Gelatissimo’s Houston team celebrates the brand, including franchisees Phanary Hok (center) and Simon Stankevicius (far right). They opened in January and have been going strong since.
After 20 years in business and with more than 65 international locations, Australian gelato concept Gelatissimo made its first foray into the United States early this year, opening a store in Houston, Texas, in January. A second U.S. store, this one in Honolulu, opened this month as the brand works to break into the frozen treat segment in a new country.
Gelatissimo was established in 2002 in Sydney, Australia, and it has stores across that market, along with units in Singapore, Saudi Arabia, India, China and Bangladesh. CEO Braeden Lord, who joined the company in April after more than six years in retail operations at 7-Eleven Australia, said a quality product sets Gelatissimo apart and its specialty flavors keep customers coming back.
In addition to standard flavors available across the brand, each store has its own unique offerings tailored to the local market.
“When we expanded into the Philippines, Thailand and Hawaii, we wanted to complement our established flavors with local ones,” said Lord. In Thailand, for example, the store in Phuket offers a mango sticky rice flavor.
For Texas, Gelatissimo kept up its local focus by working with Yellow Rose Distillery, creating a bourbon caramel pecan flavor. There is also Texas chocolate sheet cake gelato, as well as pina colada and guava for Hawaii’s location. All of these are made in-store within view of customers.
Gelatissimo prides itself on creating local flavors. Among them is Dragonfruit Lychee, available in Honolulu.
When deciding to expand into the U.S., there were a few hurdles to overcome, one being the variability in local markets. It took 17 years of preparation, according to Lord, in order to feel comfortable with making the jump. Once they were comfortable, it was time to wait for a franchisee that fit their standard of experience and know-how in order to open a Gelatissimo. That’s where partners Phanary Hok and Simon Stankevicius enter the picture.
The couple became involved with Gelatissimo when Hok began looking for a new franchise in order to expand her portfolio. With four Shipley Do-Nuts stores, plus YogaSix and CycleBar studios, Hok sought a complementary concept.
“Donuts are something people like to have in the colder months, and I wanted something that people wanted during the hot,” she said.
She came across Gelatissimo in 2018, brought the concept to Stankevicius, and the two contacted Gelatissimo. Since there wasn’t a store in the U.S. for them to try, the product was brought to them. For Hok, the taste sold her. For Stankevicius, there was still more work to do.
“I’m a numbers guy, Phanary is more to go with her heart,” he said. “We went to ice cream shops around us to get a good idea of what to expect.”
That research was necessary, as Gelatissmo doesn’t provide financial performance information in its franchise disclosure document.
The research did pay off, and the calculations ended up being close to reality once the business got going. Getting it going, however, was the challenge as documents were signed right before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. Forced to wait and see, opening was delayed until materials could be gathered, the space renovated and supply chains sorted out. Since Hok and Stankevicius opened in January, though, they’ve seen plenty of business.
Despite being separated by an ocean, both expressed that they feel quite supported in their journey as franchise owners. Hok and Stankevicius are planning to add more locations to the Houston metro with the hopes of turning Gelatissimo into an iconic brand in the market.