Laura Howard
CFO (Chief Flavor Officer), Laloo’s Goat’s Milk Ice Cream
www.laloos.com
It all began with yoga. A few years back, that was the only thing that felt right in Laura Howard’s life. She was a successful film producer in Los Angeles, but she felt completely unfulfilled. Howard knew she had to get out of the industry, and she was beginning to think about opening her own yoga studio. But first, she took a job on a film being shot in Tuscany.
While in Italy, Howard made a miraculous discovery. There was another—and, Howard thought, much better—way to live, in which fresh food and a high quality of life were deliciously intertwined. A lifelong foodie, Howard had given up cow’s milk as part of her yoga practice and begun making goat’s milk ice cream at home. Now, she was beginning to see ice cream as a calling.
Back from Italy in the summer of 2006, Howard rented a house in Sonoma County, where her favorite goat’s milk products originated. Within a few months, she had launched Laloo’s Goat’s Milk Ice Cream. And now her ice cream can be found in more than 700 stores nationwide.
What we learned from Laura: Once inspiration arrives, go for it. Just sitting at a desk conducting Internet research does not lead to success. Launching a thriving business means doing whatever it takes to bring your idea to life.
I Scream, You Scream
“I was always an ice cream fanatic. And I wanted to get healthy in my life, so I became devoted to yoga. It was through my yoga practice that I discovered parts of my diet weren’t necessarily working with me, like dairy. I just started making [goat's milk] ice cream because there wasn’t any. There was a real gap in the market, and I set out to fill it.”
Becoming a Tastemaker
“I was never formally trained as a chef. But I was always a foodie, and I always was at my local gourmet market, looking for new things. I got obsessed with goat cheese and figs together as sort of a party appetizer, or things that go well with a glass of wine. And I figured, why not ice cream? Sure enough, from the very first batch I made, I knew it was going to be a success.”
A Leap of Taste
“In Tuscany I was lucky enough to meet people who were living a very bucolic lifestyle, making cheese, and so much of life over there is about food and about talking about things while you’re enjoying food, that I just thought, it’s really time for me to take a leap of faith. And so I just said, ‘I have to live in the countryside. I can’t live this big-city life where I’m always going to be taking jobs that perpetuate this thing that I think is maybe creating my emptiness.’”
A Cause for Thanksgiving
“It took me a while to get all of the formulations right, and to get the packaging. I had to learn a lot about manufacturing a product, because I had always been in a service business. I didn’t know anything about inventory control, and distribution, and things like this, so there was a bit of a learning curve. But I was so exuberant and excited that I got my FDA approvals, and I got my packing finished in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. And I felt like it was such a coup, to have my stuff on the shelf in time for Thanksgiving. So that was my humble beginning.”
No Egos Allowed
“For new entrepreneurs, it’s important that you just sort of check your ego at the door when you start all of these things. I had a pretty successful career, but I was starting at ground zero in the ice cream business. There was a fair amount of stuff that I networked my way through. I looked for people who were leaders in the industry, and I just cold-called them.”
Call in the Experts
“I went to the local expert … it was called the Redwood Empire Small Business Development Center http://www.santarosa.edu/instruction/jtwd/sbdc/. They exist all over the country. And it was a free service. I went and filled out some paperwork and qualified, and their advisors helped me to write a business plan. Because I was writing the business plan as I was going to market, there were all kinds of things that came up that I had questions about that the small business development center had an expert for, and it was all free.”
Play to Your Strengths
“I don’t have a particularly strong financial background, so I went to people who did and brought them on as part of my team. I think that team-building is the most important thing that you do. You’ve got to get the people who can help you the most. And, if you can’t afford to hire everybody to fill every department, figure out what you’re good at, fill that gap, and get the best person to fill the one that you’re not good at.”
Growing Beyond Local
“There were a number of people who wanted to include Laloo’s in national magazines when they were doing their roundups of what was new in ice cream. But they didn’t want to do it unless we were available everywhere. I resisted it for a little while, and then Newsweek really wanted to list me as one of the top 15 tastemakers in America, and I thought, I just would die to not be in that. So I quickly stepped up our distribution.”
A Little Growth Equals a Lot of Work
“In hindsight, I don’t know if I would have done it so fast, because if you’re distributed in lots more places, it means that you’re going to have to take care of all of those places.”
The Biggest Challenge
“I have a healthy skepticism about people wanting to take over your thing because you created something from nothing that they think is really great. I think that choosing the right financial partners was probably the hardest thing for me to do. I got very lucky, and I wound up with two amazing angel investors who have basically become part of my family. Going into our more serious fundraising efforts, I’m a lot more educated, because I have those two really amazing investors as strategic advisors. They’re people from within the industry.”
A Different Kind of Boss
“I had managed people before, but I really wanted to create a different kind of company. I don’t even feel like I manage these people that work for me now. I feel like we have a very sort of flat organization. We’re all in this one big open space in a big barn. We have a wood-burning stove that warms us up in the morning, and we always eat meals together. There’s a lot of interdisciplinary stuff that happens. There’s a sense of everybody pulling their own weight and doing a good job.”
A Beautiful Way to Work
“I walk out of my kitchen in the morning with my coffee and I say, “I’m going to work now.” And I’m at my desk bright and early every single morning. I think it’s a beautiful way to live, and it was the answer for me, because I didn’t feel the same sense of fulfillment when I was in Los Angeles. I felt like life was just breezing by me at a breakneck speed, and it was kind of a blur. Time has just unfolded for me now.”
Follow Your Passion
“You have to be happy first. I think it’s going to be a much harder road if you’re trying to [launch] sitting behind your desk, just doing Internet research, and looking statistically for something that’s going to make you a million dollars. If your motivation is just to get rich and get famous, then I think that’s probably not enough.”
There’s Nothing That Ice Cream Can’t Fix
“When I got out of the film business and working with agents and things of that nature, I said, ‘If I have an ice cream business, there is nothing that is going to stress me out.’ Our motto is ‘There is nothing that ice cream can’t fix.’”
Parting Thoughts …
-”I am happiest when I am in the kitchen.”
-”Success to me means spending time with people I love every day.”
-”I will always think of myself as a woman first, and all of these other things after.”
-”My business would not have happened if I hadn’t discovered yoga.”
This featured lady was profiled by Sarah Tomlinson, a freelance writer in Los Angeles.
