She’s super sweet, makes delicious gelato and is a boss lady entrepreneur! How could you not love Jasmine? I met Jasmine at Whole Foods while she was doing a tasting of her products. Her mouth watering unique flavors stood out to me, malai kulfi, bourbon caramel, curry coconut milk… they might sound a little odd for gelato but they are absolutely delicious! I had a chance to sit down with Jasmine and chat about how she started Sweet Cup Gelato.
How did Sweet Cup Gelato start? Sweet Cup started on a honeymoon trip to Italy. I really fell in love with gelato. I had no clue what gelato was. I’ve always been an ice cream girl. I grew up on Blue Bell. My dad got me into ice cream so when I had this product, I thought it was a frozen custard or some kind of pudding. I instantly fell in love. I love the fact that the Italians put so much passion in, not just gelato, but the desserts, their food, their life. I was really inspired by that one trip.
When I came back, I decided to make gelato as a hobby at home on the weekends. It became something that grew into a bigger passion, I wasn’t trying to start a business or looking for something to do differently, it was just for fun. I started taking it to friends’ houses for dinner parties and people would joke, “you should start your own gelato shop”. The wheels started churning and I had an AHA moment. That would be pretty fun, I love doing and eating and making gelato. I decided to quit my job and really fully go into this. It wasn’t an overnight decision, a yearlong process.
I took classes on dairy science and took my advanced training in Italy. I was really serious about this so either I did something about it or I didn’t. I saw an abandoned Marble Slab and that was my sign; I had to start Sweet Cup. I love the Montrose area. My husband and I put our savings, everything we had, and we started Sweet Cup.
When you went abroad to study in Italy, did your husband go with you? Umm, no.
How did that work out? As entrepreneurs, business owners, we have to make sacrifices, sometimes give something up. That’s a huge step he supported you in. When I went to Italy, it wasn’t strictly for starting a business; it was more for me to understand gelato, for fun, more for me. I took time off, time away to do it. And I thought if something comes out of it great, if not, I have something I will always treasure and be happy with.
After I came back, we sat down and made a list of pros and cons and all the possibilities that could go wrong with doing this. The cons of a lot of things were related to us being a local startup and neither of us had restaurant or food experience, only me making gelato and desserts at the house and having a passion for it. He’s an engineer, so he doesn’t know much about this industry. It’s such a specialty industry that the banks pegged us at 90% failure rate the first year. They are very wary of investing in startups that are so specialized in the food industry and on top of that, we had no prior experience. I only had my certifications and classes and gelato examples as proof, but nothing to back me. That was the biggest risk of both of our lives.
The banks rejected us many times and the SBA didn’t even support us. Actually, one guy at the SBA, really old man looked like he was from the 1900s, told me, “young lady, I feel like this is an industry more male dominated, more Italian.” He didn’t say because I was a woman straight up. This kind of set me back, to see that they didn’t even support me or give me valuable advice to walk away with so I was kind of on my own.
Then I thought that added more fuel to the fire. Instead of taking all those rejections and going home and crying, I said you know what, I’m going to do something about it, screw it, I’m gonna go open that gelato shop and give it my all. At the end of the year if no one comes in, no one likes it, I know I tried my best.
After all those rejections, people saying we couldn’t do it, I decided to do it, not for them, but for myself. And I thought I’m gonna do it, what do I have to lose anyway?
How did you come up with the name, “Sweet Cup”? Sweet Cup came from my dad. Any general statement he would say, “go get me a sweet cup” of ice cream, it wasn’t gelato.
What were you doing before? I worked at the San Antonio Express News. I’m from Sab Antonio, TX born and raised. I’ve never been in the restaurant business so this was something that was scary but interesting and intriguing.
How was the transition? It was tough. I’m going to be honest, very tough.
What made it tough? It wasn’t making the gelato because I love doing that. That’s fun to me to create a flavor. The toughest part was everything about running a shop, a retail location. Not about brooming, mopping and sweeping. When you run a shop, you set your ego at the door. People come here because they want to experience a sweet cup of joy. To get away from outside world and have that moment. The toughest part is running a business of your passion. Transitioning to a business aspect is a whole new level you have to worry about. As you grow, you need support. Good help is hard to find. It’s all about the growing pains in a business
The first year, we couldn’t afford to hire anybody. It was me manning the front, my husband helping me out in the back on the evenings and weekends and me running in between production manning the store. That was really really tough. More than 100 hours a week, 3-4 hours of sleep. Settling the business was really difficult. We didn’t advertise or network, we didn’t put ourselves out there. That might be my biggest regret. And I think I did it because I wasn’t sure if people would like it, if people would like malai kulfi in gelato form.
What is the most rewarding part of having Sweet Cup Gelato now? When you create with your own hands and hard work, giving that cup of gelato or sorbet, and seeing a reaction from your customer… that’s the best part. Creating something and people enjoying it. Like, I can just roll over and die right now. People will tell me, “Oh this takes me back to my childhood.” I feel proud.
Biggest challenge? Constantly maintaining something that’s breaking down.
How do you come up with the flavors? A lot of these flavors are nostalgic for me. Like butter pecan, that’s something I grew up on with my dad. Malai kulfi is a favorite, but I personally don’t like the texture, it’s a little too icy for me. I’ll do something to represent my heritage, mom is Persian. Tres leches cake because I grew up in San Antonio… stuff that reminds me of home and how I grew up, being a Texan. My background, husband’s background, all the cultural influences and different cultures in Texas play a big part in how I come up with flavors too. Olive black pepper reminds me of Italy. Curry Coconut milk reminds me of my husband (he’s Indian) and represents Houston’s diversity and culture. I just love to play around with things. I like to do things with a different twist, out of the box. That’s always been me, I’ve never been a vanilla girl.
Do you have a fav? Honestly, it’s hard to say, I don’t have a favorite. I would love to have one, but each one is very personal to me. I do a lot of experimentation; I’m always trying my best to evolve.
What motivates you? Gelato. Maybe this sounds corny, but I feel like I have a purpose, a mission to make a good product and for people to enjoy it. When families come and they’re so happy to introduce others to this place, when I see people get so excited about the product and appreciate what I’m doing that they get to know me as a person. That gives me drive. A purpose that I’ve never had with any job in my life.
Wow, such a sweet (pun intended :)) story! If you live in Houston or maybe just visiting the city, make sure you stop in for a delicious sweet cup and tell Jasmine hi! ❤
#createwithpurpose
Moti Laine 