Ample Hills Creamery Founders: Brian & Jackie’s business journey — from building a beloved brand to losing it all, and starting again. Now, they’re creating something completely new — a story about resilience, creativity, and finding purpose on the other side of success and failure.
S3E2: From Ice Cream to Cracklin’ Chicken: The Unexpected Pivot
After losing Ample Hills 2.0 and The Social, we weren’t planning on starting another business — especially not one involving cracklin' chicken smash burgers-and yet, here we are. In this episode we talk about how long walks through grocery aisles, lots or research and experimentation, hosting R&D dinners and a lingering ache to create again led us somewhere completely unexpected: Ramblin' Chick
19 Nov 2025
S3E1: The end of the Social & Ample Hills: What We Lost and What We Learned
Two years after losing The Social and Ample Hills, and almost four since our last podcast, we’re finally ready to talk about it. This episode is part catch-up, part reflection, and part new beginning — the story of loss, rebuilding, and finding our way forward. Join us as we begin our next venture and continue this journey together.
17 Jan 2022
Ep. 14- Opening Day and Beyond...
We finally did it, we finally opened The Social! Join us for a conversation about the ups and down of opening day and the first few months of business.
19 Jul 2021
Ep. 13 "Opening Day Just Days Away..."
We've been building out our new ice cream parlor, the Social, for the past few months. Opening Day is just a few days away. We're not quite ready, and we're not quite sure we will be, but one way or the other we'll be open soon. Come and hear the latest challenges as we get ready to launch the Social.
7 Jun 2021
Ep. 12 "Construction Junction: the Social Takes Shape"
We're midway through construction on our new shop. We discuss the ups and downs of building out a shop in 2021, our fears and our excitement as we move closer to opening the Social ( www.theSocialBrooklyn.com)
19 Apr 2021
Ep. 11 "First Steps for the Social"
We walk you through the first steps we need to take to open our new shop, and the hurdles we still have to overcome.
22 Mar 2021
Ep. 10 "Starting Over"
We signed a lease on a new space for a brand new company on March 16th 2021, one year to the day after we filed for bankruptcy. We talk about the new company, the meaning behind the name and what led us to this point.
28 Sept 2020
Ep. 9 "Q&A"
This week we answer many of the questions listeners have had throughout the podcast.
21 Sept 2020
Ep. 8: "Married with Ice Cream and Children"
Starting and running a business with your partner has it's own set of difficulties. Raising a family, growing a business and maintaining your relationship can be even more challenging. This week we explore what it means to raise a family, raise a business and how best to stay balanced and joyous throughout.
14 Sept 2020
Ep. 7 "The Challenges of Starting Over"
We'd opened our first shop on Vanderbilt Ave. with our own money. When we decided to grow Ample Hills and open a factory we had to borrow money from the bank. The only way the bank would loan the business money was if Brian and I signed a personal guarantee. That means if the business goes belly up (bankrupt), then we still owe that money.
7 Sept 2020
Ep. 6 "The Bankruptcy Process"
After we'd exhausted all efforts to raise money, we filed for bankruptcy. We filed on March 15th, the day before New York City went into lockdown due to COVID-19. It was a very dark and scary time on so many levels and yet we had high hopes for the value and sale of the company we created from scratch.
31 Aug 2020
Ep. 5 "Financial Troubles"
It was summer of 2019 when we learned we had a cash flow problem and wouldn't make it through the winter. We spent the next 9 months trying to raise money to raise the company.
24 Aug 2020
Ep.4 "A Factory Grows in Brooklyn"
We opened our Factory in Brooklyn in July of 2018 but didn't start making ice cream until September. And there was a big learning curve...\
** Sonic Note ** Near the end of the episode the white noise that you hear is the sound of rain on the log cabin we recorded this episode at, in the Adirondacks.
24 Aug 2020
Ep.3 "Disney shop opens & The need to expand"
We opened our Disney shop in May of 2016 at Disney's Boardwalk in Orlando. This precipitated the need to open a much larger production facility as we'd reached capacity at our Gowanus location. The search to build a factory where we had 100% control over our ice cream making and our baking had begun. But our vision was always about being playful, educating folks on how ice cream is made and telling stories...
24 Aug 2020
Ep.2 "Ample Fandom; Bob Iger, Oprah, Steven Spielberg & more"
Once we started shipping ice cream we were able to attract some famous fans such as Bob Iger, Steven Spielberg, Oprah and JJ Abrams to name but a few...
9 Aug 2020
Ep.1 "Our humble beginnings; From Pushcart to scoop shop to selling out of ice cream"
We started with a single pushcart in Prospect Park in the summer of 2010 and opened our first scoop shop in May of 2011. We were novice entrepreneurs and new parents in search of a neighborhood ice cream shop filled with nostalgia and whimsy and over the top, playful ice cream flavors. We are proud to have founded Ample Hills Creamery; named after a Walt Whitman poem about the connections between people across time and space.
What is it then between us?
What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years between us?
Whatever it is, it avails not--Distance avails not, and place avails not,
I too lived, Brooklyn of ample hills was mine.
--Walt Whitman, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry 1856
30 Jul 2020
As the Ice Cream Churns (Trailer)
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Apple Podcasts (US)
4.7 / 5
29 ratings
Spotify
3.5 / 5
4 ratings
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