Papalani Gelato Owners Encourage You to Treat Yourself

Want to indulge in Hawaiian treats but don’t have the means to travel to the tropical paradise?

Then Dana and James Winfrey have the compromise for you. They’ve opened Papalani Gelato at 13312 Telecom Drive in Temple Terrace, the very first franchise of a Hawaii-based business that has two shops on the island of Kauai.

Papalani Gelato uses Hawaiian flavors and ingredients to create their own gelato, sorbetto, frozen yogurt, chocolate and coffee drinks.

“There’s something for everyone,” Dana said.

The Temple Terrace shop had a soft opening Aug. 27 and will celebrate its grand opening Sept. 27, 4-7 p.m., with free samples, hula-hooping, gelato-eating contests, prizes, live music and more.

Papalani Gelato can make more than 50 gelato flavors, and there are 24 available at the shop at any given time. Passion fruit, mango, blood orange and guava are the ones that will have you feeling like you’re in Hawaii, Dana said, but the best sellers so far have sweeter tastes.

“Our most popular ones have been Belgian Chocolate and something called Salt Ponds,” she said.

Salt Ponds mixes Hawaiian sea salt and butterscotch. The description on the display case reads, “Unique, rich, and delicious.”

The Winfrey’s, of New Tampa, have two children: Jamie, 17, a 12th-grader at Wharton High School; and Erica, 15, a 10th-grader at Wharton. They help make the gelato on weekends.

“My daughter is great at the panning, and my son is great at mixing everything,” Dana said. “So, they work as a team.”

Although the Winfrey’s tried gelato during a trip to Italy, the treat’s home, they’ve never been to Hawaii where Marck and Lauren Shipley founded the business in 2008. Dana worked as a computer programmer for 24 years with United Space Alliance, a NASA contractor.

“I knew once they stopped flying the shuttle, my days were numbered,” she said.

She was right. After she was laid off, she decided she wanted to start her own business and work for herself. She researched franchises and found Papalani Gelato on the Internet. The Shipley’s overnighted samples of the gelato to the family so they could taste the product for themselves.

“That pretty much sealed the deal,” Dana said.

Next up was finding a space for their business. Real estate prices along Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in New Tampa were expensive, Dana said, so the Winfrey’s looked in Temple Terrace. The former Bear Creek Coffee shop in Telecom Park near the Holiday Inn Express was already set up for their type of business, making it a “perfect fit.”

Now, they’re planning to open a Papalani Gelato kiosk near Macy’s in the Westfield Brandon Mall sometime in December.

“I’m hoping before Christmas,” Dana said.

“If the Brandon Mall is successful, we hope to move into all the Westfield malls in the area,” she added.

They’d also like to have a trailer that they could set up at food truck events.

But first, they’re focusing on their grand opening and bringing a piece of Hawaii to Temple Terrace.

“I really would like at the grand opening to have as many people as possible taste the product,” Dana said. “Once you taste it, you’ll want to come back.”

Learn more about Papalani Gelato online or on Facebook.