Dulce Café

The Dulce Café story originated in Argentina when a young student named Hubert Stempowski had his first taste of ice cream in a parlour in Buenos Aires.

Hubert emigrated to South Africa in 1976 to complete his final year of study in engineering at Wits University. After holding a number of jobs in Johannesburg, Hubert dreamed of moving to the more relaxed coastal areas of South Africa.

In 1979, he finally decided to pack all his belongings into a van and head off to the coast – he picked East London as his preferred destination, but after taking a wrong turn while driving at night, he ended up in Port Elizabeth. Hubert ended up building up a large company, at its height employing over 110 people throughout the Eastern Cape.

Upon building up enough capital, Hubert travelled to Buenos Aires to learn the secret recipes of master ice cream maker "Cacho," who was the owner of the "Confiteria OMS" in Palermo.

After 3 months, Hubert returned to South Africa with Marcelo, a young Argentinean ice cream apprentice.

He set about designing the concept and store with imported equipment arriving from Italy. His wife Cathy, an artist by trade, designed the first logo and chose the name "Dulce" which in Spanish and Romanian means "Sweet".

Dulce Ice Cream opened for business in July 1981 in a small complex in Sydenham, Port Elizabeth.

Mike Pullen

In 2001, a management buyout was led by Mike Pullen, who became the majority shareholder of the company. The brand began to target niche markets such as hospital stores, and growth occurred at a rapid rate.

In early 2013, Mike Pullen sold out his majority shareholding in Dulcé Café SA (to focus on the international market) to Kobus Wiese of Wiese Coffee Holdings.[2]

In 2011 agreements were signed to expand the brand into East Africa, West Africa and the MENA territories. In Oct 2015, a master franchise agreement was signed for India.