Howdy Homemade enjoys early success
Ice cream is sold at approximately 200 locations.
Howdy Homemade Ice Cream, dedicated to providing job opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) through high-quality ice cream, has achieved quick success in just sixth months at approximately 125 H-E-B and 75 Brookshire Brothers grocery stores in Texas, the company states.
Each of the six flavors proudly features the face of one of the brand’s employees, internally designated as a “Hero” and the tagline “Every pint creates jobs for those with special needs.” Heroes are employees who have intellectual and IDDs.
Since debuting in stores this January, the mission-based company has shipped almost 70,000 units and expects to ship more than 100,000 additional units by the end of the year to keep pace with customer demand.
Howdy Homemade’s unique mission and business model have been featured on ABC World News Tonight with David Muir, NBC Today, and various local media outlets. Founder and CEO Tom Landis is thrilled with the media attention because it challenges other companies to discover opportunities to employ individuals with special needs as valuable assets.
“Internally, we have our employment goals directly associated with our retail and franchise business,” Tom Landis notes. “We also know that we’re indirectly creating jobs by inspiring leaders of other companies to hire people with untapped abilities.”
Retail pints are available in six premium flavors, each with a thick, rich, high-fat cream base: Strawberry Milkshake, Salted Caramel, Cookie Nom’Ster, Cold Brew & Cookies, Chocolate as All Get-Out, and Birthday Cake. All pints feature a different Hero and their story in distinctive colored packaging so that they stand out on the shelves and are quickly recognizable by shoppers.
“The expansion of our brand into grocery stores has greatly increased awareness of our mission, and we’re so thankful for our retail partners, H-E-B and Brookshire Brothers, for stepping up and realizing the world needs Howdy Homemade ice cream in everyone’s freezer,” said Chris Dahlander, president and chief operating officer.
Looking ahead, Howdy Homemade is pursuing additional grocery store placements, specifically with companies that are forward-thinking and supportive of the mission to create jobs for people with IDDs.
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