Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Levine.
Daniel, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have been passionate about food and hospitality all my life. I worked at Smoke’t restaurant in high school before attending Washington University in St. Louis. Upon graduation, I started working as a manager with the Hillstone Restaurant Group, gaining valuable experience from one of the nation’s top restaurant groups. From there, I moved to NYC and joined a boutique restaurant consulting group which specialized in opening up new concepts. After opening a few restaurants with them, I moved back to Miami and started freelance consulting for a few notable restaurants before I saw the opportunity to open the first craft ice cream shop in Wynwood.
Has it been a smooth road?
Far from it! I had a very difficult time dealing with the city of Miami getting all of my permits. The whole process took twice as long as it should of and cost way more than they had told me at the beginning of the process. They held me up for over 6 months just to issue my building permit! Furthermore, I was one of many projects that had to deal with serious backlash brought on by illegal activities performed by my General Contractor. Long story short, the build out ended up costing me way more money, took twice as long and resulted in many problems along the way.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Dasher & Crank story. Tell us more about the business.
We specialize in chef-driven craft ice cream. We make all of our ice cream in-house, from scratch, using the highest quality and local ingredients. We rotate our flavors out constantly and make some pretty bold and eccentric flavors. I am particularly proud of our entire vegan line, which many non-vegans actually prefer. Some examples include Salty Beach – Coconut Ice Cream with Sea Salt and Graham Cracker Sand, Ube Macapuno – Purple Filipino Yams with Coconut Jelly and Raspberry Wasabi Sorbet.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see craft ice cream as an extension of the craft food movement which was pioneered by craft breweries but has since influenced the way we make all foods. Some examples of local companies that have capitalized on this movement include Panther Coffee, Zak the Baker and Miami Smokers. Like them, I plan on building a premium brand which I can leverage for large wholesale accounts. I think cafes are a good example of where my industry is headed. Starbucks came on the scene as a premium brand but since then new craft roasters have pushed the boundaries and put Starbucks in the middle of the market. I think that franchises like Ben & Jerry’s and Hagen Dazs will get pushed to the center and concepts like mine, will occupy the new “ultra premium” market.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2211 NW 2nd Ave. Miami, FL 33127
- Website: dasherandcrank.com
- Phone: 3052131569
- Email: daniel@dasherandcrank.com
- Instagram: @dasherandcrank
- Facebook: @dasherandcrank
Image Credit:
@FujifilmGirl
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