Hollywood boulevard might be one of the most famous lengths of road in the world. It’s studded with the pink and gold stars that make up the walk of fame, film and TV paraphernalia – Jimmy Kimmel’s studios are there too. Capitol Records not far away.
Perhaps the most significant building – and the one most photographed – is the Dolby Theatre, where the Oscars are held. But drop your eye from the gold-plated sign high above the street, and you will see something distinctly Kiwi – Hokey Pokey LA, New Zealand-style ice-cream.
I spotted it walking past the theatre with my husband on the eve of the US TikTok awards down the road, thinking that surely this was just going to be an American chain store trying to make some money of the NZ brand – which you see somewhat regularly here.
But instead, I found a guy from the Hawke’s Bay – one of three brothers who have managed to bring something proudly New Zealand to America.
Three Hawke’s Bay brothers swapped music for ice cream and built a Hollywood hit, serving the Kiwi flavour to tourists and stars. (Source: Breakfast)
The brothers had come to the US as a band, chasing their music dream.
“Covid came along, put a bit of an end to that for a while,” said Dhyan Chalmers. “[So we] found our way down to LA.”
All have backgrounds working in high-end restaurants in Australia, so eventually decided to pivot away from music when one of the brothers, Bud Chalmers, started experimenting with ice-cream flavours.
“We’re using the real fruit ice cream blending equipment to make upscale soft serve,” said Bud. “We kind of happened upon that by accident while working with someone making real fruit ice cream. Our food background took over, and we’ve come up with a whole twist, no pun intended, on New Zealand-style ice cream.”
Funding the project themselves, the opened their first brick-and-mortar store in one of LA’s premier malls in Century City.
“Somehow within a few weeks we had lines out the door. It happened immediately. New Zealand-style ice cream seemed to catch and chiefly our version of hokey pokey,” said Bud.
“We had Leonardo DiCaprio come into our store in the first couple of months.
Almost a year ago the opportunity came to open a second store outside perhaps one of the most famous locations in Los Angeles – the Dolby Theatre.
“I would say this location is the one that sort of strikes me as how did we end up here? Because you look around and this is like when you’re back home, this is where you look, the heart of Hollywood, the Oscars happens here,” said Bud.
Their brand had only grown since, serving an estimated half a million scoops a year to tourists and celebrities alike.
“[Dhyan] took pavlovas and ice cream up to Jennifer Aniston’s house once,” said Anand Chalmers.
Operating in the United States, however, has had its challenges. Donald Trump’s tariffs as well as the war in Iran has driven up prices of raw products and ingredients for every food-based business in America.
Hokey Pokey LA has had to adapt too.
“I make my own golden syrup from scratch. I make my own chocolate paste from scratch. So as those things rise, the base ingredients are a little more stable in price. I’m making virtually every ingredient from scratch in-house. And that’s one of the ways we’re combating rising food costs, which are still a challenge,” said Bud. “Many 15-to-19 hour days just working your ass off.”
Regardless, the brothers have big aspirations for their business.
“Third store, and then after that, America. Here we come,” said Bud.
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