Tom’s Incredible Ice Cream, a small kosher-certified ice cream shop in Old Town Scottsdale, is the result of Jake Weintraub’s search for “some sort of novelty item” he could offer the Greater Phoenix Jewish community.
“I was thinking, ‘It’d be nice to see if there’s any opportunity for something kind of cool — no pun intended,” Weintraub laughed.
Weintraub and his family moved to Arizona six years ago from St. Louis, and aside from being co-owner of Tom’s, his primary occupation is with Hope & Healing Addiction Treatment Centers in Mesa. Tom’s got its start several months ago when he started searching for a partner with whom he could start a “cool” business that would offer something for Jews who keep kosher.
Meeting Tom Medrano was the start of “a great relationship,” Weintraub said. After one meeting at a Starbucks, they began brainstorming ideas. Initially, the duo thought of opening a Rita’s Italian Ice franchise. Then Medrano suggested they should forget about a franchise and do something original.
In June, a real estate agent showed the partners their current Scottsdale location, formerly an edible cookie dough store that had recently been remodeled. Weintraub simply looked at Medrano and said, “Let’s do this!”
The only real problem was that Medrano, a Catholic, had to ask, “What is kosher?”
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