Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
You may not be familiar with the name Quezel, but if you’ve ever had a towering Cleopatra at Cyrano’s, or a Chocolate Martini at Bailey’s, or a tub of Straub’s Peppermint at the holidays, or that raspberry sorbet uber-cone at the Muny, you know Quezel. Ronnie Ryan, a man more colorful than Joseph’s Technicolor Dreamcoat, is the wizard behind that curtain. And you won’t mind when he makes “a short story very long,” because once you stop laughing, he might just treat you to a Ronnie’s Rocky Mountain, a Drumstick as big as a Dan Dierdorf fist. We bet you can eat just one.
Did your family make ice cream as a kid? Why the interest in ice ceram?
Noooo. My father, my brother, my grandfather—they were all physicians.
So why didn’t you become a doctor?
I couldn’t see myself cutting up cadavers.
How did you get into the business?
Back in 1965, I delivered produce to restaurants. My boss asked me if I could drive a truck and I said sure. I was 16 and had never driven a truck in my life. But that’s how I met the local chefs.
A lot can be learned going in a restaurant’s back door.
We delivered to Tony’s, then Al’s. One of the biggest accounts was the Famous Barr cafeterias. It was dark, 5:30 in the morning, we’d pull in our mirrors and head down the alleys: Chapman’s Ice Cream, Pevely Dairy, KC Franz Poultry, the Italo-American noodle truck, us, Allen Foods—I’m just getting warmed up—McHenry Meats, a Smith-Scharff paper truck, all of us in a row. Today that’s all been replaced…by one Sysco truck. And every one of those other companies is out of business.
Consolidation does make things easier, though…
You wanna know who started that? McDonald’s. They were the first to pack all their stuff on one truck and deliver store to store.
Did you ever work there?
Nah. After I graduated from college, I got a $1.25 an hour job washing dishes at the Pasta House. On my day off, I’d go to Musial & Biggies to learn how to break down steer carcasses—for no money--just because I wanted to learn how to do it.
Restaurants were breaking meat down like that back then?
Yep, it came in on a hook. That’s where I learned how to use every scrap of a cow. For ravioli, meatballs, cannelloni…no one wasted anything. So when I got into restaurant management at a little country-French place called Boucaire’s at Le Chateau Village, there was no waste.
So were you a back of the house guy?
I was both. One day I asked Tony Bommarito what he would do if he were me. He said to check out new Ritz in Chicago, that they needed a guy like me. So I did. The Ritz opened a private club there and I became the chef there. When I left St. Louis, we could get fresh trout and fresh filet of sole—in little gold tins--but only on Friday. That’s it. On my first day at the Ritz, I counted 17 varieties of fresh fish in the walk-in, from all over the world.
Did any chefs make ice cream back then?
No, a French chef eventually taught me how to make sorbets and patés. I eventually sold patés all around St. Louis and one day on a whim dropped off some sorbet to one of my accounts--The Epicure Shop in Ladue. The owner called me within minutes and said she’d take all the sorbet I could make.
And the rest, as they say…
If it wasn’t for Mrs. Bierman, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
You’re still making that sorbet. Did the recipe change over the years?
No, same product. But I changed the way I sourced fresh berries—and I used only fresh. After years of research--and having self-picked loads of local berries, I found the perfect berry at a farm in the Pacific Northwest. The raspberries and strawberries up there are by far, by far, the best in the country. The perfume from the Hood variety of strawberry is just intense, but they have a short season and are very perishable.
Don’t you literally need tons of berries to make all the sorbet you make?
Years ago, I found an heirloom variety of raspberry that’s so dark it’s almost purple. I’ve been buying them from this farm in Washington ever since, and even specify a certain brix. It’s the only farm I use and the only berry I use. They are so good they cause me to weep openly.
Shipping from there has to kill you.
I was shipping them here, deseeding them here, and throwing part of them away. So eventually I got smart. The farm now processes them there, freezes them, and ships me the lot, pallets of them. I buy my raspberries one time a year.
How big is your freezer?
Bigger than many restaurants.
What’s your take on all the yogurt places popping up?
Up and down, up and down. Gelato places were hot, now most of them are gone; yogurt places are hot now, so we’ll see.
Why don’t you see more ice cream or yogurt shops in malls?
Sell a Rolex, sell a $2 cone, same rent. If that’s all you’re sellin’, you need to be sellin’ something else.
So why did you not get into the restaurant business?
I’m not the richest guy in the world, but you can find me at home at 5 ‘clock on a Friday night. Ask any restaurant guy how huge that statement is.
With all the young chefs doing most everything in house, I would think your business would take a hit.
Most kitchens are either too small, too hot, or too busy to do that effectively. Most restaurants can sell way more than they could make.
What’s the most exciting part of the business?
That the old gray fox has learned enough to help people get what they really want. The reality is we live in a vanilla world. And in a raspberry sorbet world. Those fashion-statement ice cream products serve a narrow purpose. I ask these chefs, are you doing this to garner attention or do you want to sell ice cream day in and day out? Avocado-basil gelato may get you noticed, but how many orders will you sell? Come back next week and it won’t be on his menu. That aspect should at least enter into the conversation.
Where did the name originate?
I liked art glass and was too poor to buy Tiffany, so I collected the less pricey Quezal. Both names are abominations of quetzal, one of the most brightly colored birds in the world. It seemed appropriate for sorbets and ice creams.
Today’s chef-driven ice cream flavors seem to be getting more bizarre.
Most of it is so ephemeral that I sometimes don’t even want to get involved. I’ll make 2 tubs for a guy, sell him one, and the second will be waiting in my freezer for somebody’s grandchildren to try and sell.
Did you start by selling ice cream or sorbet?
