Dinah Bengur: Co-founder & CEO of Pitango Gelato

Episode 903

What does it take to turn a beloved local food brand into a franchise without losing what made it special in the first place?
On The Kara Goldin Show, I sit down with Dinah Bengur, Co-Founder and CEO of Pitango Gelato Franchise Co. — the artisanal gelato brand known for authentic Italian gelato and sorbet made from scratch with high-quality ingredients.
We talk about why Pitango decided to franchise, what Dinah learned from working with major franchise systems before building one herself, and what entrepreneurs should really understand before buying—or building—a franchise.
We also get into choosing the right franchisees, protecting quality as you scale, the economics of restaurant growth, and what makes a concept truly replicable.
If you’re interested in franchising, restaurant growth, consumer brands, or what it really takes to scale a great local concept, you’ll want to hear this conversation. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. 🎧

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Transcript

Kara Goldin 0:00
I am unwilling to give up. That I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be. I want to be. We just want to make sure you will get knocked down, but just make sure you don’t get knocked out. Knocked out. So your only choice should be go focus on what you can control. Control. Control. Hi everyone, and welcome to the Kara Goldin Show. Join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world’s greatest leaders. We’ll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and really some of the most interesting people of our time. Can’t wait to get started. Let’s go! Let’s go! Hi everyone! Welcome back to the Kara Goldin Show. What does it take to turn a great local food brand into a franchise without losing what made people love it in the first place? So today’s guest is Dinah Bengur, who is the co-founder and CEO of an incredible brand called Pitango Gelato, and Pitango is known for yes, they’re known for amazing, amazing Italian gelato and sorbet and coffees and all kinds of wonderful Italian goodies made from scratch. And the brand is now expanding through franchising across the D.C. Maryland, and Virginia area, and quickly, quickly growing, Dinah brings a unique perspective because she’s worked on both sides of franchising before helping build Pitango’s own franchise model. I’m so excited to talk to her about scaling the brand, choosing the right franchisees, protecting quality, and what entrepreneurs who might be thinking about this road to actually creating a franchise should really know before buying or building a franchise. So, Dinah, so nice to meet you, and welcome to the show.

Dinah Bengur 1:59
Thank you so much, Kara. I’m so excited to be here.

Kara Goldin 2:01
So I love, love, love potato gelato. It’s so good, and you’ve got some fans around my house because I brought home the products, and they were pretty gone by the time I ended up looking for them again the next day. The biscotti, all the other things that you sent. So, for those who haven’t experienced Pitango yet, what is the brand, and what makes, in particular, your gelato or your products really stand out?

Dinah Bengur 2:35
Pitango Gelato serves authentic Italian gelato and sorbet. We have brick and mortar stores across the D.C. Maryland, and Virginia region, and we make everything from scratch ourselves, which is one of our big defining features. So we have a production facility in Baltimore County, Maryland, that’s based on a family farm. We use the milk straight from their cows. They’re grass-fed Jersey cows, and we pasteurize it ourselves into our gelato mix. We don’t use any preservatives. We we don’t use any artificial colors or flavors. So everything is really you know pure natural product. We import our nuts and chocolate from Italy, and then we also sell a premium coffee menu at each store. So all the espresso drinks, and we have a proprietary espresso blend and drip blends, and then we sell a limited assortment of pastries made at our bakery in Baltimore, and that includes Italian biscotti, chocolate biscotti, and some other Italian cookies.

Kara Goldin 3:43
I love it. Well, there’s 1000s of places to get ice cream, gelato, coffee, desserts. But when you joined this idea with really not just the brand, because can you talk a little bit about the history? So you joined the previous founder and became the CEO, but you took it a step further and decided to franchise and build out that part of the business, and then came back in to be the CEO of the brand. Can you speak a little bit about that? Because I’m sure there’s some people listening who are maybe familiar with the brand, but also thinking for their own brand. How is this a route that I might want to go?

