With summer in full swing, Parad’Ice by Protelicious, a new protein-filled ice cream, is aiming to offer a healthier alternative to the cold treat.
Over the course of two years of research and development, Protelicious created three Parad’Ice ice cream flavors — True Velvety Strawberry, True Madagascar Vanilla and True Deep Chocolate, all $12 — developed in partnership with chocolaterie Valrhona Chocolate, each with nine grams of whey protein sourced from cows that are grass-fed 360 days a year, zero grams of added sugar and a low carb content.
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While the brand is doubling down on ice cream now, Protelicious, founded by Sheila Partrat in 2017, began with whey protein powders. The brand’s focus on protein comes from Partrat’s personal experience discovering its benefits.
Whey protein, she said, supports “bones, muscles, hair, skin and nails and then [is] antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, detoxifying, immune building and also stabilizes the sugar cravings.”
“Additionally, proteins are essential for the proper functioning of all our organs and systems. To keep our bodies healthy, we need to replace the proteins that are broken down each day. We generally require about one gram of protein for every kilogram of body weight per day. However, when we reach the age of 65 and older, our protein needs to increase to around 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day,” said Jean-François Lesgards, a researcher in nutrition and health, oxidative stress and inflammatory diseases, and chief science officer of Protelicious.
While developing an ice cream was intentional for the brand — it’s meant to get people to conveniently and indulgently consume high levels of protein at home and in physical stores without having to blend their own concoctions — whey also lends itself to the format. It helps with the creamy texture and also maintains its health benefits when kept cool, according to the brand.
“Ice cream is a great opportunity because it’s the world’s favorite dessert. It’s on every airline. It’s in every hotel. Eighty-seven percent of North American consumers have ice cream in their freezer,” Partrat said.
As ice cream is a consumer favorite, Protelicious partnered with Valrhona Chocolate and a Michelin-star chef with the aim of making the product as appealing as ice cream found in an average grocery store.
With Parad’Ice, however, there is a learning curve. Ahead of serving, the ice cream must be left out to reach the proper melting point, achieving a creamy texture. The ice cream found initial success in Hong Kong and will be introduced at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York.
“Functional food [is] a big and growing market and it’s only gotten faster since the pandemic so people are looking for solutions and part of it is in your food,” said Partrat, noting that the brand wants to address the high sugar content of ice cream. “There’s a huge tension when people are looking for solutions in the United States right now. There’s a little shy of 100 million pre-diabetic, about 40 million diabetic [people], and there is a problem with the United States consumption [of sugar].”
This new launch for the brand comes on the growing heels of the functional food market. With this and the popular ice cream market in mind, the brand expects to hit $30 million in sales in three years.
While Parad’Ice is launching online starting Monday, bringing the ice cream in stores is an essential strategy for the brand. To kickstart this, Parad’Ice will be available in large batches at Angelina’s in New York City starting Fridat. The brand will also be available for room service at the Equinox Hotel beginning mid-to late-July, and at the Jimmy for a tasting on July 15.
The brand estimates 90 percent of the business to be offline and 10 percent to be online.
“We do it progressively. We do it in a way that the communication is important because we don’t want to be a mass market and go to mass market level,” said Olivier Partrat, acting chief operating officer and director business development, founding partner of Protelicious, of the brand’s rollout. “We have to be cautious in the way we communicate. We need to explain the concept and not sell by the price but sell by the content, which is a disruption. Basically the more you eat Parad’Ice, the better you feel, which is the opposite of ‘be careful, don’t eat too much.'”