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The story of a student from Montes Claros shows how a simple product turned into a structured business, with a store, delivery, and own production, in a journey marked by trials, social networks, and local expansion.
Laura Melo, a 21-year-old business administration student, transformed the informal sale of popsicles in Montes Claros, in the north of Minas Gerais, into a business with a physical store, own production, and an average turnover of about R$ 100,000 per month.
Master Geladinhos started in 2022, when she was still in her first year of college and was looking for a way to earn income for personal expenses, according to a report published by UOL on May 18, 2026.
The operation did not start with a large factory, known franchise, or ready business structure.
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The first products were made in the kitchen of the apartment where Laura lived.
To advertise, she printed flyers and placed the material under the doors of the apartments in the condominium.
Orders started to arrive via WhatsApp, the channel used at the beginning of sales.
How Master Geladinhos started in Montes Claros
The idea arose in March 2022, in the first year of the business administration course.
Laura already had a history of small sales since childhood, such as bazaars with clothes and bead bracelets.
At that time, however, the goal was to earn money to go out on weekends without depending on her parents.
In one of the statements recorded by the report, she stated that she wanted a source of income to do her own things, go out on the weekend, and not have to ask her parents for money.
The sale of popsicles then began as a side activity to her study routine.
The first flavors were strawberry with Ninho, Oreo, Ninho with Nutella, and passion fruit mousse.
At the time, each unit cost between R$ 3.50 and R$ 4.
The advertising in the condominium helped test the initial acceptance of the product among nearby residents before creating a broader commercial structure.
Three months after the start of sales, Laura created a profile on Instagram and began using the name Master Geladinhos.
In 2023, a digital influencer from the city promoted the products, and demand increased.
According to the entrepreneur, all the available stock in the freezer ran out in about half an hour.
She stated that, from that episode, she began to see the activity as a business opportunity.
From production in the apartment to a physical store
With the increase in orders, the apartment could no longer accommodate the production.
At the end of 2023, Laura moved the operation to her grandmother Maíta’s house, where it remained until January 2025, shortly before the store’s opening.
During this period, the average monthly revenue reported by her was approximately R$ 20,000, still without a physical point open to the public.
The decision to leave the internship occurred during the brand’s expansion process.
Laura declared that she needed to dedicate herself to the growth of Master Geladinhos.
After that, she sought training, tested new recipes, and began working on improving production.
In March 2025, already in her last year of college, she opened the physical store in Montes Claros.
The reported investment was R$ 80,000.
In the first month of operation, revenue reached R$ 50,000, a value higher than the average recorded when production was still done at her grandmother’s house.
Currently, the company reports an average monthly revenue of R$ 100,000, but does not disclose the net profit.
Delivery accounts for most of the sales
The current operation includes a physical store and its own delivery service.
Delivery accounts for 55% of the revenue, while in-person service concentrates the rest of the sales.
The average ticket reported by Laura is R$ 60 for deliveries and R$ 30 in the store.
The menu has 12 fixed flavors, in addition to seasonal options.
Among the bestsellers are Ninho with Nutella, milk pudding, and brownie truffle.
Each geladinho weighs 130 grams and costs between R$ 9 and R$ 12.
The production is done in the store itself and reaches about 3,000 units per week, according to the data provided by the entrepreneur.
The public record of the company shows the corporate name Master Geladinhos Ltda, headquartered in Montes Claros, with the main activity of manufacturing ice creams and other edible ices and a CNPJ opened on October 5, 2023.
This information distinguishes the commercial start of the brand, reported in 2022, from the business formalization registered later.
Artisanal Geladinho Entered the Brand’s Strategy
The proposal of Master Geladinhos is to sell an artisanal version of a popular product.
Laura states that the geladinho produced by the company is not common because it is prepared on the stove, uses ingredients she classifies as noble, and does not use artificial additives.
She also says that the jams used in the flavors are made artisanally.
This positioning also appears in the price range.
The entrepreneur acknowledges that the price is higher than traditional geladinhos, but claims that the production process and ingredients used justify the difference.
In a publication by Sebrae Minas, she said that one of the challenges was to reposition the geladinho in the market and show consumers that the product was an artisanal dessert.
Sebrae Minas also reported that Laura sought courses, training, and support in topics such as pricing, planning, and marketing.
The company’s structure grew with demand.
According to the publication, the team, which started only with the founder, grew to include five more employees, in addition to outsourced marketing and accounting services.
Seasonality and New Sales Channels
For Silmara Regina de Souza, business consultant at Sebrae-SP interviewed by UOL, the geladinho has easy acceptance because it is a product of simple understanding and linked to the consumer’s emotional memory.
According to her, “the geladinho is part of our emotional memory,” which contributes to the public’s familiarity with the product.
In the consultant’s assessment, Laura added value to the product by presenting the geladinho in a more elaborate version.
Silmara also points out seasonality as a point of attention, as the consumption of this type of product is usually associated with heat and warmer periods of the year.
To reduce this effect, the consultant states that the company can explore commemorative dates and special formats.
Master Geladinhos has already made this move at Easter, when it sold chocolate eggs with geladinhos inside.
The challenge, according to Silmara, is to expand this type of strategy to other retail dates.
Another path mentioned by the specialist is to strengthen participation in corporate events.
In her assessment, this channel can contribute to cash generation and help the company during periods of lower activity.
The consultant also notes that Master Geladinhos competes not only with other geladinho brands but with the dessert market in general.
Laura’s journey brings together common elements in small businesses that grow from market testing: initial sales on a small scale, local promotion, use of social networks, gradual formalization, and expansion of the structure according to demand.
In the case of Master Geladinhos, the extra income created during college led to an operation with its own store, delivery, and artisanal production in Montes Claros.