Dinah Bengur 4:31
Absolutely. So Pitango Gelato was founded by my business partner Noah Dan. He started working on the company in 2006. He knew he needed the best quality milk possible to start making his gelato, so he found a family farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and convinced the farmer to let him put a little production facility on site. And he started testing recipes. He then opened his first store in Baltimore. City in 2007, and then grew the company very slowly and organically from there. And then I was introduced to the company in 2013. I lived down the street from one of the stores in Washington D.C. My husband was is a ice cream gelato fanatic, and brought me to the store and said, “You have to experience this. And I fell in love with the product. It was super clean, no artificial colors. So the color of the product is is from the color of the ingredient. I also loved the look and feel of the stores, which is very reminiscent of Italy with marble countertops, and I was working with my father at the time. My father had an investment banking firm and had also and was also a franchisee of two different concepts, and so I was working on both sides with him. And I told my dad about Pitango and said, “You have to, you have to see this company. So together we reached out to Noah Dan and asked for a meeting. And Noah had heard a little bit about us and said, “You know, I’ve always wanted to franchise Pitango. So all together, the three of us started working on creating a franchise company together, and we did all the behind the scenes work. We went to launch the company in 2020, the same week that COVID was launching across the U.S. We kind of put everything on hold during that time, and then in 2022 we sort of reengaged everything, and then I took over as CEO a few months later.

Kara Goldin 6:42
So when someone is looking at a brand, and or I should say their own brand, and in your case, you were looking at this local brand, and you said, “This is something we should franchise. This is something we should replicate. What is it? What is the secret sauce that makes a brand franchisable? I guess or a successful franchise.

Dinah Bengur 7:09
Yeah, that’s a great question. So one is, it was a fantastic product. It was a tried and true brand in the area. It’s hard to replicate because we make our own product, so to set up a gelato production facility is not easy. Again, that’s one of the differences between Pitango and other frozen dessert brands that might buy their mix from a third-party production facility. And then the unit economics were really good for the stores. So the cost of goods sold was very good. The labor was very good. So when you look at all, you want to look at all those things to make sure that as a franchisee you can make a healthy profit because you’re investing a lot of money in a store and you want to make sure that you’re gonna get your money back out of it. And Pitango had all that elements, all those elements. And with our experience franchising other brands, you know, we looked at how Noah had set up the company to be able to scale. So he had always had the idea of of being a larger scale gelato company, and he had built it from the beginning of the company by having you know figuring out his supply chain, so when we came in, we saw all those pieces in place and thought great product setup for scaling and great unit economics. This is a good business to be in.

Kara Goldin 8:34
So when you look at or you speak about unit economics and sort of are there any numbers where you would say you must have X in order to even consider it?

Dinah Bengur 8:46
So you really want to look at what the cost of goods sold are for a store, and then what the labor percentages typically are. Everything else is out of you know that’s out of your control. That’s handled by the brand, really, because it’s what the model is. How the model is set up. Everything else, like rent and utilities, you know, you can’t totally control. You can control by picking the right location, but you’re looking at how the business has been set up by the franchisor, which is important. And all of that information is disclosed in a franchise disclosure document, which gives you all the costs and fees associated with opening a franchise. So it’s important to study that document.

Kara Goldin 9:30
So you had a lot of other options. You had experience in franchising before, but it sounds like you actually approached them and began franchising Pitango in 2023. Is that right?

Dinah Bengur 9:46
So our initial idea in 2017 was we were going to be the first Pitango franchisees, and we were up in Philadelphia looking for locations the week of March 10th or March. 13th, and right before everything shut down, so it it kind of put that on hold. And then as we went through COVID, we continued to discuss like what the franchise company looked like and what Pitango looked like in general. We pivoted from that and decided that we would be we wouldn’t open any of our own stores. I would run the company, and then we would still continue to franchise. So we spent the tail end of COVID, and then all of 2022 getting ready, putting the company in a place that we would feel really good and strong about franchising.

