Ben Van Leeuwen, co-founder and CEO of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, recounts the viral reach of their limited-edition Kraft Macaroni & Cheese ice cream launch.
“You know, it got, I think, twelve billion media impressions, whatever that means.”
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More from Ben Van Leeuwen
Insight
Van Leeuwen: Unilever and Nestlé cannot launch scrappy startups
“This is why the Unilevers, the Nestle's cannot do what we did, you know, cannot Started even with all of the resources in the world. Like when you get big, your brain changes, you know, you're really good. You become good at running big organizations, but hard…”
Ben Van LeeuwenJul 11, 2025▶ 12:48How a summer job turned into a 2,000-person ice cream empire (Ben Van Leeuwen) | Masters of Scale
Insight
Van Leeuwen: Brick-and-mortar beats food trucks in revenue and ease
“You do brick and mortar because they do a lot more revenue and they're a lot easier to operate.”
Ben Van LeeuwenJul 11, 2025▶ 21:39How a summer job turned into a 2,000-person ice cream empire (Ben Van Leeuwen) | Masters of Scale
Disclosure
Van Leeuwen: Turned down offer to sell 15% for $250,000
“Before that, maybe a month or two before that, we had turned down an offer to sell 15% of the business for 250,000 dollars.”
Ben Van LeeuwenJul 11, 2025▶ 27:28How a summer job turned into a 2,000-person ice cream empire (Ben Van Leeuwen) | Masters of Scale
Opinion
Van Leeuwen: Standard Italian grocery stores match the fanciest American stores
“They don't really have fancy grocery stores there. Yet every grocery store is almost as fancy as the fanciest store in America.”
Ben Van LeeuwenJul 11, 2025▶ 5:50How a summer job turned into a 2,000-person ice cream empire (Ben Van Leeuwen) | Masters of Scale
Insight
Van Leeuwen: There are no 'foodies' in Italy, just Italians
“Cause I always say there's no foodies in Italy. It's just Italians.”
Ben Van LeeuwenJul 11, 2025▶ 5:57How a summer job turned into a 2,000-person ice cream empire (Ben Van Leeuwen) | Masters of Scale
AssertionSupported
Ben Van Leeuwen: Simple-ingredient ice cream naturally preserves without artificial additives
“You put it in the freezer, and it stays good for months or years. So we're like, whoa, you can make the best ice cream ever, and it's completely preservable. You don't need to add any weird stuff.”
Ben Van LeeuwenJul 11, 2025▶ 8:55How a summer job turned into a 2,000-person ice cream empire (Ben Van Leeuwen) | Masters of Scale
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