Gelatys has opened an $8 million manufacturing facility in Fort Myers, boosting production as the frozen gelato brand expands into thousands of grocery stores across the U.S.
David Dorsey
Adolfo Joel Heller Cohen brought a retail background from his native Chile when he moved to Miami in 2016 with the goal of creating a new gelato product. Selling it at shopping mall kiosks was a natural fit.
Gelatys has reached new heights since then, establishing a new, $8 million gelato factory that became operational this summer off Laredo Avenue in Fort Myers.
Gelatys recently began making its frozen gelato pops, Mini Gems and Bonbons, in a 30,000-square-foot Fort Myers warehouse just west of the Interstate 75 and State Road 82 intersection. The investment has transformed the trajectory of Gelatys, which has moved from selling its products at South Florida mall kiosks to national distribution at more than 4,000 grocery stores in 48 states, plus Puerto Rico and Chile.
Two things happened along the way that prompted Heller to pivot his entire business model, leading to this year’s Fort Myers gelato factory.
Gelatys recently opened its 30,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on Laredo Avenue in Fort Myers. The $8 million factory is fueling the company’s expansion into more than 4,000 grocery stores across 48 states.
David Dorsey
In 2019, Heller set out to sell his product to grocery stores. He said he sent about 20 emails to John Mackey, a co-founder of Whole Foods Market and the company’s CEO until his retirement in 2022.
Mackey never responded. But while attending a grocery conference later that year, Heller approached him in person — a move that finally paid off.
“We started implementing the freezers in their stores,” Heller said of Whole Foods Market locations across the country. “The residuals were amazing.”
When COVID-19 arrived in 2020, the pandemic temporarily shut down shopping malls, which would have brought Heller’s business to a standstill had he not already started the pivot to grocery stores.
“I put my full focus into grocery stores,” Heller said of 2020. “We never stopped selling because we had our products in supermarkets.”
The critical component to expanding Gelatys wasn’t just getting inside grocery stores, Heller said. It was transporting the product to them.
United Natural Foods Inc. and KeHE Distributors, two massive national grocery distributors, joined the fold. The companies began picking up Gelatys products by the truckload and transporting them to 38 warehouses across the country, where they are distributed to neighborhood grocery stores.
Whole Foods Market, The Fresh Market and Sprouts Farmers Market are among the Southwest Florida grocery stores that carry Gelatys products. Wegmans, H-E-B, King Soopers and Kroger are just some of the grocery chains across the country that also carry Gelatys.
The increase in demand created the need for increased production. The Fort Myers gelato factory can produce 10 times as much product as the Miami facility, Heller said. Instead of making hundreds of pops per day, Gelatys can make thousands.
Passion Mango, Multi Fruit, Greek Yogurt with Blueberry, Very Berry, Choco Hazelnut and Pistachio Chocotella are just some of the 62 gelato pop flavors Gelatys offers.
Adolfo Joel Heller Cohen stands outside Gelatys’ new Fort Myers manufacturing facility. The former Chilean retail executive founded the company in 2016 and has expanded distribution to grocery stores across the United States.
David Dorsey
The Fort Myers warehouse previously was used by a water bottle labeling company before selling for $5.6 million last year.
Sitting in a conference room within the warehouse, Heller opened a box and pulled out a pop. Then he peeled back the wrapper of a chocolate-covered strawberry gelato pop.
Everything he held in his hands had been created in the room behind him.
Stringent safety protocols are in place to ensure a clean and sterile environment, Heller said. Workers and visitors must wear hair nets, medical masks and gowns after washing their hands.
Food Network toured the facility about a month ago for a forthcoming show, Heller said. Gulfshore Business toured it July 28. Heller allowed filming except for some of the proprietary machinery.
Heller’s retail background came in handy, he said, when he began scaling Gelatys. In Chile, Heller had been the CEO of Falabella, a department store chain he compared in scope to J.C. Penney. But Heller wanted to try life in the United States, and he wanted to do so while creating a new product.
Heller’s retail background probably helped him scale Gelatys, said Phil Lempert, who is known as the “Supermarket Guru” and has been the food trends editor for NBC’s “Today” since 1991.
“It’s very hard but not unique,” said Lempert, who had not heard of Gelatys but, after learning about it, compared the product’s journey to that of Chobani yogurt, which launched in 2005, and Saffron Road frozen meals, which debuted in 2010 at Whole Foods Market.
“If you look at Chobani, it has done the same thing,” Lempert said of going national. “It’s hard, but if you look at all three of those examples, you have a nonfood-oriented CEO who is very focused, very directed, and he pulled it off.”
Boxes of Gelatys frozen gelato pops are displayed inside the company’s Fort Myers facility. The company produces 62 flavors of handcrafted gelato pops, Mini Gems and Bonbons for retailers nationwide.
David Dorsey
Lempert said he had one concern after learning Gelatys makes 62 flavors.
“My only concern is having that many flavors — as you scale up, not every retailer is going to carry those flavors,” Lempert said. “They’re going to pick the bestselling flavors. He just has to be careful that operationally, he doesn’t try too many flavors.”
The challenges also will include rising transportation costs.
“That’s not that difficult to do,” Lempert said of transporting Gelatys across the country. “The problem is right now, because of the war in Iran, the price of diesel is going through the roof. Frozen trailers have two engines. One engine is to move the truck, and one engine is to operate the refrigeration. Costs of transportation are going through the roof.”
Gelatys has yet to land in Walmart or Publix. But that’s fine, too, Lempert said.
“You don’t have to be in Walmart,” Lempert said. “You don’t have to be in every store. But just having UNFI and KeHE and having Whole Foods, you can have a nice business.”
Heller and his team spent about a year tinkering with the recipes before launching the concept in 2016.
“We tapped into crowd-pleasing flavors, mouth-watering fillings and unique shapes for pops that pack a punch,” Gelatys marketing materials said. “Is it the greatest invention of humankind? No. But it sure makes life sweeter. And we take pride in our craftsmanship, too. We manually spread, cover, fill and decorate each pop.”
Asked what motivated him, Heller shrugged.
“I like to try ice cream and gelato,” he said. “I love gelato.”