(upbeat music) >> Hey welcome back everybody. Jeff Frick here with theCUBE. We're at San Francisco International at Gate 54B if you want to stop by and say hello. We're here for Alaska's Elevated Flying Experience launch. It's really an interesting opportunity. Alaska took advantage of the purchase of Virgin to kind of rethink the brand, rethink the branding of the planes, and add a bunch of new amenities. This is the one that you're going to care about more than any of the others, and we're really excited to have the founder and CEO of Salt & Straw the ice cream, Kim Malek. >> Hi! >> Great to meet you! >> Thank you! >> I am a huge fan! >> Aw! I appreciate that. >> I don't know how many hours I've stood in line and burned, waiting to get into your restaurant in Portland. >> Aw, thank you so much! >> So for folks that haven't stood in line for their Salt & Straw, give us a quick update on Salt & Straw, who you guys are, what you're all about. >> Yeah, so we started actually in 2011 as a little push cart which is a big deal in Portland, and we've grown now to 19 shops up and down the West Coast. We make all of our ice cream in 5 gallon batches, so we savor the smallest and we're the largest small batch ice cream company in the world and we're excited to have this new partnership with Alaska. >> Right, so I don't know kind of what the official industry categories are, but you would certainly be like in the super rich premium category. (laughter) Right. Really, really rich ingredients, fresh ingredients >> Yeah >> crazy flavors. >> So, each city that we operate in we make a different menu, so it reflects that city's local flavors, what's going on with the food scene and we make everything in house, so whether it's a brownie or rendering bone marrow, or making gummy bears ourselves, it's all made in house with great great care and love. >> I'm just curious if you have a feel for, you know, what is the formula for your success? Right, it's ice cream. There's a lot of ice cream choices, of course Farrell's was one of my favorite back at Portland >> Aw, I love Farrell's. Yeah. >> and they don't have that anymore at the zoo. But, what are some of the secrets to have, you know, "a commodity product" if you will, it's ice cream, but to build such a passionate following and really have people that are so connected to the product and the brand? >> Yeah, well we feel so fortunate to have this loyal following and I think it's really, you know we invest a lot in earning people's business and earning that attention, and so like I said, we have a different menu in every city that we operate in, we change our menu every 4 weeks, so it's reflective of what's happening locally and seasonally, and then when you come into our store, we try to offer a pretty special experience, so from the store design to the way we take care of people, they can sample through the whole menu. I was just at one of our stores and a customer said this is like a wine tasting, I mean I'm tasting all of these flavors, hearing the stories behind how they were made, and the collaborations that went into it, so we pack a lot into the experience. >> Right and so it's interesting that we are here at Alaska because Ben and the opening talked about really the culture and about people because the seat, it's kind of the same thing, a seat mile is a seat mile, so how do you differentiate your product and your offering, and he talked about values and wanting to work with companies that reflect the similar values. You're here, so tell the people why are you here at the Alaska event? >> I love that he talked about values. I noticed that as well and you know I think that's definitely one thing that we share, is a care for the people first and foremost. I mean, we scoop ice cream, but you know we offer people I think four days of training before they show up to actually start scooping ice cream, and that's all about you know, how to create connections with people, how to have a really special experience when someone is standing in front of you and how to connect. So, you know, we invest a lot in our team and I think that really shines through in the way that they take care of customers and I definitely see that when I fly with Alaska Airlines and it was one of the reasons I was so excited to be able to partner with them. >> Right, so we got to tell the people, so you can now get Salt & Straw on Alaska Airlines. >> Yeah, that's right, so just for a couple of months now we've been offering a little single serve container that we actually developed in conjunction with Alaska Airlines, so they helped us design the packaging, so that it would really fit with the experience that they were offering and then we launched it in the air and we don't really sell ice cream outside of our stores very much, so it was really a big deal to work with them on this project. >> Yeah and I would imagine in terms of the packaging and the experience, you're so dialed into that, that is such a part of your brand that you probably have a lot of, I would imagine initial concerns about making sure that was consistent with the brand that you guys represent. >> Yeah, definitely, I mean we had a lot of conversations about how they were going to handle the product, how they were going to educate their team about the ice cream so they can be communicating it with the people who were flying and they were of course there in spades and it was a really easy conversation to have. >> Alright, well Kim, thanks for, thanks for the ice cream earlier. >> Aw, thank you. >> And thanks for taking a few minutes. Congratulations and safe flying back to Portland. >> Awesome! I appreciate being here. Thank you! >> You're welcome! She's Kim, I'm Jeff, you're watching theCUBE. We're at San Francisco Gate 54B at the Alaska Airlines Better Experience. Thanks for watching. (upbeat music)

