business & professional >> on the cover
Dessert
nyone
Local company extends its reach
into Busch's supermarkets.
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artisan cookies + is
Ryan Fishman I Contributing Writer
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
"When I was a kid I always worked bagels.
It was something I knew how to do," he
said. "I started baking at New York Bagel on
Orchard Lake Road"
Then one day, while living between
California and Alaska after graduating from
the University of Michigan, Charlip got a call
from his dad.
"He said the Bagel Factory was for sale, so
I moved back home and bought the place,"
he said.
For Charlip, the shop at 12 Mile and
Telegraph roads in Southfield was something
special. Around since the 1970s, it was one
of Detroit's original bagel shops and has been
Charlip's professional focus for more than 20
years.
After expanding into Birmingham at the
corner of Lincoln and Adams, he says he
stumbled onto his latest business venture,
Eskimo Jacks Artisan Cookies + Ice Cream,
now being sold at Metro Detroit Busch's
Fresh Food Markets. This adventure started
with yet another momentous phone call.
"Someone told me about this famous ice
cream sandwich shop on the UCLA campus
in Westwood" he said, "so I flew out there to
check it out and had this vision of opening a
retail shop"
It wasn't long before Charlip and his busi-
ness partner, wife Jill Sherman-Marx, started
developing ice cream recipes.
"It started off as a hunch," he said. "I wish
I could say we did scientific research, but
I'm a seat-of-the-pants kind of guy. We were
already doing cookies at the Bagel Factory,
so it seemed like a next logical step, and just
took off'
The pair began with a cart for private
events like bar mitzvahs and weddings.
"Nobody here was doing ice cream sand-
wiches, and we've got this passion not just
for making the ice cream and the cookies,
but also for the opportunity to build a busi-
ness together, from the ground up" he said.
"Eskimo Jacks is all us, where the bagel shop
was something I bought, something that had
been there.
"My plan was to build a brand with the
events so people would recognize us natu-
rally and then look for us in supermarkets
or a brick-and-mortar location. The answer
was right in front of our faces and has been
unfolding naturally"
Growing Demand
Charlip says the cart business has grown
200 percent year over year, every year, and
eventually he got a call from a local dairy
company that was impressed with his prod-
uct and wanted to help with supermarket
distribution.
Eskimo Jacks is now available in 13 of Ann
Arbor-headquartered Busch's supermarkets.
Charlip expects they'll be in as many as 75
Metro Detroit markets by the end of the
summer.
"We developed the packaging and flavors
in three months, and the partnership with
Busch's just came out of nowhere" he said.
"We met with their buyer in January, and
by April we were on the shelves and the
response from custom-
ers has been great. The
West Bloomfield store
keeps selling out, and
they've had a tremendous
response at all of their
locations. In our cur-
rent facility, we almost
can't keep up with the
demand"
1.111000
Charlip and Sherman-
CLASSIC JACK
Marx have been looking
for a larger facility for
several months and are
Eskimo Jacks three-packs are available at Busch's.
JUMPING JACK
27 July 2 • 2015
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1 -Es
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Josh Charlip outside of an Eskimo Jacks truck
working to finalize details as they prepare
for the possibility of regional and national
growth.
"We gave Busch's a 30-day exclusive, and
as we grow this year, we'll assess how to con-
tinue moving forward. We have to be able to
produce the product before we're overcom-
mitted" he said.
On grocery store shelves today, you'll find
Eskimo Jacks three-packs in five flavors,
from the classic chocolate chip cookie with
vanilla ice cream to more adventurous fare
like a snicker doodle cookie with salted cara-
mel ice cream.
The brand is named for the family dog,
Jackson, a 70-pound Labradoodle.
"We started with a cartoon logo of our
big, furry dog wearing a parka, but people
thought it sort of looked like a dog treat, so
we reworked the logo to make it a bit more
appropriate for what we're doing. Jackson,
however, is still consulted on all major busi-
ness decisions"
Meanwhile, the Hillel Day School graduate
is also growing the licensing end of his cart
business to help with outreach in communi-
ties across the country to make the brand
more familiar.
"My brother lives in Florida, and he was
the first licensee of our cart business. He's
down there booking events; he did 10 in his
first month. Our goal is to license this busi-
ness-in-a-box concept. We supply the trailer,
the cart, marketing materials, dough balls
and ice cream, and you can have a part-time
business doing parties in your community'
Charlip said.
The carts complement an ambitious vision
for Charlip.
"We're building a brand locally, but my
vision is to be the next Ben and Jerry's. These
guys came out of nowhere to compete with
Breyer's and Haagen-Dazs. They muscled
their way into the market with a great
product, great marketing and a catchy label.
That's my bench mark, and I believe there's
room in the marketplace nationally for our
product.
"The product is all-natural, and ice cream
sandwiches are a childhood throwback for
everyone" he said. "There's a story on every
package of Eskimo Jacks. We take you back
to the first bike ride of the summer; the smell
in the air. We make you remember. That's the
market and that's our appeal, and nobody
else is doing a gourmet ice cream sandwich
— but while it's gourmet, it's also classic and
simple"
The product is also wholly organic, avoid-
ing GMOs and is sourced from a dairy on the
west side of the state. It uses fruits without
preservatives and no corn syrup.
Charlip and Sherman-Marx are also
working with Pure Michigan and the state's
Department of Agriculture to break out, get-
ting help with both promotion and growth,
and placement in larger supermarkets like
Kroger's and Meijer's that require certain
levels of certification to add product to their
shelves.
So how will Eskimo Jacks thrive as
demand grows for calorie-conscious indul-
gences?
"We recommend cutting them in half"
Charlip says with a laugh. "We're working on
a gluten-free ice cream sandwich, but this is
an indulgence. It's a dessert. You shouldn't
skip it; we just recommend moderation.
"After all, it is a sandwich — you can have
it for lunch:'
❑
Find Eskimo Jacks at all Metro Detroit Busch's
locations and order their ice cream sandwiches
online at www.eskimojacks.com . To book Eskimo
Jacks for your next event, call (248) 352-5695
or email info@eskimojacks.com.
July 2 • 2015
27