Natasha Case, M.A. '18, Founder and General Manager of Lunch Bunch


Natasha Case is the co-founder of Coolhaus Ice Cream. She created the company with Freya Estreller in 2009 because they did not feel represented by the ice cream brands on shelves and knew they could create higher quality and more unique ice cream with a more authentic story. They launched their ice cream sandwich company from a barely-drivable postal van at the Coachella Music Festival where the brand went viral. Since then, Coolhaus has scaled to a national fleet of trucks in LA and NYC, a flagship store and innovation center in Culver City, and a national grocery business of ice cream sammies, pints, cups, mini sammies, and cones in stores ranging from Whole Foods to Sprouts to Kroger. They launched a very successful dairy-free ice cream line (made from peas & brown rice!) in 2019. Natasha remained the CEO until Coolhaus was acquired by Perfect Day under their CPG umbrella company with a mission to make more sustainable products without compromise in December of 2021. 

 

Natasha took on a founding CEO role with Lunch Bunch in August of 2022. As a mom of a three and six year-old, she felt close to the systemic issues around feeding our kids and feeding them well. Lunch Bunch takes a holistic approach to tackling the problem by providing nutritious, balanced, and healthy meals along with offering culinary, gardening and food entrepreneurship enrichment classes. Essentially: the way we will treat our society is by including kids in the conversation and process of eating better, while we offer them wholesome food options. Lunch Bunch will give them inspiration around food they can pass on for generations to come.

 

Natasha is devoted to transformational positive change by creating mission-led businesses. At Coolhaus, she devoted her work to the next generation of women and LGBTQ founders, entrepreneurs, and creators of diverse backgrounds to feel empowered to turn their dreams into realities in an equitable environment. Natasha partnered with Black Girl Ventures to create ice cream to raise funds for entrepreneurial grants, the Okra Foundation for Pride to create a flavor called EnjoyMINT for All, celebrating our differences through a top 8 allergen-free ice cream, and she is committed to teaching courses and frequent public speaking engagements to push the envelope for the next generation. At Lunch Bunch, core partners include National School Lunch subsidized programs for under-resourced schools and communities including Compton YAL, Roenne’s School and culinary and gardening enrichments at Camp Harmony for homeless and vulnerable children.

 

Natasha has been named a Forbes 30 under 30 Food & Beverage, Zagat 30 Under 30, LinkedIn 10 under 35 for Food & Leisure, 10 Most Successful Women in Business by Leaders Globe, and UCLA’s LGBTQ+ 2019 Alum of the Year. She is a published author of the Coolhaus Ice Cream Book which came out in 2014 and was featured on Good Morning America and named as one of Martha Stewart’s favorites. She has been featured in many national publications and media outlets like Entrepreneur, LA Times, and Bon Appetit, and has judged Food Network’s Chopped, King of Cones, and Top Chef Jr. She co-hosted her own podcast, ‘Start to Sale’ through Eater/Vox Media. In 2019, she joined YPO in the Beverly Hills chapter. Natasha is a board member of UCLA Arts Dept, Larchmont Charter School, Startup UCLA, Naturally LA and a member of the Lyft Council (Los Angeles). In 2022 she completed the Victory Institute training for LGBTQ+ leaders of tomorrow. 

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