Jessica Mortarotti With Carmela Ice Cream, SUN LOVE Skincare, Story of a Startup

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Pasadena, California. This is Pasadena Business Radio. And now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here for another episode of Pasadena Business Radio. And this episode is brought to you by Xavier Inguanzo, realtor. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties. Today on Pasadena Business Radio, we have serial entrepreneur Jessica Mortarotti, and she is with Carmela Ice Cream, Sun Love Skincare, and the Story of a Startup Podcast. Welcome.

Jessica Mortarotti: Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you are up to. Let’s start with ice cream because everybody loves ice cream. Tell us about Carmella ice cream. How did you get that started? And kind of what was the genesis of the idea?

Jessica Mortarotti: Yeah. So I started Carmella Ice Cream a long time ago. I actually started it in 2007, and I’ve always been very entrepreneurial, so it was disappointing for some people to hear, but I actually had no experience with ice cream before I started it. It was really more of an entrepreneurial endeavor for me to start a business and learn from the process of starting a business. I happen to be really into food at the time and just kind of saw a niche for kind of, you know, artisan or handcrafted ice cream. At that time, that wasn’t a very common thing at all. And so I just sort of was intrigued by creating sort of an elevated ice cream experience and had to basically teach myself how to make ice cream as my first step in that. Uh, so exercise.

Lee Kantor: So take me back to back to that. So you’re at your house and you’re like, you know what? There’s no super high end, you know, kind of farm to table ice cream. And then you just like, go on. I don’t know, was YouTube even a thing back then at that time, do you even honestly not really know how to do that?

Jessica Mortarotti: It totally. Yeah. So it was, it was really just like, oh, let’s I’m going to start an ice cream business. Had that decision. And then it was like, well, how do you even make ice cream? And so I actually started looking around for classes, kind of like you’re saying like to teach me and just sort of I think I went to one at Sur La Table and kind of watched them make ice cream. And then I ended up going to this course in Pennsylvania called the Penn State Short Course, which is. Right.

Lee Kantor: So they’re known for making, you know, ice cream or teaching ice cream around the northeast, at least, I don’t know. I guess you had heard of them here from the West Coast, but they’re known in that space. So you so you really kind of said, I’m going to educate myself. I’m not going to just try to wing this. I’m going to learn from people who are experts at doing this.

Jessica Mortarotti: Well, yeah, that’s what that was my idea. So then I went I went out to that course in Pennsylvania, which lured me in, I guess, because it was it’s famous as the place where Ben and Jerry went when they got started. So I was like, this is perfect. I’ll just go and learn and it’ll be great. And then I pretty much went to it, came home and was more confused than when I had left because it was much more geared towards bigger manufacturing and, you know, like focusing on things like what kind of stabilizer do you put in your ice cream and like preservatives and like cleaning, just stuff that, like, I wasn’t interested in doing as a small kind of craft ice cream. I wanted to make a really high end product. So I had to kind of take a step back. And I ended up actually teaching myself, um, at the end of the day, I was hoping to learn, but then I ended up just sort of going, okay, well, how hard, how hard can it be? And um, and then essentially just started tinkering around at home with recipes and found, you know, got to the point where I was happy with the flavors and recipes that I was coming up with. So I, I assumed other people would be, too. And of course, I tested on, you know, friends and family during that time as well. But do you start with.

Lee Kantor: Do you start with like a vanilla base, like what is the what is the beginning? Like, do you say, okay, let me do vanilla, let me get that down. And then I can add, you know, things to it and make it, uh, different from that point. Or do you say, look, let’s add let’s do a flavor. Let’s start pistachio or chocolate or something that’s more complicated or like what was the the 1.0 version of this?

Jessica Mortarotti: The very first flavor I ever made was rose rose petal ice cream. Um, and that was just kind of because that flavor was one of the ones that inspired me on my business to begin with. I was very into like, floral infused ice creams, um, uh, ice cream that used like, fresh herbs and spices and things like that and like seasonal fruits. So I actually made Rose as my first flavor. But the way ice cream works is basically there’s a base and then you kind of add flavor to it. So, um, I, uh, you know, basically like once you kind of have your base down, which is what gives you the texture and the mouthfeel, it’s kind of like how much sugar, how much, um, you know, egg, there’s egg yolk usually in ice cream, how much egg yolk and just kind of getting those basics down. Then you can kind of tinker with flavor. But um, but yeah. So actually the first flavor was, was Rose, which um, yeah, not not vanilla.

