THE LAPPERT’S STORY
Walter Lappert was an Austrian-born American entrepreneur who owned a crepe shop in San Francisco. At 61, Walter and his wife Mary retired to the Hawaiian island of Kauai. There, Walter decided to fulfill a lifelong dream of opening an ice cream store and making his own ice cream using treasured family recipes from Europe. Walter created an impressive menu of 125 ultra-premium ice cream flavors using high-quality local Hawaiian ingredients. On December 21,1983, Lappert’s Aloha Ice Cream was born in the historic town of Hanapepe in Kauai County, Hawaii.
Walter could always be found in his ice cream shop, chatting with tourists and locals alike. He became a local fixture and was best known for his friendly smile, flat cap, white beard, and floral shirt that are now immortalized into his company’s logo.
In 1984, Walter’s son, Michael made it possible for folks on the mainland to enjoy his father’s ice cream with the opening of an ice cream shop in the idyllic seaside town of Sausalito, and a small plant across the San Francisco Bay in Richmond, CA. Michael, an avid traveler, expanded on his father’s Hawaiian inspired flavors to include exciting tropical flavors from around the world.
Today, two independent companies exist: Lappert’s Hawaii (in Hawaii) and Lappert’s Ice Cream (in the US mainland). They both continue in the great Walter Lappert tradition of making award-winning, handcrafted, ultra-premium ice cream using the highest quality, all natural ingredients with the same love and attention that Walter put in his ice cream back in 1983.
Why is Lappert’s Ice Cream of Redlands, California a special store? The opening of the Redlands, CA store is an example of one of the very few stores that is allowed to feature the Lappert’s Ice Cream name. The Lappert’s Redlands store is owned and operated by a local Redlands resident, Joe Genua.
The entire Lappert’s team is eager and excited to be a part of the vibrant and growing Redlands community. Now, residents of Redlands and the Inland Empire can enjoy one of the ice cream’s world’s best kept secrets: the legendary taste of Lappert’s award winning ultra-premium ice cream.
