Newton resident Lee Gavris has launched a new ice cream brand in partnership with Boston-based apparel company Life Is Good. It aims to fill a niche in the ice cream market: a high-butterfat, low-air premium pint.
It launched earlier this year.
“I’m an ice cream addict,” he said. “After Ben and Jerry’s and Haagen-Däzs were bought out by big conglomerates, the quality went down. I thought someone should reintroduce that quality.”
His company, Foodmark, has previously sold different kinds of ice cream sandwiches. He wanted to try pints.
Gavris hoped to partner with Life Is Good, the clothing and lifestyle brand company. After five years of trying, Life Is Good finally said yes.
“We’re dedicated to spreading positivity. Everyone loves ice cream,” said Stacy Rus, Life is Good’s director of licensing. This is the company’s first foray into food. It helps that one of the first designs of its mascot, Jake, was of him eating an ice cream cone. “We like to work with companies that are local, if possible.”
Life Is Good was founded by two people from Needham, and Foodmark is based in Wellesley.
So far, there are seven flavors: midnight chocolate, deep purple cow, chocolate chip cookie dough, vanilla, chunky chocolate mousse with raspberry, peanut butter paradise, and Vermont maple cream.
Rus, who is from Vermont, is especially pleased by the Vermont maple cream, which uses real maple as an ingredient.
The ice cream contains more ice cream and less air than many other ice creams, which also means a higher price point.
“The heavier the ice cream, the denser the texture, which means a creamier mouthfeel,” Gavris said. “We just wanted to make a really really good ice cream.”
Gavris knows that a pricier product means a smaller market, but he hopes that customers who are willing to pay a little more will do so for a higher quality item.
He’d like to be able to get into supermarkets like Whole Foods that sell premium products, but it’s difficult to do so. It is carried by Price Chopper, Market 32, and Market Basket, including the Market Basket in Waltham. There aren’t any stores in Newton that carry it – although Gavris wishes there were.
“It’s very hard to get new products off the ground,” he said. “You have a once-a-year opportunity to do a presentation at Shaw’s.”
There just isn’t a lot of room for new ice cream.
“The frozen section is the most competitive area of the supermarket, and ice cream is the most competitive within the frozen section,” Gavris said. “There isn’t an expandable shelf – if something new goes in, something else goes out.”
The cost of getting a product on a shelf, known as slotting, is also high. To have seven pints on a shelf at Stop and Shop would be $600,000. One hope is that partnering with an existing company with a following will lead to more success.
“Customers love to interact with our brand,” said Rus. “Ice cream is a chill comfort food,” Gavris said. And that fits with the Life is Good Brand.
It’s difficult right now for new business ventures due to high interest rates, and it’s hard to know if a new product will succeed. Any given new food item is likely to be on the top shelf, which means it isn’t at eye level and sells less.
But Gavris is committed.
“I didn’t want to go to Wall Street like my classmates did,” Gavris said, affirming his commitment to ice cream.
Gavris is sure he has a good product, and he hopes customers will agree. And if you pick up a pint and like it, you can recommend it to a local supermarket.