Quezel started making sorbet in 1979. We didn’t start making ice cream until ’81. Today, sorbet is steady but is only 15% of our business.
What are the most unusual sorbet flavors that you’ve come up with?
I found some Cubans who had access to tropical fruits we’d never seen here, like guanabana, mamay, and passion fruit. At the time, guys like Bill Cardwell were doing trios of sorbets…this stuff caused him to go wild.
How important is the vanilla used in vanilla ice cream?
Critical. The company I use has been making that flavoring for 75 years. It’s all they do. And to do it right, they cold-tumble the vanilla beans with sugar, alcohol, and water—for weeks--not cook it quickly to extract the flavor.
Is vanilla from Madagascar still the way to go?
Either that or Tahitian. It’s like comparing a Bordeaux to a Burgundy. Madagascar is beefier, fuller-bodied and more pronounced, like Bordeaux; Tahitian is more delicate and floral and used for more delicate desserts and custards.
So locavore is not a word ice cream makers use?
We try. The dairies are local, but ingredients like top grade raspberries and vanilla will never be. A lot of this trend is admirable but a lot of it is impractical zealotry. What, are we all going to become canners?
What new ice cream flavor has been requested recently?
Salt caramels are big, so that. But salt doesn’t have the same effect as an add-in as it does on top of a caramel—no one knows if it’s Morton’s or fleur de sel, so I’m recommending that chefs top this dulce de leche ice cream with an exotic salt, like it’s a caramel.
So quality ingredients are important…to a point.
Just to a point, yes. If I make a bourbon butter pecan ice cream, you’ll never know whether I used Jim Beam or Old Forester; if I make some vanilla and use a cheap extract, you’ll chuck it right back at me.
How many flavors does Quezel make?
I’m guessing 60-80, most of them in 3 ½ gallon containers.
Do you have a favorite ice cream flavor?
I side with Reuben Mattus, the guy who founded Haagen-Dazs: Coffee. You can’t beat a good coffee ice cream. Vanilla should be my favorite because it sells the best. But I’m not a fan of inclusions.
What’s an inclusion?
Add-ins. Take a regular pistachio nut, then eat one that’s been in the freezer; do the same with a Hershey’s Kiss. They’re just better at room temperature. If I want extra flavor, I’ll sprinkle that stuff on top, where I can taste it at its best.
Besides vanilla, what flavor sells well?
Our second best seller is cinnamon. I don’t get it and I never will.
Not chocolate?
We sell about 10 different kinds of that, so maybe…Chocolate Chipotle, Swiss Chocolate, Chocolate Malt, Chocolate Mojo, Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Truffle, a Triple Chocolate for Bailey’s Chocolate Bar…
Is that what goes into their Chocolate Martinis?
Yes. Do you remember that almost-black ice cream that Velvet Freeze used to sell, Gold Coast Chocolate? Same formula.
What’s been Quezel’s most unusual flavor?
One I made for Balaban’s years ago, a Grand Marnier with candied violet petals in it.
That purple touch was wonderful. I’m working on one now with roasted and dried carrots for a chef’s carrot cake, and another with roasted sweet potatoes.
Was there any flavor that just didn’t work?
Passion fruit sorbet may be the best flavor I make and it’s our slowest seller. I have no idea why.
It’s not the name. That works…
It may be the unfamiliarity. How many people know what a passion fruit looks like?
Does Quezel sell any ice cream at retail?
We tried, with a Quezel Glacé line, and failed. Couldn’t afford the grocery store’s slotting fees. The so called smaller producers on shelves now—Haagen-Dazs, Ben and Jerry’s—are owned by the same corporations who own Breyer’s and Edy’s, guys who can afford the primo shelf space.
But you do sell to Straub’s.
We private label all their ice creams. They have been my most loyal customer, right from the very start.
Straub’s is your biggest customer. Who’s your smallest?
Carl’s Drive In, the only place to get a Ronnie’s Rocky Mountain.
…the biggest Drumstick I’ve ever seen. I remember seeing those in pushcarts at fairs.
I was told by professionals that it was the best walk-around product they’d ever seen. When the VP Fair was big, we’d sell $30,000 worth in three days, but running that booth or a cart is harder than it looks. At one time I had 17 carts but gave it all up five years ago. It was a weekend gig, it was hot, and I had already worked all week.
But it got you face to face with your customer.
And that gratification was the best part of it. To meet people as passionate about my products as I was. I never get to see that in a restaurant or grocery store.
Couldn’t you hire some hard working kids to do it?
The hard-working part is a problem, as is asking them to work every weekend of the summer. Kids today all want to make a million dollars working from their computer, but a kid could make a fortune selling those things.
What’s something people don’t know about ice cream?
In many cultures, it’s considered an aphrodisiac. And those are the cultures I love.
What’s next?
I like the simplicity of a fresh, organic ice cream store….four or five flavors, tops. Can you imagine a billboard advertising Ronnie’s, Missouri’s only organic ice creamery? And combine that with Drewes’ concept of seeing it shimmy down a chute? It’d go over better than Grandma’s Homemade Pies.
To make it viable, though, I need an organic farmer who’s nearby and owns a milk separator, and that doesn’t exist here yet. So I wait. But that’s something I know would work.
Any other hobbies? You a wine drinker?
The first nice wine I ever had was a Tavel Rose…and I drank that warm, on a roof of a friend’s house in Webster. But yes, I do drink wine. My current fixation is Italian wines—older vintages, cheap, and powerful—that I find at DiGregorio’s. Drinking most reds today is tantamount to beverage infanticide.
Do you have other aspirations? Did you ever want to be like, I dunno, a bullfighter?
Yeah, but only because I love the outfits. Occasionally I wear that outfit around. Here comes Ronnie Ryan, not only is he full of bull…
