US organic brand Three Twins Ice Cream has opened its first store in Japan.
In a partnership with Mash Holdings, which runs several lifestyle and eco brand stores as well as organic cafes and kitchens, the outlet is outside the train station in the Daikanyama area of Tokyo.
Three Twins Ice Cream founder/CEO Neal Gottlieb says Mash has put “a huge amount of work” into setting up the shop.
Gottlieb founded Three Twins in California in 2005 with his twin brother Carl, whose wife Liz is also a twin. On its home turf, Three Twins sells more than 20 brands. In Japan, the initial offering will be 11 – Madagascar Vanilla, Bittersweet Chocolate, Lemon Cookie, Mint Confetti, Cookies & Cream, Mexican Chocolate, Chocolate Orange Confetti, Dad’s Cardamom, Sea-Salted Caramel, Strawberry and Mocha Difference. All the ice cream is made in the US.
Gottlieb says the next step will be to make some flavours especially for Japan. “We will work with the team here and source local ingredients, make the ice cream in the US and send it back to Japan.”
One of brand’s key selling points is that its products are organic. “Every single ingredient – milk, cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla – is organically produced,” Gottlieb says. “No chemicals are toadded, and no fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides involved. The cows are never given antibiotics; they are raised on organic feed. And none of our products are genetically modified.”
Beyond the initial store, Gottlieb says he would like to sell cups of the ice cream to natural-food stores “and ultimately I’d love to see it in 7-Eleven and eventually in every retail channel”.
