Van Leeuwen co-founder eyes Jeju green tea, nurungji ice cream flavors for Korea

"All Korean food is delicious, but I haven't seen ice cream made the way we make it here yet."

Ben Van Leeuwen, co-founder and CEO of New York-based premium ice cream brand Van Leeuwen, made the remark in an interview held Friday at a Twosome Place store in Seocho-gu, Seoul. He said the brand's weapon for surviving Korea's fiercely competitive food-and-beverage market is product quality — and nothing else.

"We use more cream and eggs than other brands," Van Leeuwen said. "There's 80 percent butterfat, and depending on the flavor, five to eight percent egg — all at the highest level." He added that the brand uses no stabilizers or gums whatsoever. "Using more cream and eggs is a far better stabilizer than chemical ingredients like guar gum or carrageenan," he said.

Van Leeuwen ice cream is built on a base of milk, cream, eggs, cane sugar and salt, with only natural ingredients added from there. Its signature vanilla bean flavor is made with whole Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans ground directly into the mix. The Sicilian pistachio flavor uses premium pistachios harvested every two years from the volcanic soil of Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy.

Now in its 18th year, Van Leeuwen has become one of the hottest brands in the United States. As of January, it operates more than 100 company-owned scoop shops in major American cities and sells through more than 10,000 retail channels. Outside the United States, Korea is the only country where the brand has a physical presence.

Van Leeuwen is developing ice cream flavors specifically for the Korean market, with plans to unveil them at a "Van Leeuwen Korea pop-up" in New York next year. The company is also exploring the possibility of opening a local version of its Brooklyn-based research-and-development flavor lab.

"We could think about flavors like Jeju green tea, nurungji — the scorched rice I tried at lunch — or chamoe, the Korean melon," Van Leeuwen said. "We're also thinking about flavors Koreans would love, like our Sicilian almond, which has a delicate appeal." He added that he hoped for "a creative exchange where the Korea team learns through New York, and the New York team learns through Korea."

Van Leeuwen entered the Korean market through a master franchise agreement with Twosome Place. "Korea was near the top of the list of markets we were considering," Van Leeuwen said. "Having Twosome Place as a partner made it even more attractive. They have coffee, pastry and operational excellence all in one — I really thought it was a match made in heaven."

The Gangnam store's concept followed a suggestion from co-founder and brand director Laura O'Neill to "go back to basics." It draws inspiration from the yellow ice cream truck that Van Leeuwen, his brother Pete Van Leeuwen and O'Neill launched the brand with on $60,000 in startup capital. "The Korea store is the place in the world that best represents the true Van Leeuwen brand," Van Leeuwen said.

Van Leeuwen plans to open its second and third Korean locations this month — at the basement level of Shinsegae Department Store's Gangnam branch and near Sinnonhyeon Station. The strategy prioritizes consumer experience over rapid store expansion. "It's ice cream made with really good ingredients," Van Leeuwen said. "We want to be a brand that makes you feel good — whether you come alone or with family and friends."