Splendid and Scary: The Jeni's Growth Story

Jun. 13, 2022 at 3:05 PM

 

Experience will be back on stage when John Lowe, the CEO of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, recounts his experiences leading the brand from local phenomenon to national powerhouse. Reflecting back on his over a decade of leadership, Lowe will provide attendees with stories of his success and struggles, as well as practical advice for managing the ups and downs of any CPG business.

About John Lowe:

Nearly 13 years ago John Lowe took the leap from General Electric Company to the then four-shop, $1M ice cream company based on his belief that Jeni Britton was a generational talent making the world’s greatest ice creams. John bet that their talents were a perfect yin and yang, such that they could grow a business that would create outsized benefits for its customers, employees and investors. Today, the company has more than 1,400 team members who carry out the company’s two-part mission of making better ice creams and bringing people together. The company owns and operates 67 scoop shops from LA to Philadelphia, has national distribution of its pints on the freezer shelves of America's finest retailers, and has developed the nation’s largest direct-to-consumer ice cream shipping business. In the months prior to the pandemic, the company was featured on the cover of QSR Magazine and was named by B Lab as of one three “Community - Best for the World” honorees. Internally, John drives a culture of performance, kindness and fun. From creating Team Jeni’s “Force For Good” operating efforts to ensure the company drives anti-racism efforts for years to come, to his creation of the Jeni’s Sabbatical Program - a one month paid vacation for every team member every three years of service. In 2016, John was honored by the Specialty Food Association with its Business Leadership Award. Perhaps most telling about John’s leadership, on John’s 10th anniversary with the company, Jeni and the company surprised him with a rooftop party and revealed a giant wallscape in downtown Columbus thanking him for “Ten awesome years as our CEO” and for “being a leader of integrity and heart.” He is a long-serving outside director of White Castle Company and Watershed Distillery. John has but one hobby: he loves coaching his three sons’ basketball teams. Jack, 17, Alex, 14, and Luke, 11, are of varied athletic giftedness, but are learning the benefits of tenacity, hustle and the daily grind. He is married to their mother, Catherine L. Strauss, a business advisor, trial attorney and Managing Partner of IceMiller’s 80-person Columbus office.