It’s ‘The Bomb’ Showstopper gourmet ice cream bars have one goal: to make people smile. ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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n fall of 2017, Jill Kasle’s husband, Matt, was diagnosed with cancer. Four months later, Jill was diagnosed with cancer as well. With four young kids just starting out in elementary school, the situation was extraordinarily challenging for the couple. “We tried to keep things really positive and optimistic,” says Jill Kasle, who is the founder and owner of gourmet ice cream bar on wheels Bombshell Treat Bar, which makes Instagram-worthy ice cream pops dipped in various flavors of Belgian chocolate. At the time, Kasle’s gourmet ice cream bar business was nonexistent. Instead, she worked in corporate America, doing event planning for auto companies. While going to culinary school had always been a dream for the now 48-yearold Birmingham resident, she just “didn’t have the guts to do it,” she explains. Therefore, event planning was the next best thing, where food would always be a part of
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the picture. Yet the dual diagnosis for both Jill and Matt changed everything. “While we were both being treated, I felt the need to focus on creating something that would involve the kids and get them excited,” Kasle explains. “Something that took me away from all the negatives that surrounded our health situation.” A SWEET SURPRISE IN MONTREAL During downtime, Kasle researched different food concepts. She was drawn to the culinary scene in Montreal, Canada, and decided to plan a trip with her family. As a self-proclaimed “choco-holic,” Kasle, who needs to have dessert every day, asked her husband to find a unique dessert joint in the city that they could visit during their trip. Matt discovered a tiny ice cream shop on a cobblestone street that was glowing turquoise. There was a long line out the door.
Once they got inside, Kasle was “blown away” by what she saw: the shop offered vanilla soft-serve that could be dipped in more than 30 flavors of Belgian chocolate, which then hardened into a magic shell. “It would become like a candy bar,” Kasle recalls. “I was buzzing with excitement, and I walked out and said, ‘I have to do this.’” At the time, Kasle didn’t know much about chocolate, other than her love for the flavor profile. Yet the idea stuck with her, and she began to develop a business plan to open a gourmet ice cream bar inspired by the tiny storefront in Montreal. “I pitched it to a couple of people, and I was told not to do it,” Kasle explains, “that I wouldn’t make any money.” Discouraged for several months, one day Kasle woke up with a different mindset: She was going to bring her idea to life. “When you come from being sick, it’s so important to be around positive energy,” she says. “I wanted to give something to someone that makes them smile. I just felt I had to block out the negative and try.” FROM SOFT-SERVE TO POPSICLES Through a contact in the restaurant indus-
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JILL KASLE
DINING
