At the height of the Great Recession, two MBA students — one of them a classically trained chef — put their heads together to try to solve a problem that was playing out in the foodservice industry: fewer “cooks in the kitchen” to support chefs. Their intention was to create a premium foodservice products company that would make chefs’ lives a bit easier.
The two entrepreneurs — Keith Schroeder, the chef, and Adam Hayes, an engineer — drafted a plan to start a super-premium ice cream company for chefs. And the two men’s brainchild — High Road Craft Brands, officially founded by Keith Schroeder and his wife, Nicki Schroeder, as High Road Craft Ice Cream in 2010 — has since met with much success.