Josh Hochschuler is a man who followed his passion for gelato to a multimillion-dollar buyout. A post-college trip to Argentina began Josh’s interest in the culture of heladerías (ice cream parlors) and inspired what became a hugely disruptive business venture—Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto. Josh grew the company from a one-room operation to the third-bestselling ice cream brand in the US before Unilever bought him out in 2014.
Josh lives in Dallas with his wife and five children, and he is digging into a new business venture inspired by his love of gardening—the Green Acres Nursery and Supply chain.
Josh has experienced the highs and lows of business, from the belt-tightening, bootstrapping phase to near-collapse, and then a major exit. He described what he has learned about the four essential building blocks of a business and how slow and steady trumps overnight success every time.
Enjoy!
I’m a born-and-raised Texan. I was born on an air force base in Wichita Falls, where my father was stationed as a surgeon. When he saw Dallas, he thought it would be a great place to build a family and a career, so that’s where I grew up.
“My parents are from the Northeast. My father grew up in Long Beach, Long Island. During World War II, his parents escaped from Amsterdam, where they had a livelihood, but they lost it all when they came to the States. They were never really able to get back on their feet. My father felt that may have been why they pushed him into medicine; they wanted him to have a career he could take with him if they ever had to run again. My father’s parents lost touch with Yiddishkeit once they came here, so he was raised without anything.
“My mother is from Maryland, outside of DC. She was raised Reform, with very little Yiddishkeit in her life. I was also raised that way. Every once in a while we would go to a temple for Yom Kippur or join friends for a Pesach Seder, but beyond that, we didn’t have any Judaism. I went through the public school system. I had a bar mitzvah, but it was a crash course for six months to memorize the parshah, and then it was over.
“I had no Jewish friends and a very limited Jewish identity. My mother wanted me to be exposed to more Jewish life, so she encouraged me to go on a teen tour to Israel when I was 16. When I was there, I was incredibly inspired. I was just thrilled that I had an identity, a nation, a people, a religion—all these things I knew almost nothing about.
“When I got back, a friend from the trip asked me if I wanted to meet this new rabbi in town whom his parents had told him about. His name was Rabbi Mendel Dubrawsky, and he was trying to meet with young people. My friend didn’t want to go alone; apparently, this rabbi was weird. He wore a black hat and had a long beard. I said, ‘Absolutely!’
“At first, I tried to convince the rabbi about science and the origins of life. That lasted about two minutes. The rabbi completely won me over. We started meeting every Sunday. You have to understand, I literally knew nothing. I’d bring him food, and he’d explain that it wasn’t kosher. I’d say, ‘What’s kosher?’ Rabbi Dubrawsky and I became very close. We still are. He brought me into the Chabad world, and I never left.
“A couple of years later, I went to Boston University to study business administration and finance. My father encouraged me to do it; he didn’t want me to follow him into medicine. He thought I was better suited for something else. My uncle was also in business and helped influence my decision. While I was at BU, I was close with Rabbi Shmuel Posner, who was the Chabad shliach there. I started small attempts at keeping kashrut and Shabbos. I wasn’t committed yet; it was a slow build for me. I became friendly with a lot of Latinos in college, and a friend and I went on a whirlwind tour of South America. I loved it.
“After graduation, I decided I wanted to live in Argentina. I didn’t have papers and didn’t speak the language, but I sold everything I had and bought a one-way ticket. I had to find a place to sleep and taught English here and there to make money. Every day, I’d put on a suit and walk downtown with my résumé, knocking on doors for a job. I immediately got involved with the local Chabad, which is very big there, and I met a Jewish man who worked at a bank. He gave me a shot to work there for a month. That turned into another month and then another. I ended up working there for five years. It was a great experience; I learned a lot.
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