Gino’s Gelato
Gino’s Gelato is in rapid expansion mode as its founders take their Italian-style ice-creams nationwide, writes Darren O’Loughlin
Expansion is the name of the game for two ice-cream van drivers as the founders take their Italian treats nationwide
Irish people love ice-cream. In 2020, per capita ice-cream sales in Ireland were the fifth highest in Europe. What’s more, that figure only includes factory-made ice-cream products, not the growing craft and artisan ice-cream market.
This appetite is the foundation upon which Jonathan Kirwan (51) and Anthony Murphy (45) have built their Gino’s Gelato business. Established in 2008, the business sells Italian-style ice-cream, shakes, waffles and crêpes from an expanding chain of stores nationwide, some of them franchised. Gino’s opened its 20th store in Westport in May and the chain is on track to have 29 outlets open before the end of the year, providing employment for c.400 people.
Covid restrictions didn’t hold back Gino’s expansion plans. “I took the view that the pandemic can’t last forever, so I wasn’t going to sit on my hands and wait. In the past 14 months,” says Kirwan, “we have opened ten new stores and volume is almost back to where it was in 2019.”
According to Kirwan, annual turnover is now in excess of €10m.
Sonig Gelato Group Ltd, the parent company for several subsidiaries, booked a loss of €406,000 in 2018, according to its most recent account filings. Year-end net worth was €456,000 and the business had cash of €257,000.
“We reinvest all of the money we make to open new stores,” Kirwan explains. “Because we finance our growth through cashflow, our accounts are never going to look fantastic. That’s a problem when dealing with banks, because they have a box-ticking approach to financing and we don’t fit that. We will continue opening stores without seeking finance.”
Kirwan, a Wicklow native, and Murphy, who hails from Limerick, both come from families who ran icecream-making businesses. They were also separately running their own icecream vans prior to Gino’s Gelato. “We both worked at festivals and other events,” Kirwan recalls. “We also worked for Unilever as their HB icecream men and eventually decided to work together for events.”
The success of the mobile icecream trade prompted the duo to look at branching into retail. “We kept hearing people say they couldn’t buy the same ice-cream in Ireland they enjoyed in Italy, so we thought that this was the route we’d take with the stores,” says Kirwan.
Kirwan and Murphy tried to replicate their van success but things quickly got sticky. “The first shop we opened was in the Omni Shopping Centre in Dublin, and it was more like an ice-cream van than a shop. We didn’t even use proper wafers and stuff like that. We ended up closing it and travelling to Italy to learn how to make the product properly.”
Italian ice-cream is softer and smoother than more normal icecream. It uses more fresh milk than
cream for a lighter taste and it also has less fat. Kirwan and Murphy brought their training to bear on Gino’s second store in Newbridge. “That was our first real shop, you could say, and it’s still open,” Kirwan adds.
The next challenge for the Gino’s founders was how to keep their stores ticking over through the winter months. “With the van business, if it’s not a good day you just don’t go out. With the shops we had to manage the lull in business and ensure that we retained our trained staff while not losing money by being overstaffed,” says Kirwan.
The partners continued learning the intricacies of running ice-cream stores as the global downturn hit Ireland a decade ago. In the teeth of it, they decided to open an outlet on Grafton Street. “We took over a premises that previously housed a café. The rent was reasonable because of the recession and the landlord wasn’t too concerned about our covenant. We were probably regarded as a pop-up shop.”
Gino’s Gelato now has two outlets on Ireland’s premier shopping thoroughfare. They tackled the winter season lull by expanding the menu to include waffles and crêpes. “There isn’t much money in it and I’d be happy to break even over the winter, or even lose money for a month or two. We need to keep our staff on, as it’s a big investment to train them in gelato-making.”
Gino’s Gelato ice-cream is freshly made each morning in every outlet, which Kirwan says is a crucial factor in the product’s quality. “Most of the ice-cream you eat is made in a factory and then frozen. We don’t even have a freezer truck. Irish-sourced organic milk is delivered to our stores daily and the staff make the gelato from there.”
The steepest learning curve for the entrepreneurs was an ill-fated attempt to expand into England a few years ago. “We opened shops in Manchester and Chester, and both completely failed,” says Kirwan. “We lost almost €1m and I still don’t fully understand why. I had assumed that the UK expansion would be a success, with a larger population and similar demographics. But it just didn’t work out for us. I would like to look at expanding into Europe but I’d be worried after our experience in England. We’ll focus on conquering Ireland first.”
Kirwan is also cautious about the domestic expansion model. “Of the 29 shops that we will have by the end of 2021, 18 of them will be operated by us and 11 will be franchises. We’re reluctant to take on too many franchisees because it’s a specialised product and we’re not in a numbers game. One of our franchisees currently runs three Gino’s shops, while another operates six outlets. We treat these outlets like they’re our own, so we’re in and out of them all the time.”
The business operates from a 12,000 sq. ft. premises in Rathnew, Co. Wicklow, and Kirwan’s son Sean currently operates a franchise in Greystones, while Murphy’s son is also planning to come into the business. “If my kids want to be involved, they have to take a franchise and float their own boats – I don’t want them to work for me,” says Kirwan.
As the retail chain expands, the two Gino’s founders ensure that their vans are in running order. “We work independently with the vans, going to festivals and other outdoor events. It’s like a day off for us to take the vans out, and we’re just making sure they’re ready to rock when restrictions are finally eased.”