Meet Jessica Wood of French Custard

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Wood. 

Hi Jessica, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
We moved back to Kansas City from New York City in March of 2020 and were gifted a vintage ice cream maker from Alex’s grandmother. We are both very passionate about cooking and food, so we immediately dove into making the best ice cream possible. There wasn’t much else to do! 

I set out to make Alex’s favorite flavor, honeycomb, which was readily available when we were living in New York City but something we struggled to find in Kansas City. We ended up making so much ice cream that we had to start giving it away to family and friends and quickly realized that we had some seriously good stuff on our hands. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been mostly smooth (or as smooth as starting a business can be!), but there has been a big learning curve when it comes to making so much ice cream every week. The pop-up model has a lot of benefits, but will always be difficult because you don’t have your own store or space to experiment. There’s a lot to juggle when you are doing pop-ups and you really have to hustle and be creative about how and where to sell your product. 

As you know, we’re big fans of French Custard. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
French Custard is at its core, delicious French ice cream made from scratch. The cookies and candies we mix into our ice cream are all homemade because we strive to make the absolute best ice cream in the Midwest. We’re very proud of our dedication to quality and making our ice cream from scratch and it really sets our brand apart. 

One exciting option that we offer is the chance to pre-order pints and quarts of ice cream ahead of time for our pop-ups. We have really found that being able to guarantee your favorite flavor makes everyone happier! Flavors like Honeycomb and Chocolate Toffee Crunch sell out extremely fast, which is why we always recommend pre-ordering in advance. We will also be launching gallon containers in limited flavors. We have your ice cream needs covered on game days, parties, and anytime you just need a gallon of vanilla! 

Who else deserves credit in your story?
We’ve had so much support from the Kansas City community. Robin Krause, the owner of Billie’s Grocery, has helped us in every way imaginable. She has taste-tested, given advice, let us set up shop, etc. We really couldn’t have done this without her guidance. 

We’ve also had so much help from the pop-up community. Kat from Dead Beet Eats, Kelsey from Little Butter Bakery, and Savannah from the C-Word, as well as a million others, have answered all of our questions and given so many tips to keep our business going. We appreciate everyone so much. 

Pricing:

• Pints $9
• Vegan Pints $10
• Quarts $18
• Cups $4
• Vegan Cups $5

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.frenchcustard.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefrenchcustard/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefrenchcustard/