Ice Cream Social
Temporada 1
por David Boyer
Takeaways Big ideas can take years, so keep saying them out loud. Tracy Ore talked about creating a tomato unique to St. Cloud State from 2010 until a botanist arrived in 2022 and said it was easy, and now students have made more than 2,000 crosses. A garden with no fences, no fees, and no application can work. After 20 years, Tracy has seen people contribute well beyond what they take, the opposite of the tragedy of the commons. Community projects need a succession plan. Tracy is raising money to hire an executive director who can shadow her and carry the garden's core principles forward, so the work lasts beyond any one person. Summary of the episode In Part 2 of this conversation on Ice Cream Social, host David Boyer and Tracy Ore, professor of sociology and director of the community garden at St. Cloud State University, dig into the Husky tomato. The name honors the university mascot, though Tracy admits a different husky tomato already exists, so a tweak like "husky red and black tomato" may be coming. Tracy had pitched the idea of a tomato unique to campus since 2010, until Dr. Angela McDonnell, a botanist and biology professor who had just been cross-pollinating eggplants, arrived in 2022 and told her it was easy. Students and faculty started with striped and black tomato varieties and have now completed more than 2,000 crosses across four generations, with students presenting their work at conferences. The goal is a flavorful, attractive, consistent black and red tomato about the size of a cocktail tomato. This summer they planted seven seed sets, labeled them in secret, and Tracy and Dr. McDonnell each independently identified two seed sets they wanted. One selection is now growing in the greenhouse, and its very dark purple seedlings showed off a plant science concept called hybrid vigor. Tracy describes the flavor as sweeter and deeper than most tomatoes, great on a sandwich, and David is already dreaming of a tomato ice cream. He mentions that Crew has recently been experimenting with tomato ice cream of their own. The conversation then tours the rest of the garden: 20 varieties of okra, 30 varieties of eggplant, nearly 100 varieties of hot peppers, bitter melon, snake gourd, 12 kinds of basil, shiso, lemongrass, lemon balm, lemon verbena, and house-made tea blends. Tracy grows a wide diversity of plants so that no matter who walks in, they see something familiar, and she delivers herbs regularly to local businesses. Looking back on 20-plus years, Tracy shares a Grace Lee Boggs line from her email footer about staying in one place being the most radical thing she ever did. Staying put has given her a foundation and a community that shows up when things get hard. She shares a funny story about being greeted as "Garden lady" by the food sample guy at Costco, and says she feels she has earned a respectable place in the community and has the best job in the world. The episode wraps up with the future. David is eager to build serious ice cream collaborations with the garden, following the strawberry basil flavor Jupiter Moon made last year. Tracy shares her vision for The Commons, a house between the gardens that would become a food education and food preservation center with a cafe run by a tech college culinary arts program, plus a professional kitchen for community gatherings and ice cream collaborations. She is giving herself four years to raise money for an executive director, and has dreams of hiring a chief jam officer. Part 3 arrives next week. https://www.jupitermoonicecream.com/
Mentioned in this show: PBS Doc on Grace Lee Boggs: https://www.pbs.org/video/pov-american-revolutionary-meet-grace-lee-boggs/ Grace Lee Boggs children's book: https://link.amazon/B01TZGEbm Takeaways Real community change starts when you stay put. Tracy Ore's mentor challenged her to stay in one place long enough to name its problems with authority, and that challenge turned into a community garden that is still growing 20 years later. You do not need to know how to do something before you start. Tracy had never grown a vegetable before launching the St. Cloud State University Community Garden, and today it grows 95 varieties of tomatoes and is developing a brand-new one. Borrow companion planting for your community work. Instead of seeing other organizations as competition, ask what each partner brings to the table and how everyone's contributions can build on each other. In Part 1 of this conversation on Ice Cream Social, host David Boyer welcomes Tracy Ore, a professor of sociology and the director of the community garden at St. Cloud State University. David opens by explaining why the show exists: community and ice cream, and the people in central Minnesota doing their own thing for the same reason he started Jupiter Moon. Tracy is, in his words, the right guest. Tracy shares the origin story of the St. Cloud State Community Garden. In 2004, a mentor asked how she liked living in St. Cloud, and Tracy said she hated it and wanted to leave. That mentor, Grace Lee Boggs, told her you can't always just leave, and that you need to stay in one place long enough to name its problems with authority and then do something about it. A year later, in 2005, Tracy started a garden, even though she had never grown a garden or a vegetable in her life. Twenty years later, the garden grows 95 varieties of tomatoes, with a 96th on the way: the Husky tomato, a red and black striped variety being developed with a botanist and students. It has just completed its first field trial, and the sixth generation is already growing in the greenhouse. The conversation then turns to what it takes to make a community better. Tracy came to this work as a community organizer and a sociologist who studies inequality, and after living in her neighborhood for more than 27 years, she says she understands the community well enough to add real context when someone says "this is what's going on." She borrows a gardening term to describe how she works with partners like Jupiter Moon: companion planting. David connects it to his own reason for opening an ice cream shop, and both land on the same word for what their spaces create: joy. The episode closes with a look at Grace Lee Boggs, the Detroit activist and philosopher who shaped Tracy's life, the PBS documentary about her, and a children's book about Grace and her husband James Boggs that turns out to have a personal connection to Tracy. It is another in a summer of surprise connections. The conversation ran long, so David splits it into three parts, with Part 2 coming next week. https://www.jupitermoonicecream.com/
Takeaways Sometimes the biggest business turning point isn't a new product, it's dropping the instinct to chase what you think people want and making what you actually like instead. A workshop full of strangers can do something a curated event can't. By the end of an hour, people are making plans together, proof that community can form fast when there's a shared, hands-on thing to do. Even the process behind the work, like mixing ink or running a steamroller over a print, can be the thing people actually want to see, not just the finished product. In the final part of this conversation, host David Boyer catches up with Mary Bruno, owner of Bruno Press, about everything she has going on right now. She is deep into a large public art commission for a soon-to-open apartment building, representing different cultures and communities through hands, not faces, and working against a tight deadline with a team of six summer interns. She also has upcoming workshops in the shop, including a cyanotype session (sun printing), and is preparing for the Southwest Print Fiesta this October in New Mexico, where she will teach and produce a 36 inch steamroller print. The conversation turns to why Mary's workshops matter, tying back to the show's running theme of memory and community. Unlike her curated print parties, the open workshops bring together total strangers who are, in her words, friends by the end of the hour, leaving with a finished print and plans to see each other again. David points out that this is really Mary's business model: creating the kind of connection that keeps people coming back. Mary shares the bigger story behind that shift. It took her about 15 years to stop making what she thought people wanted and start making what she actually liked, opening her doors to let people watch and take part in the process. A video of her simply mixing ink went viral, which taught her people were more interested in process than she expected. That post-pandemic pivot became what she now calls Bruno Press 2.0, and by her account, it has been the biggest change for her business, financially and otherwise. The episode closes on a personal note between two people who have known each other a while, with David thanking Mary for making time and Mary returning the compliment about David's own community-building work. No Part 4 is teased, closing out this three-part conversation. Key Topics Covered Mary's large-scale public art commission for a new apartment building Working under deadline pressure with a team of six summer interns Bruno Press's cyanotype workshop (sun printing) The Southwest Print Fiesta in New Mexico, and Mary's 36 inch steamroller print Why Bruno Press's open workshops build community faster than curated events The connection between workshops, memory, and running a small business Mary's 15-year shift from making what people want to making what she likes How a viral ink-mixing video changed her approach to sharing her process "Bruno Press 2.0": Mary's post-pandemic business philosophy Wrapping up the three-part conversation between David and Mary https://www.jupitermoonicecream.com/
Takeaways The ice cream memories that stick aren't the fancy ones. They're the specific, slightly ordinary ones, like a hand-cranked churn on the Fourth of July, which is exactly why a business that helps create those memories wins twice. Novelty and seasonal flavors, like dill pickle, garlic, and an April Fools "Beef Stroganoff" joke, don't need to be everyday best sellers to be worth making. They give people a reason to show up and talk about the shop. A new market, like Jupiter Moon's upcoming St. Paul location, is a chance to test bolder flavors that a more taste-conservative hometown crowd might not go for yet. Part 2 of this conversation picks up right where Part 1 left off, on the idea of core memories. David explains why he loves asking guests about their ice cream story: the best ones aren't fancy, they're specific, tied to a place or a person, even if the ice cream itself was nothing special. He argues that if a business can help create those memories, it wins twice, and Mary agrees that knowing Jupiter Moon was part of someone's memory is what makes the work worth it. Then it's Mary's turn. Her own ice cream story goes back to Fourth of July at the Bruno house, a tradition bigger than Christmas that predates the town's now-famous Joetown Rocks festival. Her dad, Don Bruno, a designer, artist, gardener, canner, and baker rolled into one, would hand-crank vanilla or chocolate ice cream in an old electric churn, and the whole family would wait, spoons ready, for the lid to come off. That story sparks a callback to Part 1's Mary Bruno Ice Cream Day idea (this time with pickles and kimchi on the table), and a detour into Jupiter Moon's running April Fools joke flavor, Beef Stroganoff. The conversation turns practical: Jupiter Moon's dill pickle ice cream (made once a year for Pickle Fest, a so-so seller once the gimmick wears off) and garlic ice cream (made the same weekend for the local Garlic Festival, where it sells out fast). Mary shares her own sixth-grade ice cream memory, a long-gone shop called Hudson and Company that made an actual bubble gum ice cream with real gum chunks mixed in, which gets David wondering out loud whether Jupiter Moon could pull off something similar. The episode wraps on flavor strategy. Salted caramel and chocolate are still Jupiter Moon's top sellers, tutti frutti didn't make the cut, and David's personal favorite, lemon poppy seed, undersells despite being a signature flavor. With a new St. Paul shop on the way, David's eyeing a bigger, different customer base to test bolder options, starting with the darker, more intense chocolate flavor Mary's been asking for. Part 3 is officially on the way. Key Topics Covered Why David loves asking guests for their ice cream story, and how "generic" memories still matter Mary's Fourth of July family tradition and her dad Don Bruno's hand-cranked ice cream The Mary Bruno Ice Cream Day idea returns, this time with pickles and kimchi Jupiter Moon's running April Fools joke flavor: Beef Stroganoff Dill pickle ice cream (Pickle Fest) and garlic ice cream (Garlic Festival), made the same weekend Mary's sixth-grade bubble gum ice cream memory from the former Hudson and Company Whether Jupiter Moon could make a real bubble gum ice cream flavor https://www.jupitermoonicecream.com/ https://www.mcbrunopress.com/
Takeaways The best ice cream flavors, whether it's a six-year-old's Doritos-topped vanilla or a Ritz cracker flavor that won a national contest, usually come from a sweet and salty instinct, not a polished plan. Real community can't be built to chase an instant return. When it's authentic, it becomes an experience; when it's commercial, it's just a transaction, and that version eventually fails. A single well-hosted, well-curated visit, like the one Bruno Press owner Mary Bruno put together for a local influencer, can do more for a town's reputation than a planned marketing campaign, because people can tell when the excitement is real. In Part 1 of this conversation on Ice Cream Social, host David Boyer sits down with Mary Bruno, owner of Bruno Press in St. Joseph, Minnesota, and starts with his usual opener: favorite ice cream flavor. Mary is a matcha person through and through, but the flavor stealing her attention that day was Jupiter Moon's lavender matcha, made on an oat milk base instead of a traditional cream base. David explains why the oat milk version works so well (light, icy texture, a faint graham cracker finish that pairs naturally with pie-adjacent flavors like the shop's vanilla cardamom, blueberry cardamom, and peach cobbler), and reveals that the lavender matcha itself started as a customer recommendation. Then David asks the harder question: what was Mary's favorite flavor at six years old? Vanilla, she says, but only as a base for whatever she and her brother could find in the kitchen. Doritos, M&Ms, Tang, Nestle Quik, and peanut butter all made it onto the ice cream, and her go-to combo landed on salty and sweet: peanuts, peanut butter, vanilla, and a little chocolate. It's enough to get David proposing an official Mary Bruno Ice Cream Day, Doritos included. The conversation turns to David's own ice cream confession: Jupiter Moon has never entered the annual traveling ice cream contest (Palm Springs this year, Palm Beach the year before, Savannah before that) because the shop can't spare the production capacity for the special packaging it requires. But one winning flavor still lives in his head: Ritzy AF, a Ritz cracker ice cream from Holy Cow Ice Cream in Massachusetts, built with caramel, chocolate, and a sweet salty crunch. It's on David's list to steal one day. The back half of the episode gets more personal. David explains why community matters so much to Jupiter Moon and to St. Joseph (St. Joe, or Jo Town to locals), and calls Mary out as one of the people quietly building the town's core memories through her own work. Mary backs that up with a story about curating a recent visit for a social media influencer that ended up going viral, not because it was scripted, but because everyone hosting was excited to be there. The two land on a shared philosophy: community building that's chasing an instant return always turns into a transaction, but done with real heart, it becomes an experience worth having. This episode ran long, so David promises a Part 2. https://www.jupitermoonicecream.com/
Takeaways David and Donella both wrestle with finding the right event size. Too big and you lose the craft and the community, too small and it is not sustainable, so the sweet spot sits somewhere in between. Jupiter Moon skipped cookie dough ice cream and Jules' Bistro skips fully organic produce for the same reason: sometimes doing it "right" is not financially viable, and both owners have made peace with that trade-off. David recently reversed a longstanding no-samples policy at Jupiter Moon after realizing it was creating friction with a ritual customers expect, and one of his two shop locations still hides the ice cream from view entirely, a deliberate design choice from his user experience background. Summary of the Episode In the final part of this conversation on Ice Cream Social, host David Boyer and Donella Westphal, owner of Jules' Bistro, get into the decisions that shape a small business behind the scenes. David talks about the event side of Jupiter Moon, which now ranges from small weddings to massive festivals, including one where Jupiter Moon shares vendor space with Ben & Jerry's and ends up as the cheapest option almost by accident. Donella relates immediately. Jules' Bistro has catered for as few as eight people around a dining room table and as many as 700 vegans at once, and she has spent years figuring out where her own sweet spot sits between those extremes, since going too big means losing the craft that makes the food special in the first place. That leads into a conversation about trade-offs. David explains why Jupiter Moon does not sell cookie dough ice cream: made properly, it is prohibitively expensive, and the one time he tried it, he lost money on every scoop. Donella shares a similar trade-off at Jules', where she would love to serve fully organic produce but cannot make it financially viable, so she focuses instead on sourcing and handling fruit with enough care that more people can afford to enjoy it. David then turns the tables with a hot take question: how does Donella feel about sampling ice cream before you order? Her answer is refreshingly direct. She believes in committing to your order, and if you truly do not like it, she will make it right with a full double of something else, no questions asked. That launches David into his own sample story. Jupiter Moon was designed during COVID to keep six feet of distance between the counter and the customer, which made offering samples nearly impossible, so for years the shop simply did not offer them. He recently changed that policy after realizing that sampling had become its own kind of core memory ritual for customers, and refusing to offer it was adding friction to an experience he wants people to remember fondly. The episode closes on an even bigger reveal about how David designs his shops. Drawing on his day job background in user experience, he explains why Jupiter Moon's St. Joseph location deliberately hides the ice cream from view, forcing customers to make an entrance, read a carefully designed menu board of 20 flavors, and talk to the "ice cream tour guide" behind the counter, while the Munsinger Gardens shop in St. Cloud keeps the ice cream visible for practical reasons, including built-in sneeze guard protection and eco-friendly packaging. It is a fitting close to a three-part conversation about how much intention goes into running a small business that people love. https://www.jupitermoonicecream.com/
Takeaways Donella's ice cream story traces back to Grandma Dorothy, who worked all year at a thrift store so she could tuck cash gifts, including a hidden $100 bill, into Christmas trinkets for every grandkid. Successful small businesses become part of people's core memories, proms, dates, engagements, weddings, and that is exactly why David and Donella keep doing this work, even on the hard days. When small business ownership starts to feel like a grind, getting back on the floor and talking to people is often the fastest way back to remembering why you started. Summary of the Episode In Part 2 of this conversation on Ice Cream Social, host David Boyer and Donella Westphal, owner of Jules' Bistro, pick up right where the ice cream memories left off. David asks Donella's ice cream story one more time, and the answer is the same as always: Grandma Dorothy. This time, Donella goes deeper into who her grandma was. The family is from North Dakota, with Grandma Dorothy living in Bismarck and later Elgin, where Donella's aunt and uncle ran a dairy farm and brought warm milk straight to the table. Grandma Dorothy worked at a thrift store and spent the whole year saving her earnings so that every grandkid got a $20 or $50 bill tucked into a Christmas tree trinket, and she always kept a hidden $100 bill somewhere in the house. Donella once found it inside a Bible, tucked between the pages of the Christmas story. From there, the conversation turns to something bigger: how memory, community, and small business are tied together. David points out that Jules' Bistro has become part of people's biggest life moments, proms, dates, first anniversaries, the same way Jupiter Moon has become part of engagements and weddings. Both David and Donella admit that running a small business still gets hard, even nine years in for Donella, and that the fastest way out of a funk is getting back out on the floor, talking to people, and remembering what the business actually means to the community it serves. They also talk about the value of a peer community of other small business owners who understand the muck and the mire that comes with it. The episode lightens up with a flavor conversation: Donella's childhood love of vanilla, her current favorites (mint chip, salted caramel, lemon), and an ice cream philosophy David shares, that people generally fall into two camps, those who like "stuff" mixed into their ice cream and those who do not. Donella is firmly in the no stuff camp, though she makes an exception for a salted brownie, sparking talk of a possible collaboration flavor between the two businesses. The conversation closes on catering, and how it lets Jules' Bistro bring the same comfort and surprise people feel in the dining room out into the wider community, and how good it feels when people notice the care behind the food, even if they cannot name exactly what makes it different. https://www.jupitermoonicecream.com/
Takeaways Comfort flavors like vanilla often trace back to one specific memory or family tradition, not just taste. For Donella Westphal, that memory is her Grandma Dorothy's homemade hot fudge. Adventurous flavors, like a Mexican street corn ice cream made with real corn liquid and lime cotija, can be some of the most creative work a shop does, even if only a small group of people order it. A full toppings bar, not just the ice cream itself, is often what turns dessert into a lasting memory. Summary of the Episode In Part 1 of this conversation on Ice Cream Social, host David Boyer sits down with Donella Westphal, owner of Jules' Bistro in St. Cloud, to talk about the ice cream choices we actually make and why we make them. The episode opens with a simple question that turns out not to be simple at all: do you go classic and simple, or do you get adventurous? Donella admits she has never met an ice cream flavor she did not like, but the conversation quickly lands on something deeper than flavor preference. For her, vanilla ice cream is not really about vanilla. It goes back to her Grandma Dorothy's freezer, always stocked, and a homemade hot fudge that the whole family asked for the second they walked in the door. Vanilla carried her through the hardest parts of both pregnancies, and it still makes her happy today. That same instinct for pushing past the expected shows up in some of the boldest ice cream Donella has ever made, including a Mexican street corn ice cream built with real corn liquid, lime cotija, and a touch of cayenne. It came out closer to a sherbet than traditional ice cream, and by her own account, it may have been some of the best ice cream she has ever created. Not many people were willing to try it. David and Donella talk through why: most people are creatures of habit, drawn to the flavor they already know, which is exactly why a limited-run flavor, like a raspberry ice cream studded with a one-year-only Girl Scout cookie, or a salted black licorice ice cream headed to an ice cream event at the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth, still matters. The episode closes on something less about flavor and more about how ice cream gets served. Donella shares the story of her son Wilson turning leftover vanilla ice cream and Jules' Bistro chocolate chip cookies into his own ice cream sandwich, no instructions needed, and how a recent catering event's toppings bar, with salted caramel brownies, molasses cookies, and canned cherries, was a direct nod to Grandma Dorothy's own table. Because that is really what the ice cream is for: a reason to put everything out on the table and let people go at it together. Key Topics Covered Choosing between a simple, classic flavor and something more adventurous Why vanilla ice cream is tied to childhood memory and comfort through both of Donella's pregnancies The Mexican street corn ice cream experiment: corn liquid, lime cotija, and cayenne pepper A limited-run raspberry ice cream made with a one-year-only Girl Scout cookie A salted black licorice ice cream headed to an ice cream event at the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth The ice cream sandwich Donella's son Wilson invented on his own with Jules' Bistro cookies Building a catering toppings bar inspired by Grandma Dorothy's own table Remembering Grandma Dorothy: her garden, her canning, and her peach cobbler and bread pudding with ice cream https://www.jupitermoonicecream.com/
Takeaways David's real motivation for Jupiter Moon isn't the ice cream itself. It's wanting the shop to be iconic and important to the St. Cloud community, which is also why he prioritizes showing up at local events. David asks every job applicant to share their own "ice cream story" during the hiring process, because he's found that almost everyone has one, and it's almost always a happy memory. Jupiter Moon studies other ice cream shops' social media for inspiration, including a Canadian shop called Elle's Cafe whose owner has built a whole memorable bit around riding a scooter into frame with a cone. Summary of the Episode In Part 2 of this two-part conversation on Ice Cream Social, host David Boyer and guest Ava Peters pick back up on the theme of memories, this time turning it toward the why behind Jupiter Moon itself. David shares that his real motivation for running an ice cream shop isn't really about the ice cream. It's wanting Jupiter Moon to be iconic, something that actually matters to the community, which is also why showing up at local events means so much to him. He even asks every job applicant the same question during the hiring process: what's your ice cream story? In his experience, almost everyone has one, and it's almost always happy. Ava shares her own: her dad blending mint Oreos into vanilla ice cream milkshakes after dinner, a ritual made sweeter by being an only child with no siblings around to complain about the mint. The two agree it might make a good future podcast topic on its own. The conversation also touches on how ice cream has shifted for some people from a celebration treat to a coping mechanism, with Ava sharing a coworker's plan to have her husband pick up her favorite flavor after a rough day. From there, Ava talks about the ice cream shop social media accounts she personally studies for inspiration, including Elle's Cafe, a Canadian shop whose owner has built a signature bit around riding in on a scooter with a cone and a chant that's intentionally hard to make out. David and Ava agree that becoming memorable, in a truly positive way, is its own form of marketing. The episode closes with a rundown of where to catch Jupiter Moon's ice cream truck