The sweet journey from pop-up to brick and mortar with Kinrose Creamery
This story was produced by Square for its publication The Bottom Line and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
The sweet journey from pop-up to brick and mortar with Kinrose Creamery
Kinrose Creamery is an ice cream shop built on tradition and love. Maria Oveysi and Moe Kamal, the husband and wife team behind the Persian Egyptian dessert shop, have family roots in the industry that make their foray with Kinrose Creamery seem, in some respects, kismet.
Kamal's dad worked with the dairy plant at the University of Wisconsin and subsequently met his mom; Oveysi's mom would make Saffron ice cream that became popular at her family's restaurant, Cafe Rose. "Ice cream was the thing running in our family as just a moment of joy," Kamal told Square.
Building on this idea of joy, Oveysi and Kamal established Kinrose Creamery in Los Angeles, CA in 2020 as a way to reignite that feeling during a time when the world felt less than joyful. They packaged up a few family recipes with a twist and began selling on Facebook. "We would get on Facebook foodie pages, present the product, and offer neighborhood drop off," Oveysi said. "[From there] we would go into various neighborhoods with a set date and say, 'Hey, we're going to be there, please pre-order.' And they would. And it just kind of grew."
A string of regular weekly orders turned into several catering opportunities which led to them setting up shop (and becoming a fan favorite) at Smorgasburg LA, a weekend market for LA's food, beverage, and shopping scene. Then things reached new peaks in 2024: The business went viral on social media, and they opened their first brick-and-mortar ice cream shop.
Managing a Viral Moment With the Right Tools
"It's always the video you least expect," Oveysi said, referring to the TikTok she posted (which, as of this article's publication, has more than a million views) announcing their brick-and-mortar location alongside their flavor lineup "I posted it on a Tuesday and by Thursday we would have a line outside. It just kept going," she said. " It was almost like a pinch-me moment for both of us."
With the help of their point-of-sale system, managing the uptick in business became a bit easier. Kinrose Creamery tracks the amount of new and repeat customers and sends emails and text messages to incentivize more visits.
As a new brick-and-mortar, Oveysi and Kamal are especially focused on deepening their newfound customer relationships. A lot of the messages they receive are a mix of positive and constructive feedback alongside stories from first-time customers on how much they enjoy the ice cream. "There's this moment of engagement directly after the purchase that's personal," explained Kamal. "Honestly, that's one of our favorite features."
Steps to Opening a Brick-and-Mortar Shop
The decision to open a shop, according to Kamal, was a practical one. "It started to come to the point where we're paying X amount every month [as a pop up]," he said. "It's pretty much what a monthly rent would amount to."
Adopting more digital tools also helped the pair navigate the newness of training and scheduling a team, handling payroll, and accessing their business performance. "[These things] take a lot out of a business owner, especially for one who's just starting. I think it's very startup-friendly," Kamal said.
Getting the capital and the tools, however, were just one aspect of launching their brick-and-mortar. The owners also wanted to build their skills to provide the best experience for their customers. So, they sought mentorship. They went to ice cream school and made connections that helped them really understand the science behind the frozen delicacy, giving them the necessary education to play around with new flavors. "That was a very pivotal point in our journey because I felt like it gave us the skillset to really be able to take on a brick and mortar rather than winging it in a way and just doing a couple flavors," he said.
Kinrose Creamery has evolved into over nine flavors that each transcend cultural boundaries. Kamal is Egyptian and Oveysi is Iranian, and as they worked to combine their cultures into sweet treats, they discovered that what they were building was truly global. "Our lava shot flavor has tamarind in it, and tamarind is a very big thing that people use in Egypt; and we later found out that it's also big in the Philippines, India, and Mexico," Kamal explained. "This sort of interconnectivity that we're observing between people is helping us continuously develop new recipes."
Building the 'Kin' in Kinrose Creamery
Connection is a through line with Kinrose Creamery. Whether it's connecting cultures through ice cream or connecting their family roots to the present, weaving different elements together is a large part of the business's success. And, in a lot of ways, connection is one of the main things the ice cream shop seeks to create. "Our goal for the store is always to create a space where people are feeling joyous and happy, [a place where people] are able to bring their families, their dates, or their kids," Kamal said.
As the business looks to the future, the idea is to take this philosophy of connection on the road. Oveysi and Kamal are already thinking about ways to expand their business in other cities and build a truly recognizable brand. "We want people to recognize [the rose]," Kamal said in reference to the Kinrose Creamery logo. "Cafe Rose is the restaurant where my mom made the Saffron ice cream, and the kinship is that flavor being passed down to us [to share with our customers]," Oveysi said.
