As a kid, Frank Finelli ’15 was always in the kitchen making different ice cream concoctions, from a Cool Ranch Dorito-flavored ice cream to a “doughwich,” best described as ice cream sandwiched between edible cookie dough. Thankfully, the Cool Ranch experiment didn’t last, but his ice cream sandwich did. And what was once being requested for family parties is now being sold in retail locations across the country.
Finelli, who majored in Entrepreneurial Studies and was a two-time winner of UHart’s Business Plan Competition, says he gets much satisfaction in “making people happy. It puts a smile on my face. I don’t call this a job because I don’t consider it work. This is my passion and what I love to do.”
Today, he is an active alumni of UHart, has served as a judge of the Business Plan Competition, and continues supporting entrepreneurship programming at the University. UHart recently noted his campus involvement in a Hartford Business Journal article.
Doughwich’s three flavors—Dough’Nilla, Dough’Coco, and Dough’Candy—can be found on the UHart campus and in stores across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. Product launches were also planned for Dallas, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
The company uses high-quality ingredients to make its product, including a high-butterfat ice cream with a low overrun ratio that allows for less air. That means when a consumer bites into the bar, it doesn’t squish together— and that’s how Finelli came up with Doughwich’s tagline, “Take a bite of happiness.”
Frank Finelli '15, Creator, Doughwich“I don’t call this a job because I don’t consider it work. This is my passion and what I love to do.”