Icestone Group makes desserts from its factory in Bradford

Icestone Group’s factory in Beswick Close makes a host of sweet treats for the firm’s two businesses; Icestone Desserts and Mi Chaii.

The factory produces 30 flavours of gelato and 15 other food products including apple crumbles, flapjacks and Ferraro and Biscoff cheesecakes.

The firm imports raw ingredients for its gelato from Italy, with 6,000 litres of the treat produced at the factory each day, which uses pasteurising and storage facilities. The flavours of gelato produced include strawberry, vanilla, mint and wild cherry.

Some of the sweet treats are prepared at Icestone Group's factory (Image: Newsquest)

These treats are prepared at its factory and then distributed to its Icestone Desserts and Mi Chaii sites in Bradford and across the country.

A total of 15 people work at the factory, which Icestone Group moved into in July this year, producing the treats by using a combination of huge machines and their handmade skills.

Some of the apple crumbles produced at the firm's Bradford factory (Image: Newsquest)

The factory was previously used by Bradford Council to produce school and hospital meals.

The Icestone Group began by opening its first shop on Great Horton Road, Bradford, in March 2013. It opened up another Icestone site on Leeds Road in March this year.

Some of the equipment used by Icestone for turning milk into gelato sold at its Icestone Dessert sites across the country (Image: Newsquest)

Since then, the group has expanded and now has sites across the country including in Liverpool, Chester and London.

Meanwhile, Mi Chaii, which sells breakfast dishes such as omelettes, desserts and teas, has sites in areas including Bradford, Birmingham and Glasgow. The site also makes cookies, muffins and flapjacks for the Mother Hubbard’s fish and chip chain which are sold in their shops.

Some of the cookies produced at the Icestone Group factory to be distributed and sold in Mother Hubbrad's chip shops (Image: Newsquest)

Mab Hussain, Icestone Group chairman, said: “It’s a dream come true. We went from a basement to here. In the next 24 months we are going to double in size in production.

“Our business grew 700 per cent during the pandemic due to home delivery. Bradford is at the heart for us.

Factory staff members busy preparing sweet treats (Image: Newsquest)

“We opened our first shop in Great Horton Road in March 2013 and ever since it has never stopped.

Andrew Wilson, Icestone Group general manager, said: “We have to plan things to progress through the day.

Andrew Wilson, Icestone Group general manager, inside the firm's factory (Image: Newsquest)

“There is distribution as well as production done here at the factory.”

Icestone Group won the prize for best food and drink business of the year at the Yorkshire Asian Business Association Awards (YABA) held at the Cedar Court Hotel in Bradford earlier this year.

Ferero rochet-topped cheesecakes which will end up being available to customers at Icestone Dessert sites (Image: Newsquest)

The annual awards ceremony recognise the success of businesses across the county in seven categories.

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