In the next two to three weeks, Baton Rouge-based City Gelato will begin popping up in 14 Rouses stores across Louisiana, bringing the total number of supermarkets selling the handmade treat to 40.
Owner Mario Lozanov will work directly with the stores, axing the middle man, to get his gelato onto shelves. He is also readying two new flavors that will be sold in stores. One of those flavors will be Lemon, a summer favorite. Lozanov is still deciding on the other flavor. Those flavors will join the six staples already on the shelves: vanilla, chocolate, chocolate chip, strawberry, coffee and caramel.
The new flavors could be ready in time for July 19, which marks the three-year anniversary of when Lozanov debuted his City Gelato cart in downtown and around City Park.
“Business can go in many ways, in many directions,” Lozanov says. “We started with the carts, not thinking of wholesaling and packaging.”
But wholesaling and packaging is the direction his business is moving right now. With the help of the LSU Food Incubator and some grant money, Lozanov now has a large pasteurizer with which he will use to expand his wholesale business.
“LSU has been really, really helpful with that. That helped us bring the product to the stores,” he says.
His goal is to be in 60 stores by the end of the year. Lozanov is taking the slow route of expansion, not wanting to move too quickly that his small operation—he is the only full-time employee and has eight part-time workers—becomes overburdened and the proverbial gelato-cart wheels fall off.
As he expands the distribution side, Lozanov is also looking to find someone to run the gelato cart side of the business so he can concentrate on getting his City Gelato ready for stores.
The carts would stay under the City Gelato umbrella and Lozanov would still oversee the entire company, he just wants to focus his energy on taking his gelato statewide and eventually nationwide.
As distribution ramps up, Lozanov is adamant that the carts he used to begin his business are still an important part of City Gelato.
“With the carts, people have a chance to try the product and learn about and see where we are in the stores, and what flavors are going to be introduced,” he says.
—Ryan Broussard
