The PARAD’ICE Story: Hurdles to get to a scalable, gourmet & good for you ice cream
Kitchen Play - delicious ice cream "with benefits."
The story originated when Protelicious' signature line of Gourmet Whey Protein Concentrate expanded beyond D2C to being sold as a branded ingredient in hotels, restaurants & clubs. Known for its beyond-fitness and science-backed longevity, vitality, and beauty benefits, it is also uniquely mild and creamy, lending itself to "kitchen play."
Homemade and hot: Sheila has always been an ice cream lover but has never found one that meets her "gourmet and actually good for you" standards. Obsessed with creating an “indulgence with benefits,” she crafted ice cream for friends and family, who regularly commented, "OMG!" and "THIS is also good for me?"
As protein experts, Sheila & co-founder Dr. Jean Francois Lesgards, a leading expert in Nutrition, Health, and Inflammatory Diseases were always looking to associate deliciousness with science-backed benefits and saw an opportunity.
First Prototypes in a New Jersey Lab
With the COVID years behind us, Sheila decided to take her original formula to an ice cream lab in New Jersey for concept development. Five months and dozens of formula iterations later, SUCCESS! Our first prototype was successful.
Putting them to the test, we held our first blind taste tests with media and F&B personalities in New York City; SUCCESS! The PARAD'ICE by Protelicious prototypes “cleaned up” against the competition and were chosen on taste alone, with the health benefits as a bonus.
First, industrial transposition is needed to make it scalable: FAILURE, then SUCCESS, after 7 months!
We brought our lovely formula to our ice cream manufacturer in UpState New York to make a scalable batch. FAIL! We went through the equivalent of 10,000 pints to create our first scalable process and formula in over seven "nail-biting months". Guided by our deep expertise in protein and aided by industry experts, we achieved our first scalable formula of PARAD'ICE by Protelicious ice cream in the spring of 2023. With three divine flavors, we set out for our first commercial trials.
Feedback, the moment of truth
✅ Our concept was a hit, particularly our chocolate which was “to die for” when at the right temperature.
❌ All three flavors needed to be out of the freezer for too long to become perfectly creamy.
❌ Our beautiful sky blue packaging did not adequately convey our unique "gourmet and good for you" features
✅ Concept created strong commercial interest:
- We were invited to list with KeHE national distributor, giving access to 10,000 retailers nationwide
- Sold in-room at the iconic Equinox Hotel NYC.
- Advanced discussion with one of the largest Group Purchasing Organisations in Food Service and Health
Q4 2024 - time to address the failures and accelerate the wins
✅ PARAD'ICE formula—Nothing is more important than what we serve up. Armed with drive, passion, and science, we collaborated with a renowned French Pastry Chef and together refined our PARAD'ICE formula to an unbelievably creamy perfection.
✅ Packaging: We consulted industry and branding experts, our true fans, and customers and integrated their ideas with our own vision, resulting in " glammed-up " packaging that calls out our unique features with power and elegance.
PARAD’ICE V3 is here!! For those who don’t want to choose between indulgence and health… At last, there is no compromise on perfection, so nobody has to choose between gourmet & good for you.
