Our story

IceLab: a Belgian gelateria offering only plant-based products

IceLab NiceCream Creations in the centre of Antwerp, Belgium, is the first gelateria in the Benelux only offering plant-based products. Our homemade, artisanal, vegan gelato is made with love for people, animals, and our beautiful planet. For well over a year and a half, I worked very hard to perfect my recipes: I only use natural, pure, top quality, and mainly organic ingredients. Silky, smooth, creamy, Italian, vegan gelato to truly enjoy! I also focus on durability and source ecological, compostable, recyclable, plant-based, and cruelty-free (raw) materials. An ice cream shop with a heart for people, animals, and our planet.

What does IceLab stand for?

I have given a great deal of thought to our logo. The word ‘IceLab’ is an combination of Ice (cream) and Laboratory. In Italy, gelato is produced (laborare) in many Laboratori del Gelato. The colour blue represents ice, green our magnificent planet, and pink human and non-human animals. The colour gold stands for the quality of our products, our service, and our relationship with our customers, colleagues, and suppliers.

As our ice cream is 100% plant-based, we also fully cater for clients who are lactose intolerant or suffer from milk protein allergy. We offer all traditional flavours in a vegan and mainly glutenfree version: vanilla, tiramisu, yoghurt, cheesecake, speculaas (gingerbread), treacle waffle, hazelnut, pistachio, peanut, amarena,… In addition, we serve delicious sorbets with large amounts of quality fruit such as mango, passion fruit, strawberry, raspberry, lemon, lime, and bergamot.

We love dogs and make special doggy ice creams during the warmer months. Delightful, refreshing treats for all :-)

Our menu

As our clients are very important to us, we are happy to receive your input and suggestions. Every vegan recipe starts with a quest for the right ingredients. A fascinating challenge indeed! It is our aim to create the most delicious gelato which melts in your mouth, tickles your taste buds, warms your heart, and simply leaves you wanting more.

During the colder months, we also serve vegan, homemade Belgian waffles, and other sweet delights. Our Brussels waffles are vegan and glutenfree. We have coffee, tea, spicy chai latte, real Italian cappuccino or latte, heavenly hot chocolate, etc.

We hope to welcome all ice cream and sweet lovers tall and small, on two and four legs in our Antwerp ice cream shop and wish you a memorable plant-based food experience!

About me

My name is Hilde and I was born 52 years ago in Belgium’s oldest town. For as long as I can remember, ice cream has been my favourite dessert and I have not eaten animals for the same period of time.

During my childhood years, vinyl was a very popular way to listen to music. There were three records that I really liked, by the Australian singer Kamahl: The Elephant Song, Save the Oceans of the World, and Save the Whale. These songs had such a huge influence on me that I decided to support an environmental conservation organisation as a teenager. I have joined several more since then.

I dearly love our wonderful planet and all her inhabitants. A couple of years ago, I chose a plant-based diet for various reasons: I wanted to decrease my ecological footprint, help animals, and live more healthily.

That was the first time I started thinking about opening a vegan ice cream shop. In 2018 and 2019, my ideas really took shape when I began searching for the right ingredients and attended one on one courses with an experienced gelato consultant who understood my dream and what I wanted to achieve. We started calculating, testing, and perfecting the recipes. I spent a long time looking for quality products and the right suppliers. An exciting and enriching process.

Today I am very happy and proud that IceLab NiceCream Creations has been born. I produce and sell my own plant-based Italian gelato, made with love for people, animals, and our planet.

Mission statement

As an entrepreneur, I have given a great deal of thought to my company: our norms and values. When you eat ice cream, it is a moment of pure magic and bliss. I want to pamper my customers with the most delicious, top quality, exquisite, homemade vegan gelato for the right price. At IceLab NiceCream Creations, we are professional, friendly, and welcoming. We excel in the quality of our products and our service. In our relationship with our team, our customers, suppliers, and colleagues we are reliable, durable, trustworthy, honest, collegial, and socially responsible.

Hilde Gos
30th April 2020