Snow Monkey Brings Its Vegan Frozen Treat To More Stores

As college athletes at Boston University, Rachel Geicke and Mariana Ferreira loved to treat themselves to ice cream – but soon, they wanted to indulge in a healthier alternative.

Eventually, the duo came up with Snow Monkey, a frozen superfood treat made with all-natural ingredients that are currently available in 700 stores across the United States and will reach 1,000 stores by September 2018. The frozen pints are dairy-free, nut-free, and gluten-free, along with being, plant-based, vegan and paleo.

"We want you to be able to enjoy it in the same way you would an ice cream without all the negatives and side effects," Ferreira said. "At the same time, you can have it replace something like your morning açai bowl or your workout smoothie."

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The brand currently boasts five flavors: cacao, passion fruit, cinnamon, goji berry, and matcha green tea. Each pint contains about 21 grams of protein, antioxidants, and fiber. Every ingredient on the labels is recognizable and pronounceable. The passion fruit flavor is unique because it's a blend of sweetness and tartness that more closely resembles the actual fruit.

"We thought it would be incredible to incorporate a distinct superfood and health benefit with each flavor," Geicke said. "We thought if we have this whole spectrum of fruity to indulgent, you could have a different flavor of Snow Monkey at different times of the day to suit your craving or mood."[[{"fid":"5044790","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","alignment":"center","field_image_alt[und][0][value]":"Mariana Ferreira","field_image_title[und][0][value]":false,"field_image_caption[und][0][value]":"%3Cp%3EMariana%20Ferreira%3C%2Fp%3E","field_image_caption[und][0][format]":"filtered_html","field_image_credit[und][0][value]":"Courtesy%20Snow%20Monkey","field_image_credit[und][0][format]":"image_credit","field_has_syndication_rights[und]":"1","field_licensor[und]":"","field_license_id[und][0][value]":""},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"2":{"format":"default","alignment":"center","field_image_alt[und][0][value]":"Mariana Ferreira","field_image_title[und][0][value]":false,"field_image_caption[und][0][value]":"%3Cp%3EMariana%20Ferreira%3C%2Fp%3E","field_image_caption[und][0][format]":"filtered_html","field_image_credit[und][0][value]":"Courtesy%20Snow%20Monkey","field_image_credit[und][0][format]":"image_credit","field_has_syndication_rights[und]":"1","field_licensor[und]":"","field_license_id[und][0][value]":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"Mariana Ferreira","class":"media-element file-default media-wysiwyg-align-center","data-delta":"2"}}]]

Neither Geicke and Ferreira had a background in food. At Boston University, Geicke and Ferreira were roommates and student-athletes. Geicke competed as a rower and played field hockey for the Hong Kong National Team. Ferreira was a triathlete.

"At the time we whipped up our first batch, we had absolutely no intention of creating a product that would turn into a business," Geicke said. "We were just two athletes who realized we were in an unhealthy relationship with ice cream. We really believe that nutritious and delicious can go hand-in-hand."

After graduating from college, Geicke and Ferreira set out to make their frozen treat available to the masses. They decided on the name Snow Monkey, an animal native to Japan that has a reputation for being a conscious eater. 

"When we were in Boston, we ran through so many names," Ferreira said. "We wanted something that resembled the values of our product and what we wanted it to stand for, which were: conscious eating, and good ingredients."

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Geicke and Ferreira launched a fully-funded Kickstarter for the product in 2016. To help further build the business, they participated in entrepreneurial incubator programs at their alma mater and the second class of the Chobani Food Incubator program.

The brand launched in local Los Angeles area stores in January 2017, with more that followed.

"From there, we just continued building the distribution, really focusing on brand awareness and quality distribution," Geicke said. "At the end of the day, this is more than selling pints to make profits. We really want to use ice cream as a vehicle to spark a conversation about nutritious being delicious and we hope we can change the mainstream perception of health."

The product samples that are the subject of this review were provided at no cost to the contributor.