Gelato Fiasco selling its Brunswick factory, after co-packing move to Michigan
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Gelato Fiasco’s food-grade production facility, at 2 Industry Road in Brunswick, is up for sale for $1.35 million.
Gelato Fiasco, a fast-growing grocery and retail brand that last year outsourced production to a Michigan company, is selling its production facility in Brunswick.
The food-grade production facility, which Gelato Fiasco dubbed the “flavor foundry,” is listed by The Boulos Co. for $1.35 million. It’s located at 2 Industry Road in Brunswick.
Gelato Fiasco had completely updated the plant in 2016, investing $1.4 million in expansion, with a two-story, 5,400-square-foot addition. It was designed to support increasing demand across the country.
But last October, co-founder Josh Davis told the Portland Press Herald it would use a co-packing operation in Michigan to keep up with growing national demand.
Gelato Fiasco, which opened stores in Brunswick in 2007 and in Portland’s Old Port in 2012, has a far greater reach with its packaged gelato pints, which are sold in more than 5,000 supermarkets across the country. In 2017, Davis told Mainebiz he expected sales of $20 million by 2018.
According to the Boulos listing, the building dates to 1985. The property is close to Route 1, Interstate 295 and downtown Brunswick. The factory includes a walk-in commercial freezer and cooler.
In an email to Mainebiz, Marketing Director Bobby Guerette wrote, “We do not need the building, between our pint co-packing, offsite frozen storage and our ongoing production on Maine Street in Brunswick and in the Old Port. Most of our office staff now works mostly remotely.”
In a separate email, Davis declined to elaborate. Davis and his co-founder, Bruno Tropeano, launched Gelato Fiasco in August 2007 with its storefront in Brunswick. Davis, who was in his early 20s at that time, lived in an apartment upstairs. Davis was honored as the 2016 Mainebiz Small Company Business Leader of the Year.
Interest in the property
Boulos broker Tim Millett to Mainebiz the property went on the market Feb. 15 and was listed across all marketing platforms by March 1.
The property has seen considerable interest, he said.
“We’ve shown the property to multiple potential users,” Millett said. “Its fixtures and equipment are fairly unique, but could serve multiple different purposes, whether it’s someone else working with a dairy product or someone working with some other type of liquid.”
The property comprises 11,740 square feet on 1.1 acres. The listing price includes the real estate only. The sale of the equipment may be separately negotiated, Millett said.
“It comes down to doing a walk-through and assessing what equipment you want and in turn what the additional price will be,” he said.
Equipment includes things like mixing tanks, walk-in cooler and freezer.
“There’s a lot of value in place that can save time and money without a buyer having to buy equipment on their own,” Millett said.
Gelato Fiasco ceased operations in the building around December 2018, he said.
The property is up for either sale or lease. Boulos is in the middle of negotiating a lease, Millett said.
Gelato Fiasco purchased the property in 2013 to expand its wholesale operations nationally. Previously, the company was producing all of the gelato for its wholesale operation in its flagship location on Brunswick's Maine Street.
Flavors like Maine Wild Blueberry Crisp Gelato and Ripe Mango Sorbetto have been recognized by national glossies like Bon Appetit and Oprah Magazine, according to the company's website.
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