Adnan Baqui: His Sweet Success
Cheat Day, Every Day
INTERVIEW BY: EMILY ARAUZA
AUGUST 17th, 2025
When you meet Adnan Baqui, it doesn’t take long to realize that his story is about more than ice cream. At 28, the Cypress native and first-generation American has already turned a childhood steeped in entrepreneurial hustle and the joy of sweet treats into a thriving brand, Cheaters Creamery. What started as an ice cream truck in 2020 has grown into two scoop shops with his latest in Tomball and a reputation for transforming “cheat day” into a full-fledged experience.
But behind the colorful flavors, playful details, and nostalgic energy of his shops lies a philosophy that wields ice cream as a tool for happiness, memory-making, and authentic expression. Here, Baqui opens up about the lessons that shaped him; from selling snacks in middle school, to learning the power of branding, to chasing ah-ha moments of alignment and why, ultimately, he’s building not just a business, but the kind of place he wishes had existed for him growing up.
Adnan Baqui: “My name is Adnan Baqui, I’m 28, & born in the US. My mom is from Mexico and father is from Bangladesh so that makes me a 1st generation American. Grew up in Cypress, the northwest suburb of Houston. I do a number of things. For work, I own an ice cream brand called Cheaters Creamery. Cheaters is built on the idea of Cheat Day and Guilt Free indulgence. I’ve always been big in health and fitness but never on diets. I got started as an ice cream truck on Washington Avenue in 2020 and now have 2 scoop shops. One in Cypress and a new one that just opened last month in Tomball. I’m also currently working on a new Poke concept called Fishbones with a friend that’s an omakase chef, but let’s keep this as a secret between us. No timeline in mind, we just started.”
Emily Arauza: “Wow! I actually grew up in Cypress as well and now live near The Woodlands, not too far from Tomball, so it’s really exciting to hear about your shops opening in places that feel so familiar to me. I’d like to say I think it’s fantastic what you’ve built with Cheaters Creamery. I haven’t interviewed anyone with a concept quite like yours before, and I love how you’ve connected it to the idea of wellness — enjoying indulgence without the guilt. That balance is something I personally care a lot about too, so it really resonates. So, what first inspired you to take that idea of “cheat day” and turn it into a full brand? Was there a specific moment when you knew you wanted to bring it to life?”
AB: “I went to Cy Ranch and grew up in Fairfield! I was looking for a whole year for a site to open in the city but it was tough cause everything is so expensive and super saturated. That’s when my broker slid me a site that’s right across the berry center and it felt like it would be a perfect homecoming. When I was in school, there was nothing on Barker Cypress to do after Friday night football games except that Whataburger. I figured this was a great opportunity to give the kids a better hangout spot. Thank you for the kind words. Creating the concept for this brand has been fun and I’m really just getting started. I’m working on some really cool things right now for cheaters. The way I got into ice cream is a long story. I never expected my ikigai to somehow be ice cream but it was a perfect storm of a bunch of different pieces coming together. One of the pieces is that I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mind that I inherited from my dad. In elementary I started selling these monkey head erasers. In middle school snacks and gum weren’t allowed but I was that guy with his locker full of chips, candy, and gum, supplying what the market demanded in between classes. So that entrepreneurial mind is always looking for market opportunities. The most influential factor has to be the fact that I practically grew up in an ice cream shop. My dad had his own shop when I was in kindergarten. I was there all the time eating ice cream and we always treated my soccer team there after games. When I was in middle school, I started working there and learning about all the ins and outs of the business. My favorite part about working there was customer psychology. I was learning a lot about how customers made their decisions and how delicate their decision making process is and how it can easily be influenced. One example I learned about customer behavior, kids eat with their eyes first. They’re drawn to bright colored flavors. The older crowd eat with their ears first. They care about the name of the flavors, looking for elegant and artisanal sounding flavors. The young adults care about novelty and aesthetics. They see a phone eating the first type of crowd. In high school, I had an online business selling fitness related products on Amazon. I sourced a manufacturer in China and made custom gym wrist wraps. The first year and a half went really well because I was an early player in the market. In the second year, a massive player began sourcing the exact same wrist wraps and slapped their own brand logo on it and sold it for a much cheaper price. They were a big player, so they made a giant purchase order getting a cheaper production price which allowed them to sell at a cheaper price point. This turned my niche product into a commodity overnight. This was my very important lesson in branding. If I had established a brand around the product, I would have a moat. I’d have something to offer that no one else can. But because I didn’t have a brand, it was just another product. Nothing special about it so of course customers are going to choose the cheaper one. Tying this into cheaters, I saw the ice cream industry as being pretty boring and ripe for disruption. National chains are lame and small artisanal shops are delicious but there’s no real experience. I saw an opportunity to carve my own lane with a cheat day experience. I was already a staunch advocate of cheat days and I know there are others like me. And during this time is when the health and wellness industry was going to the extreme. Kim Kardashian was pushing skinny teas, everything was trending towards sugar free, toxic diet culture was ramping up. So I decided to zig when everyone’s zagging. Cheaters would be the counterweight by waging a war on diets. Ice cream is our commodity, but cheat day is our real product.”
