Why Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams Is So Expensive - Exclusive

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams cost $12 a pint (as seen on the official website). For the same price, that's a lot of McDonald's ice cream cones! Of course, you can't expect to find flavors like Skillet Cinnamon Roll or Sweet Cream Biscuits & Peach Jam at the Golden Arches ... for those gourmet offerings, you'd have to hit one of the 60+ Jeni's Scoop Shops located throughout the U.S. or order the ice creams online. But, aside from creative flavors, is there any other reason why Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams have the price tag they do?

Indeed there is. In an exclusive interview with Mashed, the ice cream brand's founder, Jeni Britton, explained why you'll never find her flavors on a dollar menu. "It's made with beautiful grass-pastured milk and incredible ingredients. Of course, we pay our farmers, makers, and growers, whether they're in Ohio or elsewhere. We try to be in direct relationships with them, [and] try to pay everybody fairly," Britton said. "And that's important to us. Like fair trade cocoa and vanilla — those are expensive ingredients, but it's the right thing to do."

In addition to premium ingredients, Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams contain something you probably won't find in your typical supermarket vanilla half-gallon or fast food soft-serve: a story. As Britton develops each flavor, she does research into the ingredients, including engaging with her own customers to find out what ice cream has meant in their lives. That's why the appeal of every variety of Jeni's is "not just this flavor, which is also beautiful, [but] whether or not you know the story, [and] here's what created it," Britton said, further noting she likes to share the inspiration behind each crafted flavor, which many times come from the customers themselves. "The people who were coming in to eat the ice cream started bringing me their stories. And that was really fun, too. And it is still to this day."

Perhaps that's why the price of each pint of Jeni's has never been an issue among the brand's passionate customer base, as Britton noted. "I think of entrepreneurship as an act of co-creation with your customers. And so when I think about what I created through Jeni's, it's really what we created together in those 10 years at the [North] market [in Columbus, Ohio]. No one ever complained about the price in my world, and really we don't get that many people complaining about it because they understand that ice cream is a beautiful thing," she said. "There's a lot behind the scenes that we try to be as a company. And I think that's what speaks [to] it all. That is what our reputation is based on. That is why we have so many people who love us. It's because people really do know what we stand for and what we believe."

Visit the Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams website or follow the brand on Instagram.