Chatty Tuesday – Emack & Bolio’s

Emack & Bolio’s is a super FUN, imaginative ice cream company with it’s wacky ice cream designs and flavours! If you’re looking for a way to sweeten up your day, for an unforgettable dessert, or to celebrate that July is ICE CREAM MONTH it’s the place to go!

Tell us a little bit about the company.

Emack & Bolio’s is a multi-award-winning ice cream store that began in Boston, United States in 1975. It was founded by Bob Rook, a lawyer and self-declared hippie who has worked closely with the homeless, anti-war demonstrators, civil and gay rights advocates, and numerous rock bands such as Aerosmith, U2, Boston, The Cars, and James Brown. We have insisted on always using the highest quality ingredients and never adding dyes or using milk from cows with genetically induced hormones.

How long have you been in Hong Kong and what do you do?

Emack & Bolio’s has been rocking’ Hong Kong since October 2015 when we opened our very first store on Cochrane Street in Central. We provide Hong Kongers with THE BEST ice cream in the whole of the SAR! We also have the coolest, funkiest cones on the planet, including marsh-mellow with front loops!!

How did you discover your passion?

Peace, Love, & Rock ‘n Roll was everywhere in Boston at that time and Bob was in the middle of it all. His basement soon became known as the place for bands to hang out after their gigs to play acoustic sets and enjoy his outrageously flavoured homemade ice cream. As it became more popular the basement hangout needed a name, and two homeless gentlemen that Bob had helped out suggested he use theirs. This had good karma and the ice cream legend that is Emack & Bolio’s was born.

What do you love most about what you do?

Product creation is absolutely exciting to us! In the past decades, the team has created many signature products such as the original marsh”mellow” funky cones covered with Oreos, Rice Krispies and Froot Loops, the tremendous ice cream pizzas, etc. To further develop our broad range of flavours and the continued introduction of pioneering products and concepts, we believe that creativity and innovation have always played important roles here and will continue to bring us huge success.

Who inspires you to do what you do?

Emack & Bolio’s has created over 100 fabulous flavours with many inspired by the musicians themselves. Due to our ardently love in Rock & Roll, we put elements and inspiration drawn from musical legends of past and present into ice cream. With the combination of peace, love, Rock & Roll and hippies, here comes the superb “Funky Ice Cream”.

What’s been your favourite project that you’ve worked on?

We love celebrating “National Ice Cream Month” with customers! It is the second year that we are holding this month-long celebration. “National Ice Cream Month” has been running in the United States for 35 years and it is exhilarating to introduce this tradition to Hong Kong people. It is a great way for us to share our love for ice cream with new and existing fans of our funky brand. Our biggest highlight this year will be launching the very first ice cream Happy Hour in Hong Kong. Fun social media activities and free ice cream tattoo stickers giveaway will also come along to spice up the whole celebration.

What’s been the most challenging piece so far?

Nearly everyone loves ice cream. But it can be challenging to keep consumers engaged with this frozen sweet in the winter. Luckily Hong Kong is warm nearly all year round and in the cooler months we keep our fans interested by creating various appealing limited-edition festive treats like Christmas-themed reindeer ice cream cones and Chinese New Year-themed piggy ice cream. 

To find out more about Emack and Bolio’s and where to find them you can check out their website here or their insta @emackshk! Happy Ice Cream Month 🙂