Groton Ice Cream Startup Aims High
COURTESY
Hooman Shahidi (left), Jill Friot and Chris Friot are the team that runs Groton-based ice cream startup Dolce Friot.
It started with selling ice cream to function halls who needed kosher dessert options for bar mitzvahs, but Groton-based Dolce Friot could be moving into a freezer section near you.
Founded last year by the boyfriend and girlfriend team of Groton native Jillian Friot and Hooman Shahidi, who are both Bryant University students, and Jill's brother, Christopher Friot, the company incorporated this year and has started to gain some shelf space at smaller grocery chains like Crosby's Marketplace, which has a store in Concord.
The company's ice cream flavors, which it says are kosher, organic, and contain locally-sourced ingredients, include Pomegranate Granola, Commonwealth Cranberry Cinnamon Graham and Apricot Torta, among others. The company is even working on a bourbon flavor, Shahidi said in a telephone interview.
"We want to make it into the next Ben & Jerry's," Shahidi said.
Dreams of Ice Cream Dominance
That's a lofty goal for any company, especially one whose members are juggling multiple duties. In addition to college courses, Shahidi works in marketing for Hannah International Foods, Jill Friot manages the Carlise location of her family's ice cream scoop shop, Kimball Farm, and Chris is in training to be a certified public accountant.
But busy or not, Dolce Friot has made progress, and the team thinks revenues will grow 25 percent in the next year.
Shahidi said they are in talks with Whole Foods Market's northeast division and hopes to have some product in regional stores by the end of October.
"That would be one of our biggest deals," he said.
He also hopes to have the ice cream sold in some Shaw's Supermarkets in the next few weeks and is active in trying to woo other chains on Twitter, on the phone and in person.
Building Credibility, Keeping Costs Down
To get space with bigger stores, Dolce Friot had to first prove its worth with the smaller sales, Shahidi said.
"You have to show credibility, you have to show there's a demand for it, as opposed to going straight for the big guys," he said.
Shahidi said the company is profitable. They have achieved that by running a lean operation. Their official office is the Friot's Groton home.
All those profits are put back into the business for now, he said. They have to pay the upstate New York firm that packs and hardens their ice cream as well as their delivery driver who brings product to stores.
When things get busy, Shahidi will deliver and unpack product himself, he said.
Stocking their product on the shelves themselves instead of having the supermarket do it for them is another way the ice cream keeps costs down.
Known as "direct store delivery," it helps the company avoid paying fees supermarkets charge companies to carry their products.
"That gets us around the fees, because that would really kill us," he said.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments