Advice Line with Jeni Britton of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams (2025)

July 9, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Jeni Britton, founder of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, built a national brand from Columbus, Ohio by putting nearly all of her resources into product quality rather than expensive coastal real estate. On this episode of the Advice Line, she fields calls from three CPG founders and offers operating principles that reflect her own experience: start small, build methodically, keep control as long as possible, and let the product do the talking.

Why Columbus worked

Britton dropped out of art school at Ohio State in 1996 to start making ice cream, and she never questioned the decision. She chose Columbus deliberately. "I drove by farms every day," she says. "I knew that we were a dairy state because I saw it in front of me." But the strategic advantage went deeper than ingredient access. In a mid-sized city, "the city gets behind it in a different way. You can really try things and also fail a lot and people still stick with you." In big cities, "everybody's trying new things. It's really hard to stand out." The cost difference was decisive: "All of our money would have been in rent and paying people in Brooklyn. Here we can put it all in the ice cream."

The capital question: control versus growth

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Episode Introduction & Sponsor Pre-Roll** - Guy Raz introduces the episode as a revisit of a favorite Advice Line with Jeni Britton of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, originally aired March 2025.
2 (04:09) **Jeni Britton Joins the Show** - Guy welcomes Jeni back; she discusses her origin story of dropping out of art school in 1996 to make ice cream.
3 (06:51) **Why Columbus Was the Perfect Launch City** - Jeni explains the strategic advantages of building a national brand from a mid-sized Midwestern city.
4 (08:07) **Introducing Flora: A New Fiber Company** - Jeni describes her new venture, Flora, which makes high-fiber bars from produce trimmings (e.g., apple cores, watermelon rinds).
5 (10:15) **Caller 1: Jesse Konig (Jesse & Ben's Fries)** - Jesse introduces his frozen fry brand made without seed oils, using beef tallow or avocado oil.
6 (13:38) **Advice: Marketing Focus for a Better-For-You Fry Brand** - Jesse asks whether to market to the "seed oil aware" crowd or to a broader audience.
7 (24:36) **Caller 2: Casey White (Jaju Pierogi)** - Casey introduces her frozen pierogi brand, made from her grandfather's recipe, now in ~2,700 stores and entering Costco.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams founder Jeni Britton joins Guy on the Advice Line to answer questions from three early-stage entrepreneurs. Plus, how Jeni’s newest venture Floura is tackling one of America’s largest dietary needs—fiber.

First, we meet Jesse in Washington, D.C., who’s wondering how to best focus marketing efforts for his frozen french fry company. Then Casey from Boston, who's questioning the pressure she's feeling to pursue outside capital for her frozen pierogi brand. And finally, Callie from Los Angeles asks about the pros and cons of contracting a PR firm to promote her purple sweet potato pet treats.

Thank you to the founders of Jesse & Ben’s, Jaju Pierogi and Ubae.co for being a part of our show.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to [email protected] or call 1-800-433-1298.

And be sure to listen to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams’ founding story as told by Jeni on the show in 2018.

This episode was produced by Katherine Sypher with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Neal Rauch.

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