- Social media users drew attention to Creamalicious after Walmart launched its Juneteenth ice cream.
- Creamalicious has become more well-known following that backlash.
- But the Black-owned brand is focused on its ice creams, rather than politics, its CEO told Insider.
Last month, Walmart put out a new ice cream commemorating Juneteenth, a US holiday that marks the freedom of enslaved African Americans — but the response was icy.
Social media users were in a furor, lambasting the company for appearing to capitalize on the holiday and its history, prompting Walmart to swiftly drop the product and issue an apology.
Some users drew attention to Creamalicious, a Black-owned ice cream brand, and urged people to purchase their red velvet and cheesecake swirl flavor — the same flavor Walmart put out — instead.
Creamalicious has ridden high from that support, seeing increased buyers of its frozen desserts, said its CEO and chef Liz Rogers. But the founder of the Ohio-based ice creamery is more focused on churning out its unique ice cream flavor combinations — and less on making social or political statements.
"I'm an executive chef but I don't cook with politics," Rogers told Insider.
"I definitely don't want my story to be about race or the color of my skin, but more on my products in the stores and feeding the masses," she added.
Creamalicious, which launched in October 2021, can be found in major grocery chains across the US, such as Kroger, Target, Meijer, as well as Walmart. Rogers said that Walmart has been supportive of her company, and she didn't feel as if they stole anything from her by launching the Juneteenth ice cream.
"Our recipes are very different," she said of the red velvet and cheesecake swirl combination. "I didn't feel like they stole anything from me."
"Even in that moment, the buyer for Walmart was extremely supportive as well," she added.
Still, the event garnered mass attention towards Rogers' ice cream.
"When I saw so much going on on social media, it really was a great thing for Creamalicious because it did give us a lot of brand recognition," she explained. "It prompted people to go out, and support, and buy the ice cream."
Creamalicious draws fans because of its unique flavors. Rogers grew up in the southern US and decided to combine popular desserts from the region in creating the flavors, hoping to transport people back to the childhood nostalgia of cooling off in the summers with peach cobbler or sweet tea.
The brand carries eight flavors, which additionally includes caramel pound cake, banana pudding, pecan pie, sweet potato pie, and brown "suga" bourbon cake flavors. It features the flavors using names from "Porch Light Peach Cobbler", to "Slap Yo" Mamma Banana Pudding."
"[What] really sets us apart is … our flavors and our flavor combinations, and how we're combining these in a pint," said Rogers.
Rogers has upcoming partnerships that also include opening up a restaurant, for which she will be executive chef of, with retired NBA player Penny Hardaway.
"I really wanted to stay focused on my brand," she said. "We're new and we're still growing."