Betty Jo's

About

On today’s episode, I sit down with Erin Forden and Maddie Nehlen, co-founders of Betty Jo’s, a small-batch, pastry-inspired ice cream brand based in Brooklyn.

Betty Jo’s makes hand-packed pints built around dessert-inspired flavors, with eye-catching handmade toppings like pie lattices, buttercream, jam, and other pastry elements. The business started with small drops for friends and family, then grew quickly after its cherry pie pint went viral. Today, Erin and Maddie are producing roughly 1,500 pints a month, selling primarily through monthly drops and local pickup.

In this conversation, we talk about what it takes to scale a handmade food business without turning it into a conventional CPG brand. We get into kitchen capacity, freezer space, pickup logistics, repeat customers, pricing, collaborations, events, wholesale licensing, retail ambitions, and why the next version of Betty Jo’s may look more like a pint shop and production space than a national grocery brand.

I learned a lot during my conversation with Erin and Maddie, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.