Gqeberha ice cream startup eyes major supermarket deal ahead of R1m pitch

A small business in Gqeberha that started out making desserts in a back room is poised for major retail growth after Shoprite Checkers offered to stock GQ Creamery’s ice cream in its stores.

The offer comes just days before founder Thando Volontiya makes his pitch for a R1-million prize at the Standard Bank Kasi SME National Pitch Challenge finals, which will be held on Thursday, 27 August, at the Tramways Building in Gqeberha.

Volontiya, who won the Eastern Cape leg of the competition, is one of 10 national finalists.

He plans to establish a factory to produce ice cream on a larger scale.

“The plan for the business was to supply retail stores once my plans of establishing a factory were in motion, but Shoprite went ahead of us. Last week, I received an email from the company’s head buyer in the province offering to list our ice cream in their stores. They basically said they saw our product on social media and liked it.

“The Checkers offer makes me even more eager and determined to win the [National Pitch Challenge] because it will assist [to] fast-track the establishment of three more GQ Creamery shops and realise my goal of having a factory.”

The ice cream will initially hit Shoprite Checkers shelves in Nelson Mandela Bay, with plans to expand across the Eastern Cape as sales and demand grow. It will be available in tub sizes ranging from 45ml to one litre.

GQ Creamery currently has one store in Newton Park, and plans to debut a mobile ice cream trailer, with tables, chairs and umbrellas on Main Road in Walmer on 1 September.

Volontiya said his target of four outlets is already in motion. Profits from Newton Park and Walmer will fund a third outlet near the William Moffett Expressway, with earnings from all three going toward a fourth branch in Kariega.

“Entering the Standard Bank competition has already opened doors for me, and winning the Kasi Challenge will ensure that I am able to honour the offer from Checkers sooner. My plan is to have all four shops by the beginning of 2027, so I can start plans for the factory, as I am still making the ice cream from my home in KwaDwesi.”

The Kasi SME National Pitch Challenge is part of Standard Bank’s Kasi SME Summit, which aims to help small and medium enterprises scale by connecting them with market-access opportunities, including corporate supply chains and retail partners.

Side-hustles

Originally from Cradock, Volontiya spent a decade in Johannesburg before returning to his mother’s home in Jeffreys Bay following his father’s death in 2021.

After relocating to Gqeberha without a job or a clear plan, he turned to e-hailing while selling shoes and clothes on the side. That, he says, taught him vital lessons in customer service and driving product demand.

“One day I remembered that there were two creamery stores in Johannesburg that sell these exotic desserts. I started googling if there were any here in the city and I learned that one had closed, and, just like that, I had found my niche,” said Volontiya.

“I downloaded photos of the desserts and started posting them as a product that I sell on social media. The pictures were trending, and people wanted to know where they could buy them, and that’s how I started buying ready-made ice cream and decorating it with various toppings. I lived in a back room in Cotswold at the time.”

Later he moved to his own place in KwaDwesi, where he now makes gelato and ice cream from scratch and then freezes it.

“I don’t have a gelato machine yet; everything is handmade. I learned to make ice cream from the streets, as a kasi boy – the streets are the best teacher. But when the business started growing, I knew I had to take it more seriously. So I enrolled with the Italy-based Carpigiani Gelato University.

“The institution has a training centre in Johannesburg where I enrolled in a two-week training course on how to make ice cream, develop flavours, which ingredients to use and when, among other things.

“Once I have the factory and hopefully win the Standard Bank challenge, that’s when I will have all the required equipment to produce, so I can supply other smaller businesses that are interested in the product.” DM