Management of Organizations
Final Project- Winter 2016
Frost Gelato
We chose to do our local business analysis on Frost Gelato in Downtown Naperville. Frost A Gelato Shoppe is located on Main Street and Van Buren in downtown in between David’s Tea and the parking garage. Frost A Gelato Shoppe was created by Stephen Ochoa and Jeffrey Kaiserman who reside in Tucson, Arizona where the first Frost was opened. Ochoa and Kaiserman were traveling to Italy when they came across a Gelateria and fell in love with gelato. When they returned to the United States, they couldn’t find anything like it and decided to make their own by enrolling in Gelato University. After Gelato University, Frost was established. Originally there was one Frost location in Tucson, Arizona and that was it. How Frost came to the Naperville area is an interesting story that we heard from the owners of the “Chicagoland” Frost Gelato Shoppe franchise. Steve Rams, Kurt Bruksch, and Ed Bruksch came across Frost while they were vacationing in Tucson. They would plan their meals and activities around their visits to Frost because it was that important and tasted that good to them. When Steve, Kurt, and Ed wanted to open their own Frost, the company was not ready to franchise. They showed interest in bringing Frost to the Chicagoland area and Ochoa and Kaiserman were not ready for that step quite yet. A few years later, Ochoa and Kaiserman contacted Steve, Kurt, and Ed and opened the opportunity to buy the franchise for the Chicago area. Of course they took the opportunity and that is how the original “Chicago” Frost A Gelato Shoppe opened. The first store that these men opened is in Highland Park, Illinois and was opened in 2010. Then, almost exactly 4 years later, they expanded and opened the Naperville Frost in November of 2014. Currently there are two opened in the Chicagoland area and there are plans