Cloud Cups, the Philly gelato maker, opens a flagship shop and production facility in Kensington

First, the good news about Cloud Cups, Galen Thomas’s Philadelphia artisanal gelato and sorbet company:

It’s opening a flagship retail location and production space at the MaKen Studios North in Kensington on the first day of spring (Tuesday, March 19). Thomas will give out free cups of gelato to the first 100 people from 3 to 5 p.m.

Now for the bad news: There’s no banana pudding gelato, one of Thomas’s signature flavors. His aunt, who made it from a recipe known only to her, suffered a stroke. Thomas was hoping to replicate it soon — a friend tried, but it was “a total failure,” he said.

Back to the good news: Thomas has many other flavors of gelato and sorbet at the scoop counter — 36, to be precise — including nondairy and vegan flavors. Get the cookies and cream. Or the Oreo cheesecake from the Philadelphia Cheesecake Lady, or peanut butter stracciatella, or mascarpone, or honey lavender, or piña colada. In memory of Charisse McGill of Lokal Artisan Foods, who died unexpectedly in January, Thomas is also offering a strawberry gelato studded with McGill’s signature French Toast Bites.

Thomas, who grew up in Philadelphia’s West Oak Lane neighborhood, has had an entrepreneurial streak since securing his first paid DJ gigs at age 13. After attending Bowie State University, he went to work as a cell tech engineer, roaming the country to set up cellular networks, which took him to all but eight states.

In his travels, Thomas became interested in foods infused with cannabidiol (CBD) and thought gelato would be a ”new edible that people weren’t doing,” he said. He took a road trip from Sacramento to Los Angeles, visiting 80 dispensaries. “I figured the market was there. I saw no refrigerators or freezers anywhere. I reached out to one of my friends like, ‘You guys know anybody making ice cream?’”

Friends led him to Sierra Georgia, who was making gelato in Washington, D.C. In 2018, they decided to partner on Cloud Cups, which opened in late 2019 inside Pizza Brain. But the laws around cannabis-infused food products are a bit of a gray area, Thomas said, so they changed the business plan.

Thomas and Georgia parted ways in 2020, as Georgia needed to devote time to her own shop, Gelat’Oh, in Washington. “It got too big for her to do both of her businesses,” he said.

Thomas, meanwhile, took classes at Frozen Dessert University in North Carolina and the Carpigiani Gelato University in Illinois. “People had already been asking me to make regular flavors, so they were already that good,” Thomas said. “I just kept going.”

Galen sold scoops at fairs and festivals through a mobile cart, then opened a small production facility at MaKen Studios South, a nearby building in Kensington’s Harrowgate neighborhood.

The Cloud Cups location in Fishtown is currently closed.

In its corner of the building at I and Atlantic Streets, Cloud Cups has a machine that cranks out batches of gelato five liters at a time, a counter, and a cozy “Cloud Corner” with sofas and chairs where people can relax beside murals by the artist Justin Richburg. There also is a retail section for branded merchandise and a line of gelato-scented candles — reALIGNd.co — created by his fiancée, Victoria Pickens.

The move also has put Cloud Cups on Uber Eats and DoorDash for the first time. It’s also available for sale nationwide through its website.

Initial hours at Cloud Cups (3525 I St.) are 1 to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, though hours will be expanded later this spring.