Retail

The family-owned ice cream business taking over malls in South Africa

Kirsten Minnaar • 10 October 2026

More than three decades after its establishment, South African family ice cream business Baglios is expanding across the country’s shopping malls.

Baglios was started by the Barbaglia family, South African-Italian entrepreneurs whose roots in the business date back to 1969, when Enzo Barbaglia moved from Italy to South Africa and introduced traditional family gelato recipes.

These recipes have since been passed down through the family and remain at the centre of the Baglios offering.

Even today, the company’s products are made without preservatives and prepared fresh on-site.

They do everything from pasteurisation, homogenisation, and maturation to whipping the ice cream for around four hours to create its creamy texture.

While their first retail store opened in the 1990s, Baglios launched its franchising business in September 2008, when the family had seven corporate outlets across Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

The franchise business was established in partnership with retailer Kenny MacKinnon, who became CEO of Baglios Franchising.

At the time, the company said it had received strong interest from property developers and retail groups as it looked to expand its presence in South Africa.

The franchise rollout included a redesigned store concept developed by Johannesburg-based agency HKLM.

The first outlet to receive the new design was the Baglios store at Montecasino in Fourways, which reopened in September 2008.

The company also secured four new locations in large retail centres around Johannesburg and East London as part of its initial expansion.

Baglios gets a makeover

Baglios has continued expanding its presence in retail and lifestyle centres, with outlets now spread across Gauteng and the Western Cape.

Its locations include Montecasino, Morningside Shopping Centre, Bedford Centre, LXX Sandhurst, The Woods, Castle Gate, Parkhurst, Greenpark, Mushroom Farm Shopping Centre and Paarl.

The Montecasino outlet remains one of the brand’s better-known stores and is located in the centre’s Tuscan village setting.

The Morningside Shopping Centre outlet forms part of the brand’s more recent store redesign, which combines its Italian heritage with a more contemporary environment.

The outlet uses marble counters, textured finishes and warm lighting, which gives the stores a much more modern look than the previous concept.

While Baglios has retained its original recipes, it has also expanded its product range. It now also serves goods like waffles, milkshakes, banana bread, affogatos and freezos.

They have also partnered with local coffee roastery, Yaawk, whose beans now form the basis of Baglios’ coffee drinks.

Beyond its products and store design, the recent Baglios redesign also focused on customer experience. The stores are meant to give customers a place to sit and spend time rather than simply collect a takeaway.

Despite the expansion, the core of the business remains its traditional production methods. Its gelato, sorbets and frozen yoghurts are made with high-quality ingredients.

The products are also made on site rather than supplied as standardised frozen products from a central factory.

This allows individual outlets to prepare products fresh each day while following the same recipes and production methods handed down through the Barbaglia family.