Jean-François Beetz was on a good career path at the bank, with a prestigious position and a comfortable salary, when he decided to give up everything to join the family business and sell ice cream.
It took 15 years for Paysanne Gelato, where he had already spent summers and weekends, to become Qwelli.
“When I wasn’t with family, I felt like part of me was in the wrong place. It has been a blessing to return to the family business and it is a privilege to still work with my parents every day,” says the man who now runs this small, frozen kingdom with its 10 branches, factory and soon franchises .
“What Jean-François sees always happens!” exclaims her sister Caroline, CEO of Qwelli. She still remembers how her brother envisioned the factory and the trucks to deliver the Italian summer fun; it’s a reality now.
Qwelli offers around thirty types of ice cream. Photo Phil Bernard
Jean-François and Caroline were still studying when their parents bought their small dairy 35 years ago. It was a part-time job for her long before it became a calling.
The perfect recipe
Nevertheless, Jean-François was involved with the family business to which he belonged during his MBA studies. And when he realized that his sister and father had developed a sophisticated and differentiated product, he saw the company’s growth potential. Therefore, he felt a deep desire to embark on the adventure full-time.
“Gelato is a complicated product, but it didn’t scare us. It was me who started making recipes with my father in 2005 and we managed to create something special,” Caroline recalls.
Gelato is a denser ice cream that is served less cold and has a more intense and long-lasting flavor than regular ice cream. It is made from milk and contains less air. Since you can’t produce large quantities of it at once, the idea of a factory to supply several counters was more than daring.
“For years we were told that it was impossible to do what we are doing today,” recalls Jean-François, who has no doubt that we create value through complexity.
There is a risk of losing everything
A complex recipe, don’t worry about the Beetz. But dealing with the complications when the pandemic hit just two months after the factory opened was another story. The Beetzes had just invested $6.5 million when everything ground to a halt. It could have ended disastrously as the closure lasted months.
Qwelli now has its own ice cream factory. The company sold more than 250,000 liters in 2022. Photo courtesy of Qwelli
But instead of fear, they had confidence. And maybe they showed a touch of weirdness too by deciding to change the brand’s name while redesigning their stores.
“We come out of it stronger. We’ve been through the unthinkable and that gives us confidence. What could be worse? It was a real test of loyalty and showed us that our team is strong and loyal. It united us,” says Jean-François.
Before Qwelli offered franchises, it spent a lot of time testing its concept and recipes in its own stores. Now that the machine is installed, the company is ready for growth. How far can it go? Caroline doesn’t dare to think about it too much, because the vision of greatness, Jean-François, she is very good at realizing! But for now, he has his sights set on the Quebec market, where he believes Qwelli should be the benchmark. Then who knows?
Qwelli
- Headquarters: Boisbriand
- Foundation: 1987
- Founder: Denis Beetz
- Number of employees: 150
- Profile of: Jean-François and Caroline Beetz
- Age: 46 and 50
- Positions: President and CEO
- Education: Masters in Business Administration, HEC Montreal
