This Friday, March 17th, Bellevue West graduate Jeremy Carlson will be appearing on the popular TV show Shark Tank to pitch his revolutionary idea “Crispý Cones”. Carlson graduated from West in 2015 and he will appear on the show along with his wife, Kaitlyn.
After his graduation from Bellevue West, Carlson went on a two-year church mission to the Czech Republic. While there he discovered a gourmet ice cream pastry sold on the streets called trdelník. Carlson became enamored with the authentic, original treat and started talking to the different shop owners about trdelník.
“I literally had a dream of me making these in the United States,” Carlson said. “It was a very weird dream but it got me thinking ‘What if I brought these pastries back to the US, crediting European countries like Hungary and the Czech Republic for it, and then Americanize it a little bit?'”
After Carlson returned to America, he worked on the pastries at night while attending classes at BYU-Idaho during the day. In 2018, Carlson figured out the recipe well enough to go public. He eventually decided to open up a roadside canopy tent. He made a decision to donate all of the net profits to charity and, as word spread, they began to sell out consistently and had a great year. He named his concoction Crispý Cones.
But Carlson knew there was a bigger market for Crispý Cones .
After closing the tent for the season in 2018, he flew back to the Czech Republic to meet with some of the business owners who served trdelník. “I told them I had the same product in America and I asked for their help in making sure I could perfect the recipe. They were all very excited – they loved it! They loved the idea that I brought this back to America, and brought their culture back. And so they were very willing to help me get it right.”
In 2019, Carlson returned to America. If he was going to expand, he knew a canopy tent would not work anymore. He knew they needed to introduce gourmet soft-serve ice cream in the pastry cones. He knew he needed a food trailer. He worked with manufacturers in China to customize a food trailer and ship it over to America. “I was scared to death of paying half the money down, thinking I would never see the trailer. But they built it and shipped it to my house, and I ended up with a custom-built food trailer that was unique and retro.”
Carlson opened the food trailer in 2019 and sales quadrupled sales. “It was amazing. We were revolutionizing the soft serve cone and by the end of the year, we knew we would disrupt the soft serve cone industry.”
Carlson decided to create his own brand, built on revolutionizing the soft serve cone. “When you think about it, the ice cream cone, sugar cone, waffle cone – they’ve all been pretty much the same for 60 years.”
In 2020, despite Covid, Crispý Cone sales continued to increase. In 2021 he opened his first storefront location in Logan, Utah. He continued to have record-breaking sales. People loved how unique the product was. Continuing to build on the business, Carlson designed new ice cream and cone flavors.
In 2022, Carlson sold the custom-built food trailer and opened his second location in Rexburg, Idaho – the same town he started the business in. With two full-time storefronts across two states, discussions turned to how they could make Crispý Cones a national brand. They took all of the money they had earned, all of their profits, and spent it on legal fees. The end result of the reinvestment in their product is that they are now a franchising company.
Franchise interest was strong from the start and they currently have 11 franchise locations all in the western region of the country. By the end of 2024, they plan to have 46 total franchises up and running.
How did they end up on Shark Tank? At the beginning of 2022 they decided to apply, realizing they would be one of tens of thousands of applications and would likely not get selected. However, they made the initial cut and were one of 164 businesses the Shark Tank team was seriously considering. Then the call came that they were selected. While Carlson can’t say much about the episode since it hasn’t aired yet, he was able to a little about the experience, “It was a little surreal. Going there with my wife was like an out-of-body experience… to see these icons, these business legends in person, right in front of me. We just took a brand that we created out of a tent onto the national stage.”
Carlson fully credits Bellevue West and his business teachers with helping him get where he is. “The business principles I learned while at Bellevue West, being in FBLA and all those programs… helped to set my path in the right direction, creating a million-dollar company. Two of my favorite teachers were Pat Hinkle and Chad Huseth. Both taught me business principles that I use to this day.”
You will have to tune in this week to find out how Jeremy and Kaitlyn fared on Shark Tank. Episode 312 of Shark Tank airs Friday, March 17th, at 7pm on ABC. The Sharks scheduled for Friday are series regulars Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner, and Robert Herjavec.
Carlson did mention that he has not yet seen any franchise applications from Nebraska, but thinks Bellevue would be a great spot for one. “Nebraska is a state we definitely want to get to.”
For more information on Crispý Cones, including franchise info, head to the Crispý Cone website at https://thecrispycones.com/