(energizing music) >> Hey welcome back, everybody! Jeff Frick here with theCUBE. We are at San Francisco International, Gate 54B if you want to stop by. We're here for the big Alaska Elevated Flying Experience event. They basically took advantage of this opportunity with the Virgin merger to kind of rebrand, rethink, and re-execute the travel experience. We're excited to have with us Ben Minicucci, the President and CEO of Alaska. First off, congratulations on a big event. >> Thank you, thank you so much Jeff. >> And I think you said you're two years into this merger. >> Two-- >> You're getting through it? >> We are. Two years into it, it's been a great experience bringing two great brands together and really, ya know, amplifying the flying experience. Getting a great product. We're unveiling our Airbus with new seating, new first class, premium class main cabin and we're so excited. And more than that, it's just bringing our people together and just enhancing our culture. >> Right, so you talked a lot about people and culture in your opening remarks. >> Right. >> What is it about the culture of Alaska, 85 or 86 year old airline, that makes it special? >> Yeah, you know it's a wonderful culture built on strong values. And what I'll say is, for people who know Alaska, the culture is built on kindness. People who fly us will say, "Your people are kind." And they're empowered to do the right thing. It's two of our biggest values and that's what I love about our people. And when you combine that with a great product on board. 'Cause people really feel great, they're comfortable where they're sitting and, but if our people connect with them, make them feel welcome, and they show kindness then the brand just comes to life. >> That's really interesting 'cause kindness is not something that you necessarily think about. >> With airlines. >> When you're rushing through airports. >> No. >> And you know, grinding on corporate travel, right. >> Right. >> It's tough. So that's pretty interesting. The other thing I thought was interesting in your remarks is really your focus on your partner brands. >> Right. >> Both in the community but as well as Recaro the seat manufacturer who's doing your seats. And even to the wine and Salt and Straw, we were jokin'. >> Right. >> So, you guys are really paying attention to these little details that maybe people don't notice individually but in aggregate really make for a different experience. >> No, and I think what we want to do is partner with brands that share our same values, that share our same values for you know, producing a great product, you know. And their employees love working for them. And they just love the spirit of partnership and doing something good for the community. So we always look for companies and brands that share our own values as well. >> Right, which is interesting 'cause it's such a hyper competitive space. Airline industry's a tough space you got. >> Right. >> Tough margins, you got fuel volatility but a lot of people, a lot more people are flying all the time. >> Right. >> So it's a growing business. So, you know, how do you kind of keep it balan-- >> That's a great question though. >> and compete when a seat mile is a seat mile, right, at the end of the day. >> Yeah, no, it is. >> That's what the wall street guys would tell you. >> You know, the one thing about Alaska, we've been in business for almost 87 years and ya know we're in it for the long haul. So we make decisions based on long-term returns and we do have, we know that price is important. So we do work hard keeping our cost structure low so we can offer low fares but also a product where if people want to pay a little more, they can get into premium class or first class. But we're really an airline that want to make sure that we appeal to all sorts of travelers. From people who are just starting out just traveling in their teens or twenties, or if you're retired, we want to appeal to a wide range of demographic. >> Alright, well Ben, it looks like we're boarding the-- >> Okay good, yes enjoy! >> We're boarding the new airbus so I will let you go. >> Well thank you Jeff, it was a pleasure. >> Thanks for inviting us. >> Okay, thank you so much. >> Alright he's Ben, I'm Jeff. You're watching The Cube! We're at San Francisco International, at the Alaska Airlines Elevated Flight Experience. Thanks for watching, we'll see ya next time. (mellow music)