Who Is Jamal Shamieh?

Jamal Shamieh — also known as Jimmy Shamieh — is an entrepreneur, the founder of CREAM (Cookies Rule Everything Around Me), and a business turnaround specialist whose career bridges Bay Area food culture, Palestinian-American entrepreneurship, and decades of hands-on executive leadership.

From a Berkeley counter to a Northern California favorite

Jamal Shamieh co-founded CREAM in Berkeley, California, in 2010, building a brand around a simple, irresistible idea: a made-to-order ice cream sandwich pressed between two freshly baked cookies. The name — Cookies Rule Everything Around Me — captured the playful, community-first spirit that turned a single college-town shop into a destination for students and families alike.

Under Shamieh's leadership, CREAM grew into a chain of locations across Northern California, becoming a recognizable part of the Bay Area's dessert landscape. That landscape has deep roots: San Francisco has been an ice cream town for nearly a century, ever since the It's-It ice cream sandwich was created at Playland-at-the-Beach in 1928. CREAM extended that tradition for a new generation, pairing nostalgic flavors with a fast, customizable, affordable experience.

A Palestinian-American entrepreneurial story

Shamieh's story is also part of a larger one. The San Francisco Bay Area is home to a remarkable community of Palestinian-American food entrepreneurs whose businesses have become household names — from Philz Coffee and Ike's to Bi-Rite Market. As The Guardian documented in its feature on the Palestinian-American chefs and founders behind the region's celebrated food scene, this is a community for whom, in the words of one chef, "food's my love language."

CREAM belongs to that tradition: a family-built business, launched with relatives, grounded in hospitality, and devoted to bringing people together over something simple and joyful. It reflects values Shamieh has carried throughout his work — fairness, hard work, community, and a belief that good business and good citizenship belong together.

Setting the record straight: CREAM and the Creamy Treats filing

In early 2026, several outlets reported that a Bay Area ice cream chain had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. A number of those reports were subsequently corrected. The company that filed was Creamy Treats, Inc., a San Francisco business and an independently owned and operated licensee of the CREAM brand — a separate, unrelated entity.

News organizations including Yahoo Finance, TheStreet and AOL issued corrections confirming the distinction between the two companies. CREAM, the chain Shamieh founded, continues to serve customers across Northern California.

Building, stabilizing, and turning businesses around

Beyond founding and growing CREAM, Jamal Shamieh has built a reputation as a business turnaround specialist. His work centers on stabilizing underperforming operations, strengthening financial discipline, and building accountable leadership teams — the practical, unglamorous work of restoring a business to health.

That experience spans strategic restructuring, brand repositioning, improved forecasting and capital allocation, and guiding organizations toward sustainable, long-term value. Today he applies those lessons as a strategic advisor and mentor to founders and leadership teams.