Kara Goldin 10:38
What did you see were those points that you needed to do in order to make the company super strong and strong enough to actually get moving and launch,

Dinah Bengur 10:50
we put a ton of systems in place. So the the company had a really good foundation, but we standardized the way the product was packaged, where it went after it was made at the we call it the farm. We took over a warehouse in Baltimore City, so then we we made everything at the farm, took it to Baltimore City where it was stored, and then distributed to all the stores. We put in place a couple more third party inventory management systems that could help us track our product, you know, make sure that we knew where all the ingredients were at any given time. We could track what what was being sold. We could track the expiration dates of everything, and then we started building out the rest of the team to make sure that we had a really solid team who was able to give you know the best kind of advice and understood the product, so that we could be a backstop for our franchisees.

Kara Goldin 11:51
So I’ve heard some franchise models actually have company-owned stores. I don’t know if you call it that or something different, but that they’re going to keep for themselves and then franchise out in different locations. Can you speak a little bit about that and why that might be something that somebody is interested in doing as well?

Dinah Bengur 12:13
Yes, that’s a great, great question. Also, we do have company-owned stores. We have six gelato shops, and that is great for us because we can tell firsthand, you know, how the product is doing, how the product is behaving in the store. Because we don’t use any preservatives, it is not, you know, as shelf stable as everything. So as other frozen dessert brands, so we’re always making sure that the product has the right consistency in the stores. We’re also able to test out new flavors very easily because we can make a small batch of a new flavor, take it directly to the store, see how it sells in one of our stores before we roll it out to our franchisee stores. So everything we we use all of our stores as like a little testing ground,

Kara Goldin 13:04
and when somebody does a franchise working with Tango Gelato, do they have any wiggle room to have their own products, or is it very consistent for the consumer who visits the locations across each of them,

Dinah Bengur 13:21
yes, it’s very consistent. So probably 80% of the product comes from our production facility. So all of the gelato and sorbet, and then all of the ingredients you need to mix into the gelato and sorbet comes from our farm. And then you purchase the coffee from the the coffee purveyor. We have allowed our franchisees to suggest flavors, which we’ll then test out, and we’ve also allowed them to sort of customize a little bit the look and feel of the stores. So some of them have you know different plants or have chosen a different line or color of espresso mugs, but otherwise it’s all the same products in every store at all times. Now, what is fun about Pitango is we serve 20 gelato and sorbet flavors at any given time in store, 10 of which are served at all stores all the time, and we call those the usual suspects. And those are our top selling flavors. So that would be chocolate, pistachio, stretchatella, which is like a vanilla chocolate chip, strawberry sorbet, and lemon sorbet. And then the other 10 flavors are rotating, and those might be seasonal flavors that we specify, or it could be up to the general manager of the store or the owner of the store to determine what to put out for sale, and that might change based on a guest’s request who loves spicy dark chocolate and says, “I haven’t seen that flavor in a while. Can you make it? Or it might be the owner’s favorite flavor that they just always want to have out for sale. So that’s you know a fun way to customize your own shop.

Kara Goldin 15:04
How many franchise locations do you have now?

Dinah Bengur 15:08
We have one that’s been open for two years, one that’s opening next month, and then two more under development.

Kara Goldin 15:15
And are they all in one part of the country? Do you have plans to take it national as well.

Dinah Bengur 15:22
They’re all in kind of D.C. Maryland, Northern Virginia right now. We would love to grow up and down the East Coast, kind of out from our hub in Baltimore and D.C. and get to Philadelphia has always been a goal of ours, and then get to beach towns, and then you know, move into other cities. Eventually, yes, we would love to be a national brand.

Kara Goldin 15:48
So people hear the word franchise and sometimes think they’re buying a proven playbook. So the hard part has already been figured out. What is the reality? Is there still stuff for a franchise owner, or I should say, a franchisee, right? To figure out, I’ve talked to people over, interviewed different people, as well as I know different franchisees, and location really seems to be so so key.

