After conquering the world of fashion and entertainment, and now succeeding with entrepreneurship, legendary supermodel and businesswoman Tyra Banks will launch her premium ice cream brand, SMiZE & DREAM in the UAE. Banks announced her intention to expand the brand into the region in early 2022 and, after much anticipation, has finally revealed her chosen strategic partner to be none other than the award-winning all-day dining restaurant, Brunch & Cake. In addition to leveraging Banks’ worldwide recognizability and the restaurant’s strong footing in the Emirates, the residency has been introduced to celebrate the harmonizing values of both brands. Brunch & Cake, already known and loved across the country for its boho-chic interiors, creative menu, generous food portions, and friendly service shares an undeniable similarity with SMiZE & DREAM: Both concepts are vibrant, colorful and hold a special place for ‘Grandma’, embedded in their brand DNA!
The Origin of SMiZE & DREAM
SMiZE & DREAM is a premium ice cream brand that mixes luxe and fun with a big dose of goals and dreams. With an ultra creamy base reminiscent of a nostalgic hand-churned taste, SMiZE & DREAM offers even more than just decadent ice cream: Hidden inside every serving is a yummy SMiZE PRiZE – a gourmet cookie dough truffle that comes in a variety of unique flavours. Strategically located at the bottom of every serving, the SMiZE PRiZE is a tasty reward that symbolizes digging for your dreams and working hard to make them come true. Just like Tyra’s mother taught her.
Tyra’s mother, Carolyn London, has been a force of unwavering support. “I always encouraged Tyra to be different. A leader. And to dream what most think is impossible and have laser-focus to make those dreams come true”, says Carolyn. “When she was school-aged, we’d indulge in our favourite ice cream flavours while having these deep inspirational talks about dreams and obstacles that stood in the way and how to fight through them. There were lots of tears and lots of cheers, too. This is where Tyra’s ice cream love began. Since she was a kid, Tyra dreamt about sharing her love of ice cream combined with the pursuit of dreams with the world. With SMiZE & DREAM, it’s finally come true. Now she is encouraging people to reach for their dreams, just like I encouraged her! And she’s doing it on a global scale. You know Mama is proud of her baby girl!”
Tyra’s been passionate about inspiring people to dream their wildest dreams for decades and this mission is the hearth and soul of the ice cream brand. She says, “At SMiZE & DREAM, we believe you’re never too young or too old to reach your dreams. Inspired by my own family, I’ve created a fantastical story to embody this message and it’s personified on every cup of SMiZE & DREAM!”
With a book about their adventures launching this summer, the brand’s whimsical logo stars a fictional family of three: Inspired by Tyra’s spunky mother, DJ Splitz – the world’s coolest grandma – has dreams to be a globally known hip hop DJ. She’s flanked by her daughter LeeLee – an aspiring fashion designer, and 7 year old Lil Y – DJ Splitz’s grandson who dreams of being an ice cream entrepreneur, who happens to be quite obsessed with his unconventional grandmother. Brunch & Cake’s slogan ‘In Grandma We Trust’ aligns perfectly with SMiZE & DREAM, which was a major point in Tyra’s decision to partner with the brand. Catering to the same energetic and ambitious audience, both brands are built on experiences meant to inspire.
The premium ice cream brand gets its name from Smize (smiling with the eyes), a term coined by Banks in 2009. The act involves bringing passion, intensity and fierceness to one’s expression through the eyes and quickly took hold in photography, from professionals all the way to every day selfie-takers, and is now practiced globally. So, instead of saying, “Cheese” in photos, millions of people around the world now say “Smize”! Previously known as SMiZE Cream, the company was recently rebranded to SMiZE & DREAM to supercharge its global mission of inspiring people to make their wildest dreams come true.
