Sam Rose isn’t just on a mission to create the best possible dessert. The founder of RoseBud Ice Cream is here to provide a piece of everyday happiness, and happiness every day.
It all started one afternoon when Sam was making ice cream with his friends. It was all just for fun until one of Sam’s pals said that his was tasty enough to be in stores. From that point forward, Sam embarked on a never-ending quest to craft the perfect ice cream.
RoseBud Ice Cream is made with artisanal ingredients to foster cool flavor profiles and conjure warm childhood memories. Starting with Sam’s signature Fancy A** Vanilla, every RoseBud flavor is designed to make a bad day good and a good day great.
Recently, we caught up with Sam to learn more about his journey and hear his advice for fellow entrepreneurs.
01 Why did you start RoseBud Ice Cream?
Growing up, there were few things that could put a bigger smile on my face than ice cream. Some of my favorite memories (more than I’d like to admit) involve ice cream in some way.
Near the end of my senior year of college, I started playing around with making my own ice cream. Being the competitive person I am, it quickly turned into a quest to make the best ice cream ever. A friend of mine jokingly suggested I start an ice cream company and, after looking at other opportunities and pursuing corporate life, I did just that!
02 What obstacles did you face along the way?
Starting my first business gave me a lot of on-the-job learning opportunities. Really, that’s a kind way of saying that I’ve made quite a few mistakes along the RoseBud journey.
I didn’t have a culinary background, I just had really high standards for ice cream. So, my first job out of college was working at a fancy ice cream shop, learning how to make ice cream from professionals and bolster my skills. And, before starting RoseBud, I had to sport myself in a few other ways, like selling solar panels door-to-door and working a corporate job. Suffice to say, that didn’t agree with me.
I left the corporate job on March 13, 2020 (the perfect time to lose health insurance) to go full-time at RoseBud, ahead of the hardest summer of all-time to sample ice cream. Despite the unique set of challenges that come with navigating the logistics and market forces of ice cream, we also encountered problems that no one had seen due to a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.
03 What lessons do you have for other entrepreneurs?
Patience and perseverance will never fail you. In what’s now referred to as The Stonecutter’s Credo, journalist and photographer Jacob Riis once said:
“When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”
Also, a little kindness goes a long way.
04 What’s on the horizon for RoseBud Ice Cream?
The goal is to make sure that people around the country know that RoseBud Ice Cream is the best ice cream available. We’re going to continue our mission of making bad days good, and good days great.
Our goal for 2023 is to continue to ramp up our presence and sales with existing retailers. We plan to bring even more of our product to Bristol Farms, including some of our new flavors!
05 How do you keep work/life balance? What drives/inspires you?
It’s hard! One major benefit of starting RoseBud is that I love my work — I find joy and inspiration in it daily.
RoseBud was inspired by the idea of creating the best ice cream that anyone can get. Our mission at RoseBud is to make people’s lives better. We usually do that with ice cream, but we always seek new ways to help those in the communities we’re sold in. For example, we successfully organized a blood drive in Denver last summer. I’m committed to creating more opportunities like that where we can be a brand that helps people.
Knowing that ice cream has the power to create great memories, I hope that RoseBud can be part of some wonderful memories for everyone who shops at Bristol Farms!
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