Dinah Bengur 16:18
Yes, so I think the franchise model is a really great way for people who want to own their own business to own and operate their own business, but have the support from a brand. And it’s really hard to to run a business, as you know. You have to deal with the creative side of it, the website, the marketing. You know, you have to pick which product and how many of that product you’re going to offer, and and franchising offers you that guidebook already. And then what else is great is we also support you from, as you mentioned, choosing a location. So we know what works well for our brand. We like to be in high foot traffic areas with tourism offices and lots of restaurants, and we know what size store works for us, and we generally know what demographics to look for. And then we also kind of give you the the playbook of here’s what systems you need to put. You know, here are the systems. Here, how many flavors you need to order. Here’s how much you should be looking to pay a manager, or here’s how much you should expect to pay for your total payroll. You know, here’s here are the the products and the vendors that you need to buy the products from. So there’s still a lot that you need to do as the franchisee. I mean, you you need to be able to control your finances and expenses. I mean, it’s very hard work still, but you know, at least you have the support of the brand behind you to to help you out.

Kara Goldin 17:54
This may be a funny question, but if someone wants to go into a franchise, is it always you have to have some money in order to buy into those franchises, whether or not it’s with your brand or not. I mean, is that kind of what the model is?

Dinah Bengur 18:13
So you have to have some money, but you can often get a loan from the Small Business Administration. You know, it’s a nice way to enter to start up your own business because the cost of entry can be lower than you know some other businesses. So

Kara Goldin 18:30
yeah,

Dinah Bengur 18:31
for for our stores, it’s approximately $550,000 to build out a store, but you know you can you can have some money for that and and then borrow the rest.

Kara Goldin 18:42
So interesting. So, who should absolutely not buy a franchise?

Dinah Bengur 18:47
That’s a hard question to answer. I think that you, if you want to be in franchising, you have to buy into the brand. So you have to be, you know, interested in that particular brand. You have to like their marketing. You have to like the logo. You have to like the product offerings. I think you also need to watch for what the company is doing in terms of innovation because some brands stagnate and and don’t innovate, and that can hurt them. And so you want to you want a brand that is sticking true to themselves, but also being willing to reinvent themselves over time. And I think if you don’t like following a playbook and want to have total creative control, then you should build your own business instead of franchise one.

Kara Goldin 19:37
So you became the CEO of Pitango Gelato, and what percent of your time is really focused on kind of the brand side and the innovation and versus the franchise side? Because you built out the franchise side, and then I would imagine you’re you’re still. Your hands in both sides of things, but and definitely are clearly knowledgeable of it. But how do you how do you split your time

Dinah Bengur 20:10
right now? I do a lot of both. So we’re still a small team. We’re still growing. I do a lot of the branding and marketing side of things. I also it’s a very collaborative flavor development process, so I’m involved in you know what flavors we’re testing, what we’re making, what works, what doesn’t, and and then I am the primary franchise sales person also, and primary person communicating with our franchisees on a daily and weekly basis, we are, you know, we do have plenty of other people that are helping with those. But because we’re we’re so new at franchising, I want to make sure that it’s all going correctly and everybody’s having a good experience, and we’re doing what we’re say what we set out to do. It’s hard

Kara Goldin 21:00
everywhere, right, to run a business, you come from finance, investment, banking, operations. When you look at a concept, not just a concept of franchise, somebody who’s really looking at your potato gelato and says, “Okay, like it’s not just about, I would imagine location. It really is about fit, too. To your point, that you know, if you don’t want a playbook, then don’t work with us, kind of thing. For lack of a, let’s not partner. I’ll say it more positive than that, right? But what do you see as kind of the perfect formula for a successful venture, based on what you know, working maybe not so much with your own, but with some others that you’ve worked with as well.

