(Photo: Liselotte Sabroe)
The Paradis chain of ice cream shops has received new capital as the Executive Capital Fund bought 65 percent of the company.
The financial details of the agreement were not released, but the chain will receive a substantial financial boost from the move, with plans underway to open more stores in the near future.
The chain has now 29 stores in Denmark and one in California, but after the new agreement, there are plans to open two new stores in Malmo, Sweden and have a total of 38 stores across Denmark, Sweden and the United States this year.
“In 2010 we will be serving 3 million doses of ice and we aim to cross the 10 million mark in a few years,” said Jan Steenhard, Executive Capital partner, and soon CEO of Paradis.
He told DR, public Danish broadcaster, that while their initial focus is on the Swedish market, the group does not exclude an expansion into Germany and Britain.
The deal followed one of the founders Thor Thorsøe selling his 50 percent share to the fund, while the other founder Jørgen Bjerre reduced his ownership of the company to 35 percent.
The first Paradis shop opened in Aarhus in 2000 and last year it ended with a 1.5 million DKK deficit – which Steenhard said will be easily remedied in the coming year.
Further Resources
- Paradis website
- Buy fresh ice online directly: According to OnlineCity, they have delivered a total online concept for Paradis, where the chain can both communicate with their customers (respectively franchise takers?) via the website, communicating internally, and keep track of all productions in the production system. Paradis also uses SMS and email marketing, which has a large effect in case of promotions in various boutiques.
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