User:Padi97/Freddo (ice cream brand)

Freddo is an argentine ice cream parlor chain founded in 1969 by two families of italian immigrants. Currently, the company has aproximately 160 stores located in Argentina and 60 stores distributed in 8 countries along the Americas.

History
The first ice cream parlor was founded by Juan Guarracino and his sons, and Luis Aversa. All of them were italian immigrants that arrived to Argentina in the 1930's.

In 1931 Luis Aversa started working in a convinence store located in La Plata City that later became an ice cream parlor. On the other hand, in 1936 Juan Guarracino established in Buenos Aires City and started a fruit vending business along his four children; Juan (Jr.), Luis, Graciela and Salvador Guarracino. Salvador married María, Luis Aversa's daughter, and after Persico closed, both families decided to partner and, in 1969, they founded Freddo. The first store opened in the Recoleta neighborhood, located in Buenos Aires City.

Expansion
In 1990 Freddo had just 3 stores, but in 1998 the chain reached 44 company-owned locations in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. That very same year the company was sold to Grupo Exxel for 82 million dollars. During this period Freddo was able to expand it's brand along Argentina.

Economic crisis
In the context of the 2001 economic crisis in Argentina, Freddo had an annual 10 million dollar loss. In that year, the ice cream industry had a 10% drop in sales. After closing 15 stores, Banco Galicia (Freddo's main creditor) decided to buy the company and sell in order to get a part of the money back.

New era
In february 2004 Argentina's economy had already recovered and Freddo was bought by Pegasus Group for 20 million dollars. In september 2005 Freddo launched a new branding designed by Fontana Diseño. ""

Business restructuring
Around 2018 Argentina sufferd a new drop in consumption and it was rumored that the company would be sold to Unilever. Freddo decided to restructure its buisiness by turning all stores into franchises and outsourcing the ice cream manufacturing process. Thus, in september 2018 Freddo announced that the company-owned ice cream factory would be shut down.

In 2022 the company hired AFA ARRENDAMENTI for a branding renewal that included a new logo and the store's renovation..

Present
Currently, Freddo has stores in Uruguay, Brasil, Chile, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Panamá, México and the United States, but all products are manufactured in Argentina.

Freddo offers ice cream sold by weight and coffe shop products. It also produces packaged ice cream to be sold in supermarkets.

Since 2022 Freddo produces NotGelato by Freddo, a vegan line of ice cream flavors developed with the vegan food brand NotCo.

Véase también

 * Grido