Dinah Bengur 21:51
So I think it’s important to love the brand, and we found our our first franchisee. We when we started franchising, we merely put up little business cards that said franchise Pitango on the counter of our stores. And our first franchisee, who was a long time customer, picked up the card and emailed us and said, you know, I’ve loved this brand for forever. I was so excited to see your franchising, and he loves he he’s known Pitango, he’s loved Pitango, and he doesn’t want to change anything about Pitango. You know, he does offer us solutions and advice, which is wonderful. But overall, you know, he’s he buys into the whole ethos of the company. He appreciates that we don’t use preservatives, that you know we have a natural product, that sort of thing. So I think that is one of the big things, and then also a a sense of of business and willingness to learn about the business because every business is is a little bit unique.

Kara Goldin 22:54
So the going flipping back to the brand too, you talked a little bit about flavors and and the things that are sort of the the killer flavor SKUs, however you you look at it, when you’re looking at innovation and developing, whether or not they come from ideas that you have internally or from one of the franchisees, what do you look for in making sure that it’s going to like work? I guess is is it a new, and I think it’s it’s probably a little bit different when you look at because you have so many different types of things. You have the biscotti, which is amazing, and then the coffee, and then the gelato. So, what do you look at? Do you look at the existing consumer base that you know continues to come in? Do you try and bring in new people? How do you kind of view the world in that way?

Dinah Bengur 23:56
So, our top-selling flavor is pistachio, and it’s a pistachio from Bronte, Sicily. The pistachio is grown at the base of an active volcano, and it’s only harvested every other year. And then our next top flavor is our Stracutella, and we have we’re known for having classic flavors, and so these are our repeat best, you know, heavy hitters, very classic Italian. When we are coming up with new flavors, sometimes it’s coming up with another Italian nut that might be popular in Italy, like the an almond flavor, and sometimes it’s coming up with somebody you know traveled to another country and tried out, you know, a guava gelato recently, and so they came back and said, you know, we should really try guava. So we’re we’re always open to everything, and then we it’s very collaborative. We make a small test batch. First, we test. We all sit around the table and talk about it and taste it, and then we make a little bit a lot. Your test batch, and we take it to the store, and we and we allow our our customers to provide feedback, and then we collect collect that feedback, and we analyze it, and we decide, you know, yes, this is worth making, and seeing how it works in the stores.

Kara Goldin 25:16
So 10 years from now, Pitango is multiple locations had huge regional growth, national brand. Where do you see it? Where do you see it going in the not too distant future? Because 10 years will come. It seems like it’s a long way away, but it’s probably not.

Dinah Bengur 25:37
Yes, we would love to be up and down the East Coast of the U.S. and and starting to branch out further into the U.S. and you know maybe have I don’t know 50 to 100 stores at that time you know we really feel strongly that you can taste the difference in Pitango and that it’s a really joyful brand, and we’re just helping people build memories and and make happy memories with their family and loved ones. And we love to spread that joy, you know, as far as we can without sacrificing any of the the quality of our product and the ethos of our brand.

Kara Goldin 26:18
So, Dinah, thank you so much for joining us today. I love the brand Petango Gelato, but I also just love the products that that you have, and I love the conversation around franchising because it can look simple from the outside. But I think the key thing is is that scaling it and picking the right brand to work with, like your brand, is is really really key. So definitely for everyone listening, thank you for joining us too, and definitely check out Pitango Gelato and their franchising opportunities. To very very interesting for sure. Excellent products. Dinah is amazing, and so excited that you came on today to speak a little bit more about this. So thank you again, and we will see everyone next time on the Kara Goldin Show.

Dinah Bengur 27:18
Thank you so much.

Kara Goldin 27:20
Thanks again for listening to the Kara Goldin Show. If you would, please give us a review and feel free to share this podcast with others who would benefit. And of course, feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode of our podcast. Just a reminder that I can be found on all platforms at Kara Goldin. I would love to hear from you too, so feel free to DM me. And if you want to hear more about my journey, I hope you will have a listen or pick up a copy of my Wall Street Journal best-selling book, Undaunted, where I share more about my journey, including founding and building. Hint: We are here every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Thanks for listening, and goodbye for now.

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