D.C.-based Dolcezza Gelato, almost driven out of business by store closings during the pandemic, had an ace in the hole then: Its wholesale business that continued to sell thousands of pints of its ice cream in more than 3,000 grocery stores and other retail locations.
Last summer, it lost that business, and is now focusing on expanding its retail shops.
Dolcezza, whose wholesale business was producing as many as 30,000 pints of ice cream a day, used third-party manufacturer Totally Cool Inc. to make it.
In June, the Baltimore company was subject of a nationwide recall of all products made at its facility after an FDA inspection linked equipment used to listeria. Totally Cool was producing products for several companies at the time, and while Dolcezza’s products were not directly linked to listeria, it was still subject of the nationwide recall.
“They made us throw out all of our inventory and everything that was in the grocery stores at the time. And honestly, as a small business, we didn’t have any backup, so that was the end of our wholesale business,” said Violeta Edelman, who founded Dolcezza with her husband Robb Duncan with one D.C. store in 2004.
The recall resulted in 300,000 pints destroyed.
The wholesale business had grown beyond grocery stores, including Whole Foods Markets, to restaurants, hotels and catering events.
Dolcezza has only recently gotten back on its feet from the pandemic. In 2020, it closed two stores permanently, and Edelman, who called those bleak times, said the future of their business did not look good.
Edelman took solace with peers in the D.C. food industry business facing the same challenges, and found support through groups for women entrepreneurs, specifically D.C.-based nonprofit Regarding Her, and the national James Beard Women Entrepreneurial Leadership program.
That support, the support a business gets from being a family-run enterprise, and local relationships ultimately helped Edelman and Duncan to get back on their feet.
“The farmers who provide us with the produce and our customers and our team, and ultimately I think that support helped make things easier in terms or rebuilding and recovering,” Edelman said.
Dolcezza Gelato will open its sixth D.C. area location in March, on H Street, N.E., with plans for at least one more opening this year.
Edelman and Duncan still oversee the small batch daily production of their gelatos, more than 20 flavors, for their stores at a small manufacturing facility in Union Market, applying the lessons learned when they hatched the idea for the business after sampling gelato’s during visits to Buenos Aires. Mostly, that means genuine ingredients.
“People are still using a lot of not-real stuff to make ice cream. And that is why it doesn’t taste that well because it is cheaper to just open a jar and mix it with milk and cream,” Edelman said.
They only produce strawberry gelato in May, when berries are the freshest. They hand-mill their own pistachio butter. Its current locations are at CityCenterDC, the Mosaic District in Fairfax, Dupont Circle, Bethesda Row, and inside the Hirshhorn Museum. “Dolcezza” is Italian for sweetness.
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