The Coolhaus flogs fancy ice cream sandwiches named punnily after hot-shot starchitects, like flavors below:
•Peter Cookies ’n Cream: Snickerdoodle, Cookies ’n Sweet Cream •Buck-Mint-ster Fuller: Chocolate Chip, Dirty Mint Chip •Mies Vanilla Rohe: Chocolate Chip, Tahitian Vanilla Bean •Bananas Foster: Double Chocolate Sea Salt, Bananas Foster •IM Pei-Nut Butter: Double Chocolate, Peanut Butter •Tea-Dao Ando: Vegan Ginger Molasses, Green Tea •Frank Behry: Snickerdoodle, Strawberry.
Natasha and Freya started baking cookies and making ice cream in Freya's mom's kitchen in the Fall of 2008. They named the flavor combinations after architects and architectural movements they were inspired by and started experimenting with recipes and testing them on friends. It seemed like a fun art project with "farchitecture" in mind ie food + architecture.
One day it occurred to Freya and Natasha that an ice cream truck would be a perfect way to disseminate their ice cream sandwiches (and architecture dialogue) around the city of LA. The truck would be a nod to the past tradition of the Good Humor man selling ice cream novelties around neighborhoods, but with a modern twist – not to mention the long-withstanding popularity of taco trucks around LA and the rapidly growing infatuation with "gourmet" food trucks. The timing seemed perfect, now all Freya and Natasha needed was a truck!
They found a postal truck on Craigslist and were able to afford it with money they had saved from their other jobs. They prepared the truck and their product for their launch at Coachella Valley Music Festival in April of 2009 where the product was very well received – and when they came back to LA, they had generated a strong buzz and following.
Today, they have a fleet of 4 trucks in LA, 2 trucks and 1 cart in NY, 2 trucks in Austin, 2 trucks in Miami, a newly launched storefront in Culver City, CA and even have their ice cream sandwiches at Southern California Whole Foods Markets. They hope to continue to expand to other cities nationally, and maybe even globally (doesn't hurt to dream, right?)!
