Student ice cream creator freezes rivals

Wharton junior Jerry Krause founded Cookies & Creams, a wholesale ice cream company. Watch out, Ben and Jerry's. There's a new ice cream connoisseur on the block -- and he's half your age. Wharton junior Jeremy Krause attends lectures on Entrepreneurial Management and Finance Tuesdays and Thursdays and devotes the rest of the week to putting his professors' theories to the test. Krause is founder and president of Cookies & Creams, a wholesale ice cream company he established last May. Cookies & Creams -- which combines gourmet cookies from the Famous Fourth Street Bakery with gourmet ice cream -- is sold in the Penn Commissaries as well as local convenience stores. Krause financed his entrepreneurial adventure by playing the stock market. And he singlehandedly runs every aspect of the business -- from designing the packaging to telephoning retailers and developing marketing strategies. He said he hopes to revitalize the presently stagnant ice cream world by creating a new subcategory in the industry. As he noted, "it's easier to catch fish in a dirty stream." Krause derived his "microbatch" concept -- combining a "unique flavor niche" with scarcity of product -- from the "microbrew" concept previously instituted by such beer giants as Samuel Adams and Pete's Wicked Ale. By creating three distinct flavors and only selling his product in target locations, Krause's company is able to operate on a personal level while retaining a prestigious, reputable image. "The market is too saturated for another commonplace product," Krause explained. "We are trying to stake out our own territory." Although Krause formally uses the term "we" when referring to his company, he is quick to point out that "it's just me -- and I don't even pay myself yet." Cookies & Creams is a division of Strive, Inc., the corporate entity Krause developed to aid diversification of the industry in the future, should his operation expand to include more than one company. But he has no intention of becoming just another multinational conglomerate. "I've seen enough of corporate America to know that I don't want to be a part of it," he noted. His contempt for large, bureaucratic organizations spurred Krause to build his ice cream empire at an early age. The prospect of working on Wall Street after graduation did not appeal to him. "My ambition is to be a career entrepreneur and to have my own enterprise upon graduation," Krause said. But he will not be lured into sacrificing his education for his newfound fame. Although he admitted that "it's damn near impossible" to balance the demands of school and a business, he aspires to obtain a doctorate in entrepreneurial management and teach at the university level. But Krause noted that he did not go into the business for purely altruistic reasons. "I'm a Wharton student," he said. "The concept of money is always going to be there." Keeping an eye towards the future, Krause is currently modifying the packaging and texture of his product. As Wharton junior Juan Dominguez explained, "He will have another chance and another chance -- and that's what makes entrepreneurs." Krause is presently working with the University to allow his ice cream to be sold in McClelland Marketplace and Chats as early as this summer. But he said he has encountered some difficulties from contractual obligations with the University's Jack and Jill distributor. The ice cream will be picked up by three N.J. supermarkets next spring under the new brand name, Jeremy's Cookies & Creams. Krause's ice cream is currently available for $3.50 a pint. And Krause noted that for a limited time ice cream lovers receive a special complementary cookie on top.