EA: “I really appreciate how you broke down your journey, from those early entrepreneurial sparks to working in your dad’s shop, and then learning tough lessons about branding with your Amazon business. It is fascinating how all of that came together to shape Cheaters into what it is now. You mentioned that customer psychology was one of your favorite parts of working in ice cream early on. How have you carried that into Cheaters today? Are there specific ways you are creating that sense of experience to set yourself apart from the typical ice cream shop?”
AB: “Customer psychology plays a large role in many ways. From a selection standpoint, I try to have something for everyone. I have bright flavors for the kids, old school classics for the ones that like it simple, more artisanal flavors for the older crowd, and as a big foodie that’s inspired by all different food cultures, I have international inspired flavors. Mango Lassi pays homage to my dad’s culture while Mexican Vanilla is a nod to my Mexican heritage. I made a frozen Mexican hot chocolate last year for winter using Abuelitas hot chocolate. It was damn good I’m gonna have to run that back. I made Ube ice cream for a friend's Filipino night dinner party and they loved it so much that I decided to let the public taste it and it became one of our best sellers. Another way I use psychology is to prime the mind. By designing a fun, uplifting environment, this readies the subconscious to start getting ready to produce feel chemicals in the brain. Everything your senses touch is colored by the mood you’re in. If you’re in a good mood, you’re more likely to enjoy the product, service, and overall experiences and vice versa. So for my ice cream shops I commissioned a well known, amazing Houston graffiti artist named Nicky Davis to work his magic on our walls and consecrate the space with feel good energy. The kids go bananas and even all the adults are blown away and it makes them nostalgic as if their inner child is out to play. All the details in the shop are intentional in this way. One of my favorite pieces in the shop is our wet floor sign. It’s a banana peel. That wet floor sign has been the cause of many smiles. What makes us different is how we position ourselves in the market. We are the official place to celebrate cheat day. A sweet escape. All of our flavors are calorie loaded and creamy af. We will never, ever have a sugar free flavor. But we are working on vegan dairy free options (I’m lactose intolerant myself) We call our ice cream guilt free ice cream because when you’re celebrating cheat day, the part of your brain that questions if it’s a good idea should be shut completely off. I don’t believe in “guilty pleasures”, I think if there’s guilt involved it’s not pleasure. I credit Anthony Bourdain for molding this philosophy into me. A very influential figure of mine. The brand, our creativity, our design, our cheat day experience is what sets us apart but those are all just to get you in the door and ready for the start of the show which is our ice cream. My ice cream falls into the “super premium” category. Super premium ice cream is defined as ice cream that has at least 14% butterfat and low overrun. Butterfat is what gives ice cream its creaminess and overrun is the amount of air that’s whipped in while churning. A low overrun ice cream will be dense and less airy. Ice cream that you find in grocery stores usually has a high overrun so you’re eating more air than ice cream. I stand by my claim that we have the creamiest ice cream in the game.”
EA: “I love how intentional you are with both your flavors and the atmosphere. The way you tie in your heritage with flavors like Mango Lassi and Mexican Vanilla is so meaningful, and I think it adds such a personal touch. I also think it is amazing that you bring in artists like Nicky Davis to create a space that feels fun and nostalgic at the same time. Even something as small as the banana peel wet floor sign shows how much thought you put into creating an experience that makes people smile. Since you describe Cheaters as the “official place to celebrate cheat day,” what do you hope people feel or take away after visiting? Is it just about the ice cream itself, or more about the ritual and experience of celebrating that moment?”
AB: “Ritual is a good word to use. Cheat Day is very much a ritual. Whenever there’s reason to celebrate or if someone needs a serotonin boost, Cheaters is there to fulfill that need. I see my cheaters scoopers as happiness dealers. We’re in the business of happiness. Ultimately, I am simply creating something that I wish existed. Like I said earlier, in high school there wasn’t a good hangout spot after football games besides whataburger. I would’ve loved to have a cheaters creamery to go to and bond with friends. This “create what I wish existed” is how I approach everything in life now. From businesses to art to even music.”
