Mixing natural ingredients with -196 °C cold liquid nitrogen, Woop Woop makes your (extra creamy) ice cream right in front of your eyes
Have you ever seen ice cream being made within seconds before? What's more fun than witnessing your ice cream come to live! Experience the wonder of fresh, made-to-order ice cream production delivered to you by Woop Woop Ice Cream.
We were lucky to hunt down Philipp, one of the founders of Woop Woop, who studied business and decided not to follow the conventional way of climbing the corporate ladder and started delivering happiness by making ice cream alongside his co-founder Boris.
Could you tell us about how you started the shop with your co-founder Boris?
Philipp: The store has been operated by us for one and a half year, but we started experimenting with the concept back in 2012. We met in a entrepreneurship class in university. Boris is a physicist and I used to study business, so we were two very different types of person in the class, thinking about starting our own project to gain experiences, not following the conventional German way. Especially as a business student, you're expected to go into a consultancy, work for a big company, have a safe job and climb the corporate ladder, which is not for me; besides, the typical physicist job in the laboratory or theoretical work isn’t for Boris either.
So, we were having lunches together, trying to figure something out that we could start while we were studying. At some point, Boris was telling me about liquid nitrogen, and that you could use it to make ice cream. I had always wanted to become a pastry chef, but it didn’t happen, so for me making ice cream is the way I brought my passion for sweets into my professional life. I have that dessert fire in me.
The cool thing about this project is that it literally started in a physics lab, so basically we got a standard ice cream mix, and just whisking it up with liquid nitrogen, creating prototypes, with different ideas and recipes. After we finished our studies, because we didn’t have much money to start the business, we bought an old DHL truck, converted it into a food truck, and we tried our concept in a flexible way. We were able to adjust the concept towards the market and gain the knowledge of what we need technology-wise to create liquid nitrogen ice cream in a safe and efficient environment.
“As a result, we’re always trying to improve our speed, processes, the use of technology, in order to get the ice cream to the customers faster while still providing the live experience.”
Since you started experimenting with liquid nitrogen ice cream almost six years ago, how much of experimenting are you still doing on a day-to-day basis?
P: It’s still a lot, because it’s a tough business of live production, and we can’t prepare a lot. Plus, there are high demands, which is very likely for ice cream in the afternoon when the sun is out. Though people value the freshness of the ice cream being made, they have limited amount of time and they want to have their ice cream fresh and fast. As a result, we’re always trying to improve our speed, processes, the use of technology, in order to get the ice cream to the customers faster while still providing the live experience.
Now here’s a challenge, imagine you were to explain how the ice cream is made to a five-year-old, just to make it as easy as possible to understand.
P: That’s a big challenge, cause people are used to ice cream being there, ready, not being freshly made on the spot. We have the fresh ingredients, we shock freeze them with liquid nitrogen and we use the energy that is contained in the liquid state of the nitrogen, so…ok for a five-year-old it might be a little hard to understand. For them, steam is hot, so they’re like “you guys aren’t making ice cream, what’s happening? Something is not right. I’m gonna start crying now.” (Laughs)
(We later on agreed this is more of a concept for young adults rather than five-year-olds)
“A great inspiration for us is desserts, because desserts are usually complex in flavoring and texture.”
How do you come up with the flavors and where do you go and search for ideas?
P: A great inspiration for us is desserts, because desserts are usually complex in flavoring and texture. For example, in tiramisu you have different layers like the chocolate, mascarpone, amaretto, and biscuits, and you can build ice cream with that as well. Last month, we had tiramisu ice cream, which is espresso based, covered with biscuits and amaretto, and at the end we swirl in some mascarpone and dip it into cocoa.
The 5 flavors change every month, so there's always fun and surprises to discover.
“Just to see ice cream being made for the first time, it must have been one of the most amazing thing you could ever imagine.”
You’re totally right. Ice cream is loved by two-year-olds as well as eighty-eight-year-olds. Why do you think makes ice cream so special?
P: Ice cream is one of the greatest products to sell, because it’s so positive. It has such a magical vibe. Sweets in general is a form of pleasure, and ice cream is particularly special because people really have to invent it to make it happen. I'm always imagining the beginning of ice cream making, where people in the Alps were getting snow from the mountains, plus in April they would have fresh fruits in the valleys, and they would just mix it and churn it in wooden barrels. Just to see ice cream being made for the first time, it must have been one of the most amazing thing you could ever imagine.
Philipp, one of the founders of Woop Woop who didn't follow the conventions and became an ice cream maker.
Personally, what's one good ice cream story you remember?
P: When I was a kid, after my mom picked me up from the kindergarten in the summer, we would have ice cream everyday. I guess that’s when my mindset was formed for later on the idea to create this business. It’s always time for ice cream.
🍴What to expect here?
Come for: A cooldown on a hot summer afternoon
Stay for: A refreshing way of experiencing ice cream (add waffel for extra delight)
