A new chapter for the probably best ice cream in the world

Kastbergs Gourmet-Is, a former participant in our acceleration program, is taking the next step in scaling their business and has just sold company shares to Mammen Mejerierne. Founder Joachim Kastberg is incredibly happy about this milestone as they can now simplify the production and boost the growth at the same time. If you ask young Joachim about his dream job, he probably would have replied becoming a pilot. Later, he discovered his passion for ice cream and took over the home kitchen trying out new variations. What started as a hobby soon became his dream job and he launched his startup in 2012. Kastbergs differs from other ice cream providers as the company is only using ingredients from suppliers who can assure premium quality. The team regularly visits those partners in order to control the quality and develop new products together. For instance, they recently teamed up with a chocolate company in France to produce a new sort of chocolate which they will process in their ice cream selections. Since starting in 2012, the creative mind came up with manifold ice cream sorts and hit the taste buds of his customers: Kastbergs was selling all across Denmark within two years. Leaving the home kitchen behind Kastbergs successfully applied for getting a spot within Accelerace’s food accelerator and received one-on-one business training from FoodTech experts. “The eight months spent with Accelerace have been a really insightful time with a steep learning curve. I could fundamentally profit from their widespread network and they opened a lot of opportunity doors for me.” Besides that, Joachim’s industry coach also helped him in shortlisting his growth strategies and pursuing the most realistic ones. “An entrepreneur has thousands of ideas running through his mind at the same time. Accelerace’s external and unbiased expertise allowed me to strategically think about the feasibility and challenges of my ideas. And even months after having graduated from the program, I’m still in close contact with Accelerace.” Big plans for the future After years of continuous growth, the current production plant has reached its maximum capacity and Joachim was looking for satisfying alternatives. During his whole venture, he was in contact with employees from the dairy company Mammen Mejerierne. Both sides realized the potential of a future collaboration and decided that Kastbergs sells shares of the company to Mammen Mejerierne. “This allows us to expand our current production while guaranteeing the same or even higher quality of the ice cream” says Joachim Kastberg. They will start teaming up in January 2018 building the fundament for future growth including the long-term goals of exporting to other countries. “But first, we need to serve all our Danish customers to their fullest satisfaction.” Read more about Accelerace’s FoodTech program: www.accelerace.io/food]]>