Tyra’s keen eye for brands and business was put into high gear by graduating from Harvard Business School’s Owner President Management program in 2012 and teaching Personal Branding at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business for three years. Banks went from ice cream fanatic to ice cream expert and connoisseur with years of intensive work traveling to study ice cream on a global scale within R&D labs alongside SMiZE & DREAM’s ice cream scientist, Dr. Maya Warren. “Tyra has unmatched creativity and will stay in our Flavor Studios until midnight challenging me to innovate and think outside of the scoop”, says Dr. Warren. “She’s not just putting her name on this business. She lives, breathes and leads it.”
SMiZE & DREAM Residency at Brunch & Cake
Speaking about the residency, Tyra Banks said, “I’m obsessed with trying new restaurants, so when visiting the UAE last year, Brunch & Cake kept popping up in my searches. So many articles said it had some of the most beautiful locations with food that was gorgeous to the eye (some of the most Instagrammed in the region) and super tasty, too. My family and I had an amazing time grubbing on so many dishes and taking in the jaw-dropping, stunning environment. Plus, the staff was so kind to my mom…showing so much respect to her as the matriarch of our family. So when I decided to bring SMiZE & DREAM to the UAE, I easily chose Brunch & Cake. I mean, they celebrate Grandmas, too! What you see today is just the tip of the iceberg. Keep an eye out for more coming your way as we reveal our plans to fast-track SMiZE & DREAM’s global expansion, starting first with the UAE!”
SMiZE & DREAM’s residency across all Brunch & Cake venues includes beautifully designed ice cream carts across all outlets in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. A dedicated SMiZE & DREAM Scoop Shop presented by Brunch & Cake is set to launch soon after.
Every SMiZE & DREAM cup and cone elevates the eating experience with interactive elements that share Tyra’s dream and invites others to share their dream with her. Those who share enter themselves into the opportunity to have their dream featured by the brand and broadcasted to the world. “Saying your dream out loud”, says Banks, “gets you one step closer to making it come true. Speak it. Believe it. Achieve it!” A robust social impact plan will soon follow.
SMiZE & DREAM’s interactive cups and cones can be filled with their decadent ice cream in flavours like Strawberries & That Salted Cream, Butter Pecan But Betta, Salt & Peppa Sweet Cream, Biscaramel, Purple Cookie Mon-Star & Me, and the cheekily named Not Chocolate! which is their grandma-homestyle Vanilla. Banana Baby is the featured vegan option. All luxurious servings are housed in a cup or cone, priced at AED 22 for one scoop, AED 38 for two, and AED 54 for three, and are accompanied by a hidden gourmet cookie dough truffle SMiZE PRiZE.
Chocolate Pistachi-dough: UAE’s very own flavour
To mark this monumental expansion, the ice cream chef team at SMiZE & DREAM has crafted a brand new item inspired by flavours of the UAE itself. In addition to the extensive range available at Brunch & Cake, customers in the UAE will also be able to indulge in Chocolate Pistachi-dough! Explaining the story behind the flavour’s unique name, Tyra said, “People are so obsessed with cookie dough and pistachios are such a local favourite nut. I thought… What if we combined them to create pistachio cookie dough? The super tasty deep, green pistachio cookie dough lives inside our rich chocolate ice cream along with roasted pistachios and chocolate swirls. Pure bliss… And I love to create new words, like Smize, so I combined ‘pistachio’ with ‘cookie dough’ to create Pistachi-dough. Try to say it fast three times. It’s not easy! But it sure does taste doughp!”
A word from Brunch & Cake’s CEO
Amjad Barakat, Co-Founder and CEO of Innovision Holding Company said, “We’ve always had a grand vision for Brunch & Cake and our continuous growth in the region is living proof of this. Our collaboration with SMiZE & DREAM is our first monumental step towards making Brunch & Cake a global household name – and who better to start this journey with than icon and businesswoman Tyra Banks? Our brands align perfectly and we’re excited to continue building the Brunch & Cake experience, now with a touch of SMiZE. Our customers can also expect creative menu items that promise to bring together SMiZE & DREAM’s unique flavors with our classic Brunch & Cake twist.”
Starting January 14th 2023, SMiZE & DREAM will be available across all of Brunch & Cake outlets in the UAE, with new customized SMiZE items launching on the menu.