“Millennials want real ice cream,” declares Dan Schorr, founder of Vice Cream. Schorr has built a brand that doesn’t shy away from the fact that ice cream is unhealthy; it embraces it. Flavors such as “Choc of Shame” aren’t gluten free or low-carb. Instead, they serve up “unapologetic indulgence.” This fall, Vice Cream will head to colleges as “the proud sponsor of the freshman 15.”
Going into its second year, Vice Cream is now sold in more than 3,000 grocery stores along the East Coast, from Maine to Florida. The company just signed with Publix, a major grocery store chain in the Southeast. The Vice Cream team, now four people, is based out of Baltimore and Boston, where the company got its start at WeWork South Station.
But right as Vice Cream was getting its start, Schorr was faced with an unthinkable obstacle. “I was two weeks into starting Vice Cream, was in the parking lot of Target, and was told over the phone I had lymphoma and 12 weeks to live,” he says. The news came as a shock to the always healthy Schorr, who boasts a 4:17 mile and got his start in the food industry through brands such as PowerBar and Gatorade.
Over the next few months, he endured rounds of treatment. After receiving a clean bill of health, Schorr set to work with even more conviction and added an extra scoop of good to the company. Working with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute via the program Nice Vice, Vice Cream helps brighten patients’ days with cheeky words of encouragement and, of course, ice cream.
