Beta Test is a column where we'll periodically test and sample products from local entrepreneurs and companies around the Bay Area. Have a product that you'd like us to consider? Email us at: sbloomberg@bizjournals.com.
Company: Green Girl Bakeshop
Website: www.greengirlbakeshop.com
What they do: create allergen-free, non-dairy gelato and ice cream sandwiches
Founder: Lisa Stoy
Founded: 2011
Location: San Leandro and Benicia
Employees: 5
Product lines: ice cream sandwiches and pints
Price: $5.99 to $6.99 per ice cream sandwich or $7.99 for a pack of four minis; $9.99 per pint.
About Green Girl Bakeshop
About a decade ago, Lisa Stoy was diagnosed with a health condition that meant she couldn’t enjoy all of the homemade Italian food that she grew up with. So she decided to develop her own allergy-friendly baked goods brand, and started by satisfying her own sweet tooth.
She shopped around at first for something off the shelf and wasn't satisfied with anything available at the time.
"I couldn't understand why, in an industry where we have so many great ingredients that you could use, why manufacturers continued to use cheap ingredients," Stoy told me. "I really wanted to create something different, and I really wanted it to be like a healthy indulgence."
So she started developing a coconut milk-based ice cream made with maple syrup and now builds other flavors on top of that for pints and ice cream sandwiches. The company also recently launched four-packs of mini ice cream sandwiches.
"I have a really big sweet tooth," Stoy said. "I also grew up in an Italian household and we made everything from scratch, literally, from simple ingredients. We would make ice cream in the summertime, raviolis, everything you can imagine."
Stoy grew up in the Bay Area and has worked in the food industry for years including in consumer packing and sales.
For Green Girl Bakeshop, she started with direct-to-consumer sales, as well as setting up at farmers markets, and by 2017 the products got into the freezer section at El Cerrito Natural and Berkeley Natural. Today her products are in over 400 grocery stores, particularly around California, the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.
Stoy has five employees, and while the company is based in San Leandro, the products are made at a facility in Benicia.
Eventually, Stoy also wants to expand beyond frozen treats and offer baked goods, as well.
The ice cream is free of several common allergens: soy, dairy, gluten, peanuts, egg and other grains. Coconut is the only “nut” they use.
Green Girl Bakeshop also works with local farmers whenever possible and sources its maple syrup from Vermont. There are six flavors available, though Stoy has created over 50 flavors since launching and incorporates seasonal options.
Her ingredients lists are simple, typically only containing three to five things with coconut milk and maple syrup as a base. Other ingredients also include cardamom, ashwagandha, reishi, vanilla bean, cacao, ginger, cinnamon and fresh mint. The ice cream currently comes in the following flavors:
Cardamom, Coffee Cacao Crunch, Fresh Mint Chip with Ashwagandha, Golden Mylk, Reishi Chocolate and Vanilla Bean.
Tasting Notes
There’s something about coconut milk-based ice cream that comes much closer to the creamy mouth feel of traditional ice cream. And Green Girl Bakeshop’s ice cream sandwiches and pints have that creaminess.
The cookies in the ice cream sandwiches are much softer than the crispier cookies you’d expect from an It’s-It, which led to some crumbling while I ate them.
A delicate coconut milk flavor comes through the most in the vanilla ice cream, which paired well with some freshly baked brownies. And the "Golden Mylk" ice cream has a delicate turmeric flavor that went well with a slice of carrot cake.
The Golden Mylk is also paired with ginger cookies for the sandwiches, and it added a gingery bite.
The pints were easy to scoop, and the packaging on the ice cream sandwiches are designed well, too. A pull tab is strategically placed so that when you open it, only a sliver is torn off at the top, leaving most of the wrapper intact to act as a convenient holder to protect your fingers and catch any crumbles or melted ice cream as you eat.
