The ‘Kelato’ in Kelato Dolce stands for ‘Keto Gelato’, which already demonstrates the principle traits of the ice cream making it appropriate for customers on a ketogenic weight loss program: Low in carbohydrates and zero-sugar – however it’s concentrating on a wider viewers than simply keto, in accordance to the agency’s Founder Michelle Ng.
“We are different from other keto gelato out there – most of these are low in carbohydrates, but high in calories and fat as that is what the keto diet is all about, but we are very low-calorie,” Ng instructed FoodNavigator-Asia.
“We designed the gelato this fashion as a result of we realized a spot out there concentrating on customers that need to drop some pounds and are usually not on the keto weight loss program, they simply need to cut back energy – so ultimately we opted to go low-carb, low-calorie and nil sugar to cater to a variety of customers, and doing this has additionally made our ice cream diabetic pleasant too.
“Now, I might say our fundamental clientele are completely different from what we initially anticipated i.e. simply millennials and Gen Z – we’ve been getting extra of their 30s and upwards who’re extra well being acutely aware and wish to eat nicely.”
Kelato Dolce makes use of pure sugar replacements in its merchandise, specifically monkfruit and erythritol.
“Monkfruit is intensely sweet and erythritol is zero-calorie with no side-effects – Most importantly, we selected these two because they are natural, as a priority was to avoid any artificial taste like so many sugar-free products have,” stated Ng.
“At current now we have simply six flavours (Dark Chocolate, Sea Salt Vanilla, Earl Grey Milk Tea, Acai Blueberry Sorbet, Mint Cacao Nibs and Cinnamon Cold Brew) however we’re rolling out extra within the subsequent few weeks to make it for Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day.
“With all of those, the thought is to capture market share first and develop shortly as we formally simply launched in November final yr – in a while once we’ve achieved this and established ourselves a bit extra, we’ll then be wanting to extra area of interest markets, for instance we’re pondering of growing a high-protein ice-cream that may goal the extra specialised health fanatic market.”
Healthier ice cream development in Singapore
Ng additionally expressed optimism that the wholesome ice cream development in Singapore is ‘picking up in terms of awareness’, notably as some massive foodservice manufacturers like Yole have already began to get within the sport.
“There’s still an incredibly huge gap to close though – it’s mostly still small artisan gelato shops promoting healthier options, so growth is still slow but as healthy eating and lifestyle awareness grows, so is this,” she stated.
“I believe it will likely take a few more years, maybe five to six years, before local consumers’ awareness and preference for healthy gelato is equal to or more than that for regular ice cream – but awareness is picking up, and we want to be [ahead of the curve].”
To push client acceptance, Kelato Dolce has additionally put loads of effort into not solely counting on the merchandise’ purposeful advantages but additionally ensuring to innovate with the flavours.
“There’s a lot of artisan, creative flavour innovation when it comes to regular ice cream, and we want to make sure consumers opting to make the healthier choice are not losing out on anything,” she added.
“Apart from the current and upcoming flavours, we are also aiming to produce at least two to three new flavours every quarter, to make sure our consumers also get that variety.”
Retail and enlargement
In the close to time period, Kelato Dolce will likely be focusing its retail technique on e-commerce and collaborations with specialty shops like native gyms so as to handle the logistics.
“In a way, COVID-19 has helped us because not only did it boost desirability for healthier foods, but we’re e-commerce focused and now consumers have become more comfortable buying online, even those that weren’t before,” stated Ng.
As for enlargement plans, she stated that the main focus will stay native for now due to the logistics of exporting frozen merchandise abroad, however enlargement remains to be within the playing cards.
“We’d be looking to South East Asia next, so likely Indonesia where the market is rapidly growing and health awareness is also on the rise, as well as Australia where consumers are already very much into healthy products and the market for a product like ours is more mature,” stated Ng.
“So definitely there are plans to go beyond Singapore, but we’re taking it a step at a time so we don’t scale too far, too fast, until we are sure the supply chain and logistics end is sorted.”
Kelato Dolce’s wholesome gelato is at present obtainable on-line for S$16 (US$12.06) a pint, and S$36 (US$27.12) for a set of 4 half-pints.
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