 seconds
NEWS
Curated global Ice Cream & Gelato news
Gelato stars in Hollywood
Hollywood hosts the North American heat of the Gelato World Masters Championships this weekend (Aug 30-31). 10 Gelato chefs will compete for the chance to head to Italy to compete for the World Champs crown in 2026. Competitors will be judged by both industry professionals and members of the public. Four criteria will be used to judge: Flavour, Structure, Creativity and Presentation. The World Champs takes place every four years with 2021 champ, Hungarian Adam Fazekas winning with salted pistachio and raspberry coulis flavour. Stay posted for an update next Monday.
Packaging Allergen Risk
U.S. Ice Cream company Blue Bell issued a voluntary recall after a labelling error created an allergen risk for customers. An employee at one of their facilities noticed half-gallon packages of Moo-llennium Crunch which were wrongly packaged in Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cartons. Moo-llennium contains undeclared tree nuts (almonds, walnuts, and pecans). The recall affects retail stores across 16 states across the U.S.
Brazen Bear break-in
A very Brazen Bear, known locally as “Fuzzy”, snuck his way into a local Ice Cream shop in South Lake Tahoe, California. Local Police were able to coax him out with some gentle encouragement. No damage or clean-up was involved however he did manage to sneak some strawberry ice cream. Find Fuzzy behind the counter here.
SPOTLIGHT
Shops, Flavours, Marketing, Operations, Stories. This week:
JENI’S TOTAL RECALL
Crisis, Creativity, Clarity
Every food business will face a crisis eventually. This Ted Talk is 9 years old, but holds a timeless message: disaster will strike. What will you do?
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, described by Fast Magazine as “one of the most creative companies in the world”, had catastrophic setback in 2015. Founder Jeni Britton explains how they recovered. Give it a watch.
No time? Key takeaways:
After a pint of their Ice Cream tested positive for trace Listeria, they recalled 6 months’ worth of frozen food products. A colossal financial and reputational setback. They had a major hole to climb out of. Three ways they did it:
Acknowledge reality: ‘normal protocol was out the window’.
Control controllables: ‘solved immediate things in front of them’. Targeting the first thing they could control: their Kitchens.
Get Creative: ‘every idea was a good idea, everything was on the table’. Give your team the freedom to contribute.
It was a massive moment for Jeni’s. Strikingly, she said the disaster gave her huge clarity. She realised the company had been taking themselves too seriously, gained a new sense of gratitude and realised the disaster was an opportunity to reimagine everything.
Deeper dive:
Medium read: Great Q&A with Jeni. She tells her story and talks inspiration.
Long read: Academic study - How clear communication & crisis management saved Jeni’s.
Watch: Ted Talk - Creativity - Thinking outside the box and what that means
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.
That's all for this week folks.
Next week → We bring the latest news and deep dive a flavour, what people have done with it, and what you could do with it.
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TBC x
