In one of the most remarkable feats ever performed by a frozen dessert, Halo Top ice cream became the best-selling pint in America just six years after launch. Its founder Justin Woolverton was a frustrated lawyer who developed the recipe in his Cuisinart, mixing Stevia, egg whites and fruit into a low-calorie treat that tasted good enough to sell. Many recipes later—some runny, some rock-hard—Justin got the ice cream into stores; and soon, social media was flooded with images of people polishing off the 300-calorie pints. After outselling Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s in 2017, Halo Top’s charisma faded, and a slew of new competitors entered the field. In 2019, Justin sold the company for an undisclosed amount, and now enjoys his ice cream at a less frenetic pace.
This episode was produced by Kerry Thompson, with music by Ramtin Arablouei
Edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Alex Cheng.
You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram, and email us at hibt@id.wondery.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Doing the bees’ work with Thai Sade of BloomX
Primary: Christina Carbonell and Galyn Bernard
Designing shoes for women's feet with Wes and Allyson Felix of Saysh (2023)
Calendly: Tope Awotona (2020)
Sharing the 2023 HIBT Lab Highlight Reel
Aviator Nation: Paige Mycoskie
Charging up the electric vehicle market with RJ Scaringe of Rivian
KiwiCo: Sandra Oh Lin
Shooting for the moon with Steve Altemus of Intuitive Machines
reCAPTCHA and Duolingo: Luis von Ahn (2020)
Framing the future of eyecare with Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa of Warby Parker
Wondery: Hernan Lopez
Full body preventive health care with Andrew Lacy of Prenuvo
Briogeo Hair Care: Nancy Twine (2020)
The surprise that's saving food with Lucie Basch of Too Good To Go (2023)
CAVA: Ted Xenohristos and Brett Schulman
The future of driving is autonomous with Dmitri Dolgov of Waymo
Everlane: Michael Preysman
Literally unearthing a climate solution with Cody Finke of Brimstone
Priority Bicycles: Dave Weiner
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The emPOWERed Half Hour
Planet Money
Freakonomics Radio
The Daily
Kids Of The Future
Best of Storytime RNZ