Salt & Straw facts for kids

Salt & Straw

Industry	Retail
Founded	2011; 13 years ago (2011) in Portland, Oregon
Founders	Kim Malek Tyler Malek
Number of locations	30 (2022)
Products	Ice Cream

Salt & Straw is an ice cream company based in Portland, Oregon. The company was launched in 2011 by cousins Kim Malek and Tyler Malek.

Company history

Salt & Straw began as a food cart in the Alberta Arts District of Portland, Oregon. Three months later the company opened its first brick-and-mortar location. Since opening in 2011, Salt & Straw has opened three other locations in Portland and offers a home delivery service throughout the US. In order to ship ice cream nationwide delivery, the company packs its ice cream in dry ice and kraft paper. Salt & Straw has locations in Portland, Eugene, Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Francisco, San Diego, Orlando, Sacramento, Seattle, and Miami. Salt & Straw is partially owned by film star and wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

List of flavors

Salt & Straw ice cream

Since opening, Salt & Straw has gained national media attention for its exotic ice cream flavors, some of which are seasonal. Standout flavors, such as Bone Marrow with Bourbon Smoked Cherries and Arbequina Olive Oil, have served as some of the main reasons Salt and Straw has been included on lists of America's best ice cream. Flavors offered at the ice cream shop vary depending on the seasons and ingredient availability, as all main ingredients are locally sourced. A list of regular Salt and Straw flavors follows (though these differ by location):

In 2015, Salt & Straw partnered each shop with different elementary schools to create flavors designed by children. Stop, Guac & Roll (avocado-vanilla ice cream with cinnamon-sugar-dusted fried tortillas) and Honey Bear (vanilla custard with chocolate honeycomb candy and edible glitter) were two of the flavors created.

In 2016, Salt & Straw developed new flavors from "food waste"—edible by-products of the food production process. New flavors were made with overripe strawberries, spent brewing grains and near-expiration date vegan mayonnaise. Proceeds from the sales of the featured flavors from its Portland stores ($3,000) were donated to Urban Gleaners, a Portland nonprofit. Salt & Straw creates little food waste or scraps, because its products are frozen. When an item is no longer offered on its menu, any leftover ice cream is donated to a nonprofit.

In 2022, on National Ice Cream Day, the company introduced edible perfume as an ice-cream enhancement. Malek worked with Imaginary Authors to create cocoa, citrus and floral scents that can be spritzed on scoops.