Lee Kantor: So is there still Rose today?

Jessica Mortarotti: Yeah, I still do. Rose. Today we actually do it. Um, we try to do it in February. It’s a little tricky because we use, um, we use real roses that are grown in Pasadena, and we try to have it in February for like.

Lee Kantor: Valentine’s.

Jessica Mortarotti: Day and stuff like that, but, um, but yeah, so we, we actually put real roses, um, in our, in our ice cream that are grown for us in Pasadena because we have to have them specially grown without pesticides because most roses are heavily sprayed. So we’re not trying to, you know, infuse pesticides into our ice cream.

Lee Kantor: So then, uh, so you have this and you start developing flavors, you testing it on friends and family at that point. At what point do you say, you know what, I think I got something here. This is now I’m going to try to sell this now and see if people will buy it. It’s one thing to give it to your neighbor and they say, thanks for the ice cream. And the other thing is to get someone to, you know, cough up some cash for it.

Jessica Mortarotti: So yeah, as someone who had zero experience in ice cream and also starting a business, I basically didn’t have a lot of credibility at that time to go out and like get a big investor and like, open my own shop and do all the things that would be would have been nice to do. Um, so I had to really figure out a way to start super small. And so I actually, um, started renting kitchen space behind a pizza shop downtown LA. Like this is again, 2007. So it was like before it was cool. And it’s like now it’s like, I don’t even know if it’s cool anymore. But you know, there was a phase. Um, so it was like pretty sketchy, but. So I’d go at night and like, make ice cream in the back of this pizza shop and then took and I started selling at one farmer’s market a week. Uh, and that was how I wanted to get started, because I figured it was a good way to kind of market with like a low without really.

Lee Kantor: Not a big risk. But then you’re getting the market’s going to tell you if this is good or not. You’re getting strangers to test to see if they really like it.

Jessica Mortarotti: Yeah. And you can literally like sample and hand us, you know, a spoon of ice cream to somebody and look them in the eye and kind of get their reaction.

Lee Kantor: And get immediate feedback. Right? Yeah.

Jessica Mortarotti: Yeah. So it actually ended up being really good. And it made sense for Carmella Ice Cream because we’re kind of like a farm to table ice cream. So I would actually work with the farmers market vendors to use their produce and then put it into our ice cream. So it was like this nice kind of synergy that we had with that. Um, so it kind of worked out really nicely.

Lee Kantor: And then, um, at that point, was it a hit at go, like the first day you’re there, you sell out or did it take some tinkering to get the right flavor mixes that people liked?

Jessica Mortarotti: I mean, I think when I first started, yeah, I had a handful of flavors. I remember that I when I first started in the farmers markets, I didn’t even have a chocolate ice cream because I couldn’t figure out how to make it. I couldn’t figure out a good recipe for chocolate. So I just started, which is crazy as an ice cream company, but, um, I didn’t. I was like, I don’t know, I just have these other flavors that’ll do for now. But, um, it started slow, but like, actually not that slow. So the first year I think I was in the farmers market, and then I expanded to some other farmers markets around LA, um, and we were, we were voted, uh, I think best of LA. I’m trying to remember it was the first year we were there, but it was like very early on. We were picked up by like Bon Appetit magazine. Within the first year, as you know, they had us featured. And so I think it was just I think we had good timing. I think we had a unique product at the time that was, like I said, wasn’t really out there at that point. It was kind of like during the froyo era of popularity. Um, and so artists and ice cream just wasn’t a thing yet. So we were kind of timed right to be interesting. And then, um, and then, yeah, it was kind of also timed with, I guess it was like sort of the slow food movement where people were very into, like where their foods came from and like kind of the craft behind it. Um, so, so yeah. So we ended up getting a lot of recognition just simply by being out there at the farmers markets in LA and getting featured in a lot of like publications and, and shows and things like that. So yeah, now.

Lee Kantor: That’s a dream of every entrepreneur. They start a business and they get picked up by the media and they get some, uh, you know, excitement built around the brand. Was that something that just was pure luck, or did you have contacts in the media business? You had experience in marketing? Like like, did that just happen, or was it something that you were able to leverage a network to help achieve?

