Welcome back to another episode of The Express Checkout Podcast!
This week, we're sitting down with Aaron Butterworth, Senior Specialist in Product Development at Häagen-Dazs, who's been developing flavors for the brand for over 20 years!
She walks us through the entire journey of making ice cream for a massive brand, from brief to shelf—including the "ice cream charcuterie" brainstorming process (as dreamy as it sounds), why some great flavor ideas can never survive a factory, and how Häagen-Dazs's commitment to a clean label shapes everything about the product.
Plus, we're tasting two new flavors on air (!!!!), getting the inside story on Häagen-Dazs's discontinued non-dairy line, and learning how the brand thinks about trends.
The breakdown:
0:00 - Intro + Aaron’s role at Häagen-Dazs
3:01 - The flavor development process
7:44 - How to make ice cream factory-friendly
12:00 - “Overrun” and what’s not in the ice cream
16:00 - Where flavor ideas come from
23:34 - The science of texture
25:14 - Behind the (discontinued) non-dairy experiment
35:31 - Tasting our fave new flavor + what’s next
PS. If you’re in NYC and interested in attending our seasonal trends event on 10/6, you can request to join us here!!! :)
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