*By Michael Teich*
The ice cream maker Van Leeuwen secured an undisclosed minority investment Monday from Strand Equity that the Brooklyn ice-cream outfit's founder said he wants to use to expand.
"Our goal is to go nationwide," Ben Van Leeuwen, the company's founder and CEO, said Monday in an interview with Cheddar.
Van Leeuwen is available in 700 stores in 25 states, but the boost from Strand will allow the brand to expand its own ice crime shops. Van Leeuwen said the company has 13 stores in New York and Los Angeles, and he aims to have 35 stores by April 2019.
The company also has a close eye on the delivery market ー which includes UberEats, Postmates, and Caviar. Food delivery sales grew 51 percent in the U.S. from last August to March 2018, according to [market research firm Second Measure.](https://www.recode.net/2018/4/18/17242262/uber-eats-grubhub-food-delivery-startup)
"That sector for us is growing massively year over year," Van Leeuwen said. "We're trying to get our delivery times down to 15 minutes."
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/van-leeuwen-has-investors-screaming-for-ice-cream-2).
Darden, the parent company of chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, beat Wall Street estimates in its latest earnings report.
A former Facebook executive pled guilty to stealing more than $4 million from the company while she was employed there.
Rising safety concerns over water bead products marketed to kids have prompted major retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart to pull some toys off their shelves.
The Congressional Budget Office said Friday it expects inflation to nearly hit the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate in 2024, as overall growth is expected to slow and unemployment is expected to rise into 2025, according to updated economic projections for the next two years.
Intel is out with a new product to challenge other big players in the space like Nvidia and AMD.
Stocks fell after the opening bell Friday but will end on another positive week.
Cheddar News' Need2Know is brought to you by Securitize, which helps unlock broader access to alternative investments in private businesses, funds, and other alternative assets. The private credit boom is here and the Hamilton Lane Senior Credit Opportunities Fund has tripled in assets under management in just six months from November 2022 through April this year. Visit Securitize.io to learn more.
Americans picked up their spending from October to November as the unofficial holiday season kicked off, underscoring that shoppers still have power to keep buying.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate dropped below 7% to its lowest level since early August, another boost for prospective homebuyers who have largely been held back by sharply higher borrowing costs and heightened competition for relatively few homes for sale.
Mortgage rates have dropped below 7% for the first time since the middle of August.