Jessica Mortarotti: It was honestly, I think, you know, looking back, I realize how fortunate I was at that time that that all went off so well. And again, I think it had a lot to do with just what the brand was and the product we were doing and the timing of everything. But I didn’t have, um, I didn’t have contacts in the media. So it was really just like meeting people. Again, a lot of people just out at the markets or wherever and just kind of making connections. And, um, and just figuring it out. You know, I think when I opened my first location, the shop in Pasadena, I just basically had, like, hired an intern who worked for free, who sent out a I wrote my own press release and had her send out, like announcing the shop was open and this and that and and just sort of like, fake it till you make it a little bit.

Lee Kantor: And then, I mean, I’m just trying to get for an entrepreneur that’s listening. You don’t have to be an expert and you don’t have to be, you know, this mega influencer to be successful. You have to have a good product. I mean, if you didn’t have a good product, I can’t believe that this would have all happened the way that it happened. I mean, you you had a quality product and then you grinded. I mean, you were going to the shops at night just trying to make something happen. I mean, it’s a great success story. You should be super proud.

Jessica Mortarotti: Oh. Thank you. I mean, yeah, I agree, I think you have to have a good product and then you also have to have what I always call like fierce determination. Like you have to basically not have, you know, failure as an option because you do just pretty much have to grind. And I and I definitely did when I started Kamala, I was it was a full on thing. I mean, I had my I had my daughter. I, I had gave birth to my daughter, went home 12 hours later and was like hauling her around to the kitchen to, you know.

Lee Kantor: Time to make the ice cream.

Jessica Mortarotti: Right. This is not nothing stops for this, you know. So it just it takes kind of being a little psychotic and, like, just not being willing to, you know, compromise any energy on just moving forward. I think momentum for entrepreneurs when you’re starting a business is really, really important, um, to keep the momentum moving. However, however you can.

Lee Kantor: Now, it sounds like you also had a support system that people were kind of rooting for you and giving you kind of the bandwidth you needed to get that escape velocity. Um, no.

Jessica Mortarotti: Not so sure. I mean, most people thought I was crazy because they were like, why would you make an ice cream business? Because you don’t know what how to do that, you know, you don’t even know how to make ice.

Lee Kantor: So you were fighting that. So you.

Jessica Mortarotti: I was fighting all that too. Yeah.

Lee Kantor: Well, so. But you were determined. I mean, you didn’t have you. You believed in this so much, you were investing a lot of time, energy and resources in this. This wasn’t something that’s like, oh, I’ll give it a shot. And you, you try it one time and you’re like, oh, that didn’t work out. Like you were. You put all your cards on the table and you, you went kind of all in on this.

Jessica Mortarotti: Kind of all in. Yeah. And just basically a very strong vision. And, um, this is something I always tell people too. It’s like you just have if you have like a really, really clear vision of kind of your end goal of what you want to be creating and what you want to be doing, and then you just basically as you move forward, just keep asking yourself, like, is this step I’m taking right now getting me closer to that goal or not? And then just, you know, and then you just take one step at a time and keep keep moving along and figure it out as you go.

Lee Kantor: Now how did Son Love kind of pop up here? Was this something that happened at the same time or you had gotten stabilized? Carmella where it’s it’s successful. It’s doing what it needs to do. And then now let me do something a little different? Or was this an opportunity that bubbled up, like, how did this come about?

Jessica Mortarotti: Yeah. So like my actual my actual story is I had Carmella kind of kind of rolling at a certain point and then because again, like, I’m not I don’t see myself as only an ice cream person. I see myself more as an entrepreneur. I started as a second business based on an interest I had at the time in wellness, which was an infrared sauna studio called hotbox. And, um, I didn’t give you that information earlier because I don’t I’m not involved in it currently, but it was basically another business that I created from scratch and got got launched and then ended up, long story short, sort of getting purchased by a business partner. Um, but so that one was just based on, you know, my, my desire, you know, to like, you know, like wellness trends that I saw happening and things like that. And, um, so I created, like a franchise, uh, sauna studio business. Um, and then Son Love is actually about to launch. I haven’t quite started it yet. Um, it’s about to launch this spring, and it’s something I’ve been working on for probably very kind of on a part time basis for a couple of years now. Um, but it it’s a skincare business that sort of it’s sort of in, in more of that wellness vein like the other business I started.