and trailer this summer, including the Minnesota Yacht Club, Minnesota Country Club, the Raspberry Festival in Hopkins, Summertime by George, a concert series in Plymouth, and the St. Cloud Air Show, plus one of Ava's favorite awkward wedding stories about setting up the ice cream bike on a dance floor. David wraps with a memorably disgusting story about a Buckwheat Zydeco show at First Avenue, where the venue's uncleaned rafters once rained dust bunnies onto the crowd from the heat and humidity, a story that loops right back to the Purple Fuzzy Space Monster bit from earlier in the series. Key Topics Covered Why David really started Jupiter Moon: wanting the shop to be iconic and important to the community The "what's your ice cream story" question David asks every job applicant Ava's personal ice cream story: mint Oreo milkshakes with her dad Ice cream as a coping mechanism versus a celebration treat Studying other ice cream shops' social media for inspiration, including Elle's Cafe's scooter bit Ice cream at events: baseball games, concerts, weddings, and why First Ave would be a bad venue https://www.jupitermoonicecream.com/
Takeaways Jupiter Moon is exploring a whiskey and spirit infused ice cream collaboration with Redhead Creamery, the Brooten, Minnesota, creamery that distills spirits from its own cheese making whey byproduct. The shop's candy truffle ice cream traces back to Kernel's Creamery in Covington, Kentucky, whose owner personally drove his equipment and recipes up to Minnesota when he stepped away from the business. Jupiter Moon sometimes sells the exact same ice cream flavor under two different names on the menu to A/B test which one customers actually order, including a grape flavor once sold as both Purple Reign and Purple Fuzzy Space Monster. Summary of the Episode In Part 1 of this two-part conversation on Ice Cream Social, host David Boyer sits down with Ava Peters, the freelance social media manager who has spent the summer running Jupiter Moon's Instagram while also working as a client service representative at Jacobs Financial. The conversation opens with ice cream: Ava's flavor evolution from mint chip as a kid to the salted caramel truffle now, a flavor she describes as reminding her of whiskey thanks to its bitter caramel and espresso notes. That comparison leads to an interesting idea in the works: ice cream with real spirits in it. David shares that Redhead Creamery, the Brooten, Minnesota, creamery already distilling spirits from its own cheese making whey, has floated the idea of Jupiter Moon using their spirits in a seasonal flavor, possibly a peppermint schnapps ice cream for winter. It is still just an idea, but the relationship between the two local businesses is already there. From there, David tells the origin story behind Jupiter Moon's candy truffles: recipes and equipment inherited from Kernel's Creamery, an ice cream shop in Covington, Kentucky, whose owner personally drove everything up to Minnesota, with his grandson, when he stepped away from the business for health reasons. He has since gone back to making ice cream himself. David also walks through his habit of A/B testing flavor names on the menu, using the same grape ice cream sold at different times as Purple Reign (spelled to sidestep any issues with the Prince estate) and, originally, Purple Fuzzy Space Monster, a name he still loves despite it barely selling. The second half of the episode turns to Ava's own story: how she went from being unsure about being on camera and directing other people to running content that has become some of Jupiter Moon's highest performing social posts, including a "which one's vegan" bar joke and a "Minnesota nice, I'll pay" bit. She also opens up about how managing a business's social media, instead of her own, became a healthier relationship with the same platforms that felt unhealthy to her growing up. Key Topics Covered Ava Peters's role managing Jupiter Moon's social media as a freelancer, plus her day job at Jacobs Financial Flavor evolution from childhood mint chip to salted caramel truffle A potential whiskey and spirit infused ice cream collaboration with Redhead Creamery in Brooten, Minnesota The origin of Jupiter Moon's candy truffles, traced back to Kernel's Creamery in Covington, Kentucky A/B testing flavor names on the menu: Purple Reign versus Purple Fuzzy Space Monster Jupiter Moon's vegan ice cream option and how it inspired one of the shop's top performing posts Ava's personal history with social media and how managing a business account changed her relationship with it A shoutout to Jupiter Moon team member Isaac, headed to college in Ithaca, New York https://www.jupitermoonicecream.com/