He turns egg yolks into frozen gold
Paul Ballen is the co-founder of Paul’s Homemade Ice Cream. He tells Margaret Harris how his hobby grew into a business
My Brilliant Career
What led to you setting up the business?
It was something that started up as a hobby during my university studies. An ice-cream machine for my 21st birthday eventually led to the business that it is today.
What made you decide to go into the business of selling ice cream?
I travelled to the US quite often as a kid [his father is a New Yorker] and was exposed to the huge ice-cream culture there. That gave me the passion to experiment with ice cream and to replicate that culture here with a South African twist.
Making ice cream has now become a tool to create spaces for people to have experiences and to educate, employ and empower local people.
How do you decide on new flavours?
This is where most of my time is spent in the business. Lots of research, experimenting, brainstorming.
We spend a lot of time at HQ discussing how to innovate and create different flavours. Our flavour-of-the-month campaign allows us to create flavours around relevant themes or topics.
And what is the most popular flavour?
They vary. We’ve started to gain a lot of traction with our flavours of the month. We’ve started to realise that certain flavours are popular in certain stores. When I sit in a store and meet our customers, it’s always fun to find out what they want to try — this often drives innovation. In terms of retail stores, the birthday-cake flavour might be a top seller in the Rosebank branch, but in our new Hyde Park store we’ve found that customers gravitate towards more experimental flavours such as the Hyde Park flavour (pistachio, almond extract, edible glitter in a Madagascan vanilla base).
We’re excited to see what the topselling flavour in the Parkhurst store will be.
Which flavour is your favourite?
That’s a tricky one. At the moment, our variation of rocky road.
What did you want to be when you were a child?
A car designer. The creative aspect appealed to me.
What characteristics do you need for the work you do?
Passion, enthusiasm, patience, integrity and creativity.
What was your first job, and what important lesson did you learn from it?
I’ve never had another formal job. I’m lucky that my hobby organically grew into a career.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
There are so many things:
Creativity — thinking about new ideas, coming up with flavours, company innovations and even some photography;
Engagement — working with passionate and enthusiastic employees; and
Empowerment and education — employing young South Africans, educating them on our processes and products, and creating a company with a meaningful culture and enthusiastic staff.
And what would you prefer not to do?
There are always things in a business that one might not want to be doing, but as a business owner, every process is important.
Even if it is not necessarily enjoyable, it’s a learning curve.