Jessica Mortarotti: Um, so it’s just again, it’s kind of like based on personal interest, but I always look for, um, a niche within the market to kind of carve out, uh, something that’s a little more, a little bit more noteworthy, I guess. So in terms of Son Love, it’s a skincare brand. Um, that’s going to be a direct to consumer skincare brand, uh, that focuses on sun care. But it takes a different approach to sun care. It’s Its not a sunscreen brand, its more of like a holistic sun care brand, and I kind of was inspired off that because I live in Palm Springs part time and was in the sun a lot, and realizing there’s a lot more that goes into sun care than just putting on sunscreen. Um, and you want to, you know, take care of your skin in terms of like, hydration and like things you can do after you’re in the sun to kind of nurture your skin and things like that. And so, um, yeah, we’re working with, like a really cool ingredient that’s in all of our products. And, um, at the end of the day, it’s been a little similar to starting Carmela, I guess, because I, I’ve created, um, I’m creating formulations, which is kind of reminding me a bit of creating ice cream recipes.

Lee Kantor: And then this is something that you didn’t have a background in creating this. You’re learning it or you learned it or partnered with experts that knew this business.

Jessica Mortarotti: Yeah. Like same same thing. I don’t have a background in this at all and have had to learn along the way, which I guess is why it takes me a little bit of time to, to get it going because, you know, and I’m still running Carmella simultaneously right now as well. Um, so yeah. So I’ve had to kind of learn about the whole industry of skincare. And there’s actually we actually are doing a supplement component to the business too. So we’re so I had to learn about supplements and also topical skincare products and just everything about those industries. And um, yeah. So that’s kind of the part I like though. It’s it’s like the fun challenge of, of learning something new and, and getting something created and launched.

Lee Kantor: Right. Like you’re figuring out a puzzle.

Jessica Mortarotti: Yeah. Yeah. It’s kind of like the fun part. Now, I don’t really love the ongoing operations after that, but I like the beginning part.

Lee Kantor: Now.

Lee Kantor: How did the podcast come about? Is that is that are you kind of documenting your, uh, Your your journey.

Jessica Mortarotti: Yeah, exactly. So, um, it was an idea to like, I love entrepreneurs, I love talking to other entrepreneurs. I feel like they’re my people, you know? And, um, we I can relate, and I find it inspiring. And I think it’s also the best way you can really learn about, you know, starting a business is by just hearing somebody’s story about how they started. So the idea behind my podcast is, um, yes, it’s actually it’s in real time, sort of something where I document and talk about the process of starting Sunlove, um, which I think is pretty, pretty cool because I think a lot of times people keep things close to the chest, and I’m trying to be a little bit more just like open about the process and, um, share as I go, you know, the process of, of creating this business and getting it launched. And then but I co-host it with my brother and then we also interview other, you know, basically startup entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs who have started businesses and we interview them. So it’s a mix of that and talking about the story of of starting Sunlove.

Lee Kantor: Now, is Carmella is there franchising on the horizon for that, or is that something that is going to be what it is, uh, today?

Jessica Mortarotti: Uh, I am figuring that out right now. Carmella I originally started with my now ex, who when we sort of separated, I ended up having I ended up sort of retaining Carmella for myself. And so now, um, that’s been relatively recently. So now I’m just actually deciding what I want to do. And yeah, like figuring out how I would like to grow that business and, um, the best path for it at the moment. So, so I’m not really sure right now, actually, I’m kind of like it’s a little bit in a startup phase in a way, with, with that business, even though it’s been it’s been existing for a long time.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to connect with you and learn more about Carmella or Sunlove or check out your podcast, what is the websites or coordinates for each of those?

Jessica Mortarotti: Yeah. So, um, yeah, my you can do like Instagram. Jessica mortara is my my name. Um, or you know Carmella. Carmella ice cream. Com uh sunlove is Sunlove skincare.com and story of a startup. Uh is I think it’s just story of a startup podcast. Com.

Lee Kantor: Well, Jessica, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such amazing things and we appreciate you.

Jessica Mortarotti: I appreciate it I appreciate you taking the time to chat with me. Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: All right. This Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Pasadena Business Radio.