Meet Tyler Malek | Co-Founder and Head Ice Cream Maker of Salt & Straw

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tyler Malek and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tyler, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
My cousin, Kim, and I started Salt & Straw as an ice cream pushcart in Portland, OR in 2011. Our inspiration was to use ice cream as a platform for storytelling, so we’ve always worked with local artisans and purveyors in each of our markets to create unique flavors that showcase the city. Our scoop shops have become these community gathering spaces where neighbors and friends can come together and taste through ice cream that reflects culinary trends, seasonality of ingredients, and cultural moments. We learned really quickly that visiting a Salt & Straw is way more than getting a scoop of ice cream. We think about the entire experience and try to focus everything around creating taste adventures for our guests. Visiting one of our scoop shops is more like going to a theater than going to standard ice cream shop. Our rotating monthly menus always tell a story and we highly encourage our guests to sample all of the flavors we offer until they find their perfect match.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
At Salt & Straw, we first started as a food cart in Portland, Oregon. In Portland, we were able to build a company around the city and around the idea of pulling in partners that could help us tell stories within the food community. We fell in love with the power that ice cream has to bring people into a safe environment and talk about flavors, community, friendships, ice cream, and everything in between. When it came time to open in a new city, we fell in love with the food and restaurant culture in Miami. Food in Miami has this insane convergence of cultures, a fun dichotomy of hyperlocal ingredients vs imported flavors, and a community that is willing to explore and spend time & money to support their local restauranteurs. It’s the perfect place for us to bring a bit of our Oregon roots while also adopting some local ice cream flavors from the city itself.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would instantly start with the most obligatory morning routine on any foodie’s calendar in Miami: a trip to Wynwood for a White Chocolate Tres Leches donut at The Salty, an espresso flight from Panther Coffee, and brunch at Zak the Baker. From there, a road trip out to Redland is amazing for anyone visiting, just because the diversity of native fruits and vegetables is literally awe-inspiring. One of my favorites is to get stop on the way for some local fruits and smoothies at LNB Grovestand and then go on for a wine tasting of some wildly creative fruit wines at Schnebly Winery. Coming back into the city at night, my favorite restaurant right now is a local institution, Ariete, in Coconut Grove. If you have a few minutes to kill before that, stop by Lokal for happy hour. A night cap of ice cream at Salt & Straw, right around the corner, will make for the perfect day!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Our shoutout has to go out to one of our biggest supporters and mentors, Danny Meyer, the founder of Unions Square Hospitality and Shake Shack. He was one of the earliest investors into Salt & Straw and has been a guiding light for how to create a culture of hospitality that wraps around more than just the customer but also impacts our team, our community, and our vendors. He’s been on the sidelines of Salt & Straw guiding us through every step and was even the first person to introduce us to the Miami food culture.

Website: saltandstraw.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saltandstraw/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/salt-&-straw

Twitter: https://twitter.com/saltandstraw?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaltandStraw/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/salt-and-straw-miami-beach

Image Credits
Salt & Straw