Pink Albatross founders Pepe Biaggio and Luke Saldana are hoping their “beginners’ luck” will continue as the Spanish startup ice cream company has launched a public fund raising campaign to generate €600,000 to further develop the fledgling business.
Since winning a place in an incubation/acceleration program to scale up startups organized by ProVeg, a food awareness organization dedicated to cutting global animal consumption in half by 2040, Pink Albatross has been churning out greater volumes of artisanal plant-based ice cream with a co-packer in Avila. The aim is to boost sales further and begin export operations this year.
Its gluten-free, vegan product range currently features four flavors available in retail cartons and bulk containers for foodservice operators: Mango Tropical, Chocolate Negro, Straccia-Coco (a blend of coconut milk ice cream and dark chocolate chips), Hazelnut and Caramelo.
About the Founders
A native of Argentina, Pepe Biaggio immigrated for the first time as a teenager to Brazil. He later moved to Spain, France and the United Kingdom. Not seeing enough of his family due to extensive work-related travel and fed up with the pace of corporate life, he eventually struck out on his own.
Biaggio’s eldest daughter suffered from several food allergies. This led him to carefully scrutinize product labels, but little of what was spelled out on packaging was understood. He remained saddened that his daughter could not consume the same ice cream and other desserts as her friends at school. Necessity became the mother of invention, and the notion of shunning artifical additives, fake flavors, dyes and other E-number ingredients by starting a natural food company became a devotion.
Vegan Luke Saldanha returned to Spain after living for a long time in London and New York, only to experience difficulty in finding the right foods to properly sustain his diet. Especially disappointed at the lack of supply of plant-based ice cream in the neighborhood, and not willing to give up his favorite dessert, he joined Pepe to find a solution to the problem. They bought an ice cream maker, began experimenting and started creating ice cream at home.
The Pink Albatross brand was born soon thereafter, featuring flavors containing only natural ingredients such as coconut milk, cashew milk, hazelnut paste, sunflower oil, orange fiber and sugar.