EA: “I really like how you framed Cheat Day as a ritual and how your scoopers are ‘happiness dealers.’ That makes it feel so much bigger than ice cream, almost like you’re giving people a place to create memories. I also think it’s powerful that your guiding philosophy is to create what you wish existed. That says a lot about your mindset, not just as an entrepreneur but as a person. On a more personal note, what do you think drives that? Is it about giving others something you didn’t have growing up, or is it more about expressing yourself through your businesses and creativity?”
AB: “Hmm I never thought about that. I think it’s half expression and half selfish-ness. I’m creating what I wish existed because I personally want the experience.”
EA: “I think the best ideas usually come from that mix of personal expression and wanting to create something you genuinely enjoy yourself. It makes the whole thing feel authentic instead of forced. Outside of business, what are the ways you like to express yourself or create experiences just for you? Do you find that same fulfillment in art or music, or does it feel different than what you get from building a business?”
AB: “Outside of business, my main medium of expression has been physical movement. I used to be an avid weightlifter but it began to feel almost pointless. I started climbing a few years ago and fell deeply in love with it. Climbing feels like giving my physical body and strength training a purpose. There’s just something so crude and simplistic about it. It’s funny to think about how something so simple as climbing rocks can bring existential fulfillment. Humans really are simple creatures. In terms of creating experiences, I went to my first rave last year and my world was blown open. For the first time I found a genre of music that fit my soul like a glove and I can’t believe I went 26 years without it. Since then I’ve gone deep into the techno rabbit hole. I want to live inside one of the sets I got to see live this year in Chicago, but that kind of techno scene isn't something that’s easily found here in Houston. So since then I got my own dj controller and I’ve been mixing sets for myself to enjoy. This has become a passion of mine, I’ve created some sets that I have had a blast playing so I’m going to record them and upload them to YouTube and SoundCloud for shits and gigs. Who knows, maybe I’ll get to share them with Houston one day.”
EA: “I love how you describe climbing and raving as forms of expression because they really show two different sides of creativity. And I can totally relate to what you’re saying about music. I’ve interviewed some really cool DJs and people who host events like Amped, and the way they talk about music’s power to bring people together reminds me of how you’re describing it. Shifting back to Cheaters, I’m curious about the future. You’ve already built something unique and you’re still early in the journey. Where do you see the business going next?”
AB: “I’ve spent the majority of my time on the business and product side getting operations running smoothly and getting my product where I want it to be. I’ll be spending a lot more time on the creative side. This means linking with other creatives to create content, expressing the brand image, expanding our flavor catalogue, refining our craft, creating apparel, and most importantly building out a dream team of like minded rag tag individuals. I’ll also be doing a lot more pop ups and collaborations in the city. We just did a collaboration pop up where we teamed up with the amazing people at Tadaima to create a metal spoon because ice cream is best enjoyed with a metal spoon. On the release day, we served White Chocolate Matchagotos at their retail store in the heights. There will be many more amazing experiences like that in Houston.”
EA: “I love the way you’re thinking about Cheaters’ future. The creativity and collaborations you’re describing remind me of a brand like La La Land. They’ve built such a strong identity through their content and vision, and I can see you on a similar path. I really admire the originality in the way you’re building Cheaters because I honestly haven’t seen many companies lean into content and creativity the way you do. You’ve shared so much about your brands, which is amazing, but I’d love to get to know more about you outside of business. What do you feel like people might be surprised to learn about you, or maybe something that really shapes who you are day to day? That could be a personal experience or a piece of advice. Tell me more about Adnan.”
AB: “Hmm not sure about what people would be surprised to learn about me. To be completely honest with you, I don’t even know who Adnan is and answering that question is my true mission in this life. The way I’m going about that mission is seeking alignment in all avenues of life. There are these ah-ha moments every now and then where it feels like my soul is saying “this is what I came to earth to experience”. I’m seeking more of those ah-ha alignments and they seem to come more frequently from authentic expression, challenging myself, venturing into the unknown, and surrounding myself with people I want to be around. I believe that’s what Adnan’s life is about.”
EA: “I love how you’re focused on alignment and seeking those ‘ah-ha’ moments through authentic expression and pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone. It really shows that your journey isn’t just about building businesses, but about discovering who you are along the way. Before we wrap up, do you have any advice you would give to someone trying to find their own alignment or discover what really drives them?”
AB: “I’m not one for advice but if I were to advise younger me or those like me, I’d say : be open minded, try everything, lean hard into your intuition, develop an appetite for risk, and turn your attention inward. From personal experience these are frameworks I need to find alignment, fulfillment, self discovery, meaning. Whatever you wanna call it. I think we’re all after the same thing and we seek it in different ways but fundamentally, all our paths lead to the same destination.”
