Jennifer Schuler is a few weeks into her role as CEO of Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream, but her history with the brand goes far beyond that.
She lives in Pasadena, California, just a stone’s throw away from one of the highest-performing ice cream shops in the country. Schuler and her two sons have contributed to those sales, whether it was rewarding good grades, celebrating the beginning of summer, or soothing a pulled tooth. She calls it a “deep affinity and love for the brand over many years.”
So as Schuler pondered her next move after exiting Wetzel’s Pretzels post-sale, Handel’s popped into her head because she believes in the company’s unit economics and ability to grow and scale.
“The timing ended up being perfect because they were kicking off a CEO search,” Schuler says. “So literally two days after I had thought, ‘That would be what I’d really love to be part of because I already love the brand,’ the recruiters called me about the opportunity. So it felt cosmically divined. It was really cool.”
Aside from making sure her email works, Schuler jokes, there are three courses of action she’s initiated thus far. The first is getting to know employees, learning what they’re authentically passionate about, and determining how that can intersect with business goals. Schuler has also spent time learning more about the franchise system, which is a fairly small organization at 130 locations but supported by 65-plus active franchisees who earn reputable AUVs and are interested in further development. Her goal is to extend the same level of hospitality and service that operators showcase inside stores every day.
Schuler’s third objective is to understand Handel’s 79-year-old legacy. The company was founded by Alice Handel in Youngstown, Ohio, who picked fruit from her backyard to use in ice cream. Her recipes and scratch-made philosophy are still a core part of Handel’s mission.
“I think it’s so critically important to understand your history, understand the legacy of the brand, and understand the commitment to quality that this organization has maintained for 80 years,” Schuler says. “So as we pick up the pace of growth, we’ll stay really connected to the things that matter, both to the values of the organization, but to delighting the guests and to making this a really exciting proposition for franchisees.”
Handel’s system sales will increase from $29 million in 2019 to a projected $130-plus million in 2024. The chain resides in 13 states, with more expansion coming in new and existing markets. The brand recently debuted in South Carolina with a flagship store in Clemson.
Schuler came to Handel’s after nine years at Wetzel’s. She began as chief marketing officer before being promoted to president and then CEO in the final five years of her tenure. While she helmed the pretzel chain, unit count rose from 200 to 350 shops and AUV lifted 24 percent to almost $1 million. Before Wetzel’s, she worked as a marketing manager at General Mills for five years.
To Schuler, Handel’s strengths are reminiscent of what she saw at Wetzel’s, including a commitment to quality. The Ohio office houses team members who have been around the brand for 25 to 40 years in some cases—workers who deeply know the brand and what it takes to make high-quality scratch ice cream. Handel’s is also strong at creativity and innovation. The chain boasts more than 100 flavors of homemade ice cream, sherbets, and ices; this spring, the company will launch a carrot cake flavor, which Schuler views as “innovative and playful, but also very much approachable for families across the country.” Additionally, the executive praises Handel’s simple operation model, which in turn creates a solid franchise value proposition.
In terms of opportunities, Schuler says Handel’s has a good amount of whitespace across the U.S. The brand is opening about 30 stores per year, and she thinks that could double in the future. New stores are opening with high figures, particularly on the West Coast. A few years into her time at Wetzel’s, she became a franchisee and owned a shop at the Mall of America, so she understands the plight of both operators and franchisors.
“Having been a franchisor but also working on the franchisee side, that gave me a much deeper empathy and appreciation for the challenge of running these types of foodservice businesses and for how you can create a system where you can bring—as a franchisor—the best of the best from the system and cross-pollinate that across your regions and stores and help the whole system benefit from it,” Schuler says. “That’s one of the things I really truly love to do. And I think it’s an advantage of a franchise system because you have the benefit of hundreds of creative entrepreneurs out there in the field identifying ways to optimize the business and that you can call to help move the whole system forward.”
Schuler is one of several former marketers to rise to CEO in the past few years. Other notable names include Rob Lynch at Papa Johns and now Shake Shack, Betsy Hamm at Duck Donuts, Chris Tomasso at First Watch, and Adam Golomb at Primanti Bros. She attributes this movement to marketers having a bias toward differentiating with product innovation to build top line sales. This type of knowledge has become important amid a crowded marketplace where consumers have many choices and are selective with their wallets. Marketers understand the importance of a value proposition that’s compelling and consistent and identifying problems with guests in mind.
Above all else, marketing professionals know how to communicate, and that’s a big part of what Schuler plans to do as she delves further into Handel’s.
“How do we ensure as we grow with speed and innovate, we’re bringing in the right franchise partners that have that orientation around quality and freshness and an exceptional guest experience?” Schuler says. “I think I can already tell that the team really treasures that and we will hold a high bar for the right type of partner to grow with to ensure that as we grow, we’re doing it in a quality type of way.”
