Ice-cream retail chain Happy Pops is opening up to franchising, eight years after launching in Noosa.

The family-owned business expanded into Brisbane, and Mooloolaba, and has just signed its first franchisee, in Toowoomba.

Pastry chef Augusta Puttkammer and her art gallery husband Ian founded the niche ice cream business after moving to Noosa.

Augusta Puttkammer started making the handcrafted gelato pops in the back of the Noosa store, using only natural ingredients, with no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. Customers choose from premium pre-decorated pops, or naked pops in a variety of flavours, with custom toppings.

Puttkammer told Inside Retail’s sister title Franchise Executives, “Every Happy Pop is still handmade in Noosa using the same recipes and processes we started with, and our franchise partners will work directly with us as we are still very hands-on in the business.

“This is something unique and fun that we built for our lifestyle. We’re open 12 hours a day but it fits in with family,” she said.

To ensure the business can scale, she added three kitchen chefs and the kitchen now runs at just 30 per cent of capacity.

Growth in south east Queensland the priority

The couple have a slow and controlled growth plan, with expansion in the Gold Coast and Brisbane the priority; converting company stores to franchised businesses could follow.

In addition to its three stores, the business has added wholesaling to its portfolio, and has a feature at Brisbane’s immersive experience, Bluey’s World.

“Wholesaling wasn’t the original plan, but Bluey’s World was too good an opportunity to miss. It gave us the confidence in manufacturing that we can work with a third party,” Puttkammer said.

Long term plans to take the brand interstate will focus on master franchise agreements, with the masters operating their own production kitchen and store.

“There’s space for it everywhere. Toowoomba is a great example – a city but a small town at heart. And we can adapt the model,” Puttkammer said.

The original Noosa store has just four seats while the Toowoomba store will increase its seating for a more social environment. Kiosk opportunities are another possible format.

Investment for a 55sqm site starts at $200,000. 

Puttkammer hopes to open another store this year, and add three in Queensland in 2027.

• This story was originally published on Franchise Executives.