Salt & Straw explores sale at $200M valuation

Driving the news: Salt & Straw — founded 15 years ago by Kim and Tyler Malek as an ice cream cart in Northeast Portland — tapped investment bank Piper Sandler to help find a buyer, per a report from Reuters.

• The business brings in around $100 million a year in revenue, per Reuters, built around unique flavor combinations like pear and blue cheese, starling sweet potato buckwheat crumble, and cheesecake with salted yuzu curd.
• Salt & Straw operates around 50 shops across 10 states, including seven in Oregon and one in Vancouver, Washington.
• They also recently reintroduced the Tacolate and started selling pints in New Seasons stores around Portland.

What they're saying: "We are currently in the early stages of exploring a capital transaction, as we have at other points in our history, to support the next chapter of Salt & Straw's growth," co-founder Kim Malek told Axios in an emailed statement.

• "Tyler and I remain fully committed to building this company for the long term — and to the people, culture, and guest experience that have made Salt & Straw what it is, and the communities we've called home since day one."

Yes, but: Salt & Straw has previously brought on outside investors — including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson — while the Maleks have retained majority ownership.

• It's unclear how much of the company could be sold this time around.