Kim Malek built a successful ice cream business around one central idea: community. As the CEO and co-founder of Salt & Straw, Kim disrupted the idea of a typical ice cream shop by building an inviting, accepting environment that showcases local artisans and unique flavors. Kim's career started at Starbucks, where she worked in marketing when the iconic coffee brand only had about 30 stores nationwide. With previous marketing experience at companies like Yahoo!, Adidas, and (RED), she learned a lot about what it takes to build a global brand. "I always like to say I learned enough to be dangerous about a bunch of different things — operations, real estate, branding, but most importantly… building a company based on people and how you treat people," Kim says on this episode of The Empowered Challenger. During her years in corporate America, Kim kept her ice cream shop vision on the back burner. After a decade of toying around with the idea, she moved to Portland, Oregon, and was struck by the strong sense of community in the entrepreneurial city. She knew it was "the perfect vehicle" to bring her ice cream store idea to life. She partnered with her cousin, Tyler, to figure out a unique ice cream making process. They shopped around town and found standout local ingredients — chocolate, salt from a local saltmaker, and cheese from local farms. They realized they could foster a true sense of community by focusing on "farm-to-cone" ingredients, highlighting the artisans who made them. One of Kim's favorite pieces of advice is to not take advice. She welcomes stories about the experiences of fellow business owners and entrepreneurs but, unless you're in her exact shoes, she doesn't want to be told what to do. If Kim had followed everyone's advice when she was starting her business, she'd never be where she's at today. Kim started by opening a single store in Portland’s Alberta Arts District. Now, there are 25 more throughout the U.S., plus a successful ecommerce business. Featured Challenger👩 Name: Kim Malek ⚙️ How she challenges: As the CEO and co-founder of Salt & Straw, Kim disrupted the idea of a typical ice cream shop by fostering a sense of community with its "farm-to-cone" creations and expertly-trained staff. 🍦 Company: Salt & Straw💎 Noteworthy: Kim was a recipient of Portland Business Journal's Woman of Influence Award. She has also received recognitions from the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network and was on Inc.'s Female Founder's 100 List. 🔍 Where to find Kim: LinkedIn | Instagram##Challenger Wisdom Highlights from the conversation appear below.💡 The hallmark of an idea worth pursuing"I wake up every day with a good healthy dose of fear that shoots me out of bed nice and early. I earn my keep every day. In terms of taking that leap … I had this idea for so long. I'd been carrying it around for so long, but I knew it was a good one — it wasn't a fleeting thing. It had been like 10 or 15 years that I'd been working on it, and I was able to start putting the pieces in place. Once I got the ball rolling, it was almost a foregone conclusion. I couldn't stop myself, it just drove itself forward, not that there weren't tons of challenges along the way."💡 Fear can either freeze you — or fuel you "I think fear can either freeze you, or you can use it to fuel you — you have to make that decision. I experience a little of both, to be honest, but it mostly fuels me and drives me forward. I think the ideal thing that I always try to remind myself of is to not make decisions out of fear — that doesn't usually end up well." 💡 The easiest route isn't always the best"We were exporting that idea or spirit of Portland when we grew into different cities, and we carried that forward into every city … I find that people really embody that and appreciate it. It's fun for them to learn about other local artisans through ice cream. It's a lot harder, it's a lot more work, it's more expensive, but I think it's worth it."💡 Putting customer experience above all else"Internally, we say ice cream is 49% and the experience you get at Salt and Straw is 51%. So when you go to our stores, we really try to transport you into a different environment and experience, take you out of your everyday life into a beautiful, warm environment. We overstaff our stores with a big team that's really well-trained, especially on connecting with people. We spend tons of time teaching folks how to read signs: if someone wants to get in and out, we can do that. If they want to sit and taste every single flavor on our menu and talk about the story and history behind it, we can do that." 💡 Never compromise on your values "Danny Meyer, who started Shake Shack, is on our board. He tells a story that I love. He says that, over the years, people would always say to him, 'The culture's changing.' And, as the founder, it's like a dagger in your heart when you ...
