If you’ve ever purchased an ice cream cone that began to melt almost immediately, your ice cream was probably pumped full of air, Tamara Keefe, founder and owner of Clementine’s Naughty and Nice Ice Cream in St. Louis, Mo. said.
Keefe founded her first ice cream scoop shop in 2015 as a second career on the heels of a prior corporate career. She was inspired by beloved childhood memories of churning and selling homemade ice cream with her family after church on Sundays.
Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, Clementine’s Naughty and Nice Ice Cream has increased its revenue by 2,000%, growing from one store into eight scoop shops. The brand also ships ice cream nationally via Goldbelly, and in 2019 was recognized as one of “Oprah Winfrey’s Favorite Things” with a coveted spot on the “O-list.”
Clementine’s is known for its unique “naughty” (alcoholic) ice cream flavors and award-winning vegan ice cream, which Keefe said took a long time to formulate to be the right texture and not have a coconut or soy aftertaste. The secret, however, is proprietary.
“There’s a deep science behind making great ice cream,” Keefe said. “It’s not just about throwing milk and cream together.”
Clementine’s is a microcreamery, and Keefe said that in order to be designated as such, an ice cream monger has to make a product with less than 30% overrun, which is the amount of air that is pumped into the ice cream. Clementine’s ice cream has about 26-28% air in it, while a lot of commercial ice cream brands have 100% overrun, she said.
“That’s why our pints are so much heavier than anybody else’s,” Keefe said. “The weight also goes to the butterfat, which accounts for the creaminess and decadence.”
She also said that Clementine’s uses much less sugar than traditional commercial ice cream pints. For her strawberry ice cream, for example, Clementine’s uses 10 pounds of strawberries and two pounds of sugar for a batch, but she said a larger brand might use six pounds of sugar and four pounds of strawberries.
“Sugar is much cheaper,” Keefe said, adding that people are oftentimes floored when comparing her ice cream in a side-by-side taste test. “People have gotten so accustomed to eating bad ice cream.”
Besides strawberry, other popular Clementine’s flavors include the famous Gooey Butter Cake made with cream cheese ice cream (and Oprah’s favorite), Salted Cracker Caramel, and Italian Butter Cookie.
When asked how she was able to grow revenue by 2,000% over the past decade, Keefe simply said, “by selling the best ice cream.” However, when it comes to running a business in growth mode, it takes more than a solid product. For example, to get the attention of Oprah Winfrey, Keefe said she sent ice cream to her team every month for two years until she was noticed.
This type of go-getter, high-risk-taking attitude allowed Keefe to start her business. She actually had to cash in her 401k to get the funding to start Clementine’s.
“I decided to take the biggest bet of my life,” she said. “Sometimes in life, you take a risk, and you bet on yourself, and there’s no one better. I literally had no other choice, and sometimes you just have to make it work.”
Taking that financial risk clearly paid off for Keefe, and it’s a lesson she brings to the table when mentoring other female entrepreneurs. Although it might not seem it, Keefe said that she always emphasizes making “measured and intentional” business decisions and tries to support female-led businesses whenever she can because as she said, “a rising tide can lift all ships.”
Recently, Keefe has been focused on future expansion opportunities for Clementine’s. In 2023, the company headquarters moved to a 25,000-square-foot ice cream production facility, with an in-house bakery where mix-ins like cookies and cakes are made fresh on-site. That same year, Clementine’s expanded into the Illinois market for the first time and will open up its first shop in Kansas City this year.
Keefe also said that Clementine’s will undergo its first capital raise this year, with a long-term goal of opening 40 parlors in five years, mostly with development throughout the Midwest.
“I’m really committed to the quality, and expanding our manufacturing in such a way that the quality will be the same,” she said.
Contact Joanna at [email protected]
