Lauren Townsend, co-founder and president, Millie’s Homemade Ice Cream. Pictured in Homestead, location of the Millie’s Ice Cream production facility on 7th Avenue.. (JIM HARRIS/PBT)
By Mitra Nourbakhsh, Pittsburgh Business Times
Lauren Townsend’s story is one of the ultimate career switch. In 2015, Lauren, a Georgetown graduate, left behind a job at Incline Equity to take a gamble on ice cream. She and her husband, Chad Townsend, started the tiny business out of their home kitchen, opening their first brick-and-mortar location in Shadyside in 2016. The walls were painted with bold pink stripes. And on the banner hanging outside read the name: Millie’s, named after Chad’s grandmother. These days, that name and those stripes are a Pittsburgh staple, with 18 locations, one of which is in Florida, and a factory in Homestead. And Lauren is far from done; after starting to franchise in 2021, she hopes to create a Millie’s Homemade Ice Cream empire that stretches up and down the east coast.
You have had quite the career, starting out in private equity and then starting a small business. Can you tell me about that transition?
[Private equity] was a great, formative experience for me. I learned a lot, really got to see firsthand how to run a business. I was in boardrooms with CEOs and COOs of middle-market companies in my 20s. It was an amazing experience, but ultimately, I got the entrepreneurial bug, especially after seeing founders and owners, we would often acquire a company from a founder or owner, and I always thought it was really neat to see that trajectory – someone growing a company from nothing to a substantial business. I was kind of in awe of that.
I remember when Millie’s first opened. Now it has multiple locations and has started franchising. How were you able to expand it like that?
So we have 19 units now, across brick-and-mortar locations, kiosks and food trucks in Pennsylvania, and also now in Florida. We built a brand new factory in Homestead to support our growth, opened the doors of our factory and ran our first production in January of 2020. And then two months later everything shut down. So, we had a lot of capacity and we had a lot of brand believers, these loyal customers of Millie’s that were coming to us asking if they could be a part of this. We did not know much about franchising, but my good friend from undergrad had become a franchise attorney and I started talking to her about it. She had been following the brand for years and she really gave me the primer I needed to feel confident enough to start franchising. So that’s what we did in 2021. Our first franchisee is in South Fayette … and now we have six franchisees.
Part of the charm of Millie’s is the fact that it feels like such a local, small business. Do you think you will face any challenges with trying to maintain that charm as it grows?
I think franchising actually allows us to maintain that small business feel, because many of our franchisees are husband-wife teams, or best friends who own and operate a Millie’s as a family-owned business, so they care just as much about what’s happening in their shop as Chad and I would. Franchising allows us to ensure that Millie’s is owned and operated by people who really care about their community.
What are your goals for Millie’s over the next 10 years or so?
We would like to grow Millie’s up and down the east coast.
Did you go into it with the goal that you would be creating a multi-state business?
No, we actually went into it thinking that we would manufacture artisanal ice cream for restaurants. And then when we opened our first scoop shop in 2016, we very quickly realized this was more of a B2C model.
What makes Millie’s special and what have you done personally that has made it such a success?
I think I’ve done a good job of surrounding myself with people that are smarter than me. As far as the growth, at the end of the day, people come to Millie’s because of the guest experience and to escape reality for a minute, and ice cream is a really great way to do that. I think our staying power has resulted from our ability to ensure that Millie’s is a place for everyone. We take a lot of pride in our allergen-friendly service and options. We’ve heard many times from families of four or five, where a son has a gluten intolerance, daughter has a dairy intolerance and maybe mom has a nut allergy, and the entire family can come to Millie’s and find something delicious.
What does your day-to-day look like?
Every day is different, which I love. I think that’s the best part of life as an entrepreneur. Some days are what you would expect, where I’m on calls with attorneys and accountants all day. And then other days, I get to show up at an event and scoop ice cream and make moments for people. I tend to focus on strategy, finance, marketing and business development at Millie’s. And my husband tends to focus on manufacturing, food science, supply chain and he also does quite a bit of business development as well. So we have highly complementary skill sets.
What’s it like working with your husband?
We’re still happily married! It’s good…It’s hard when you’re in the day-to-day, in the minutia. Sometimes you need to back up and get that 1,000-foot view. And we’ve done a good job of surrounding ourselves with really smart people.
I just have one more question. It’s a very important one. What is your all-time favorite ice cream flavor?
I have a few. The one we make year-round that’s my favorite is our pistachio. And fun fact, it’s also our least-selling flavor. And a seasonal flavor that I absolutely love is our Concord Grape Sorbet.
BIOBOX
Title: Co-founder and president, Millie’s
Education: B.S., science, technology & international affairs, Georgetown University
First job: Working at Wallace Family Bakery in Caste Village (Whitehall)
Residence: Fox Chapel
Family: Husband, Chad; son, Cassius; daughter, Madeleine
Hobbies: Spending time with friends & family, art
Causes: Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Steel Valley Accelerator
Day in the Life
7 a.m.: I wake up, get my kids ready for school, drop them off, and then grab a coffee at Redhawk in Sharpsburg on my way to Homestead.
9:30 a.m.: I arrive in Homestead (Millie’s HQ) and catch up with my colleagues. If I have a lot of calls scheduled, I will work from home.
12 p.m.: Lunch is usually a turkey sandwich unless I have a lunch date with my husband.
5 p.m.: If we don’t have a Millie’s commitment, then our evenings are filled with youth gymnastics & hockey.
12 a.m.: I am a night owl, regrettably. It is common to find me in an Excel spreadsheet at midnight.
Mitra Nourbakhsh is a student at Northwestern University and one of 10 Pittsburgh Media Partnership summer interns. Mitra is interning with the Pittsburgh Business Times.
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