Former high-flying businessman gives corporate world the cold shoulder to set up his own ice cream making business

Richard Gordon had always enjoyed making ice cream for his children when they were young and decided on the unusual career swerve after being made redundant from his board level job in business governance.

At a Job Club workshop, he was asked what he would do if any option were open to him.

"This thought popped out that had been in the back of my mind and never voiced for a long time. I said: ‘I'd make ice cream ' - and that was the start of the journey.”

Richard has always been an ice cream enthusiast and had been given a gift of an ice cream making course one year. But starting his own ice cream business, called The Willen Ice Cream Company, took things to a new level, and he has been working flat out for the past two years developing flavours, making the product and selling it at farmers’ markets and events .

He was just beginning to develop a network of local stockists when the Covid pandemic took hold last year.

Swiftly, Richard changed tack and began doing deliveries of his ice cream within an 18-mile radius of Central Milton Keynes, working long hours seven days a week to make it possible.

He's built a mouthwatering array of flavours, including Foxdenton Raspberry Gin and Vanilla, Organic Madagascar Vanilla, Mint Choc Chip and Salted Almond Caramel. And while he's busy making and sells his treats, Richard is working on his equally sweet dream for the future - to give opportunities to young people with educational challenges.

“The reason I set up The Willen Ice Cream Company was to create social and economic impact and open up pathways to employment for young people with educational challenges,” he said. “To do that I need to move from start-up to scale-up, to put the work programmes in place. So, the vision is for a community-connected ice cream business, which offers local employment, work experience and apprenticeships to such young people, and sales opportunities to local entrepreneurs.

"“I feel there’s a lot to be said for non-formal education,” he added.

Richard now wants to make links with other entrepreneurs, and produce more delicious ice cream flavours.

A grant of £2,700 from FEAST2, the specialist support service for food and drink manufacturers, has allowed him to invest in some equipment and streamline his process. The money gave him a quarter of what he needed to buy in a batch freezer, blast freezer and storage freezer to improve his production process and has meant he no longer needed to work through the night to meet demand:

“Before that I was working until four or five in the morning two days a week, but the new equipment means I can work more efficiently,” he said.

“The FEAST2 team were so helpful in assisting me in putting the bid together, and it’s made all the difference, helping me take the next step with the business. I love being creative with the flavours and driving the business forward and it's a great feeling to know I'm working towards something that I'm creating.”

Meanwhile, if you live within 18 miles of central Milton Keynes, you can order from The Willen Ice Cream for delivery to your door, by visiting www.willenicecream.co.uk .

FEAST2 was awarded to the Food & Drink Forum and is worth £3,934,176 in total. It will receive a further £1,967,089 in funding from the European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.

It is open to eligible food and drink manufacturers within the SEMLEP (South East Midlands Local

Enterprise Partnership) area, covering Central Bedfordshire, Bedford Borough, Luton, Milton Keynes,

Aylesbury Vale in Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire.

For more details of the project, including registering your business for the free support on offer,

please contact Amanda Askew at The Mallows Company on 01933 664437 or email

[email protected]