Lappert’s serves ultra premium ice cream in downtown Redlands

Lappert’s Ice Cream opened in downtown Redlands on Black Friday in 2023 and has already become a favorite downtown dessert destination. It is a small boutique brand that makes its own ice cream on a weekly basis in Richmond, California, and ships to only 16 locations every week.

When founder Walter Lappert retired to the island of Kauai in 1983, he wanted to share his love of ice cream he developed from visiting his grandparents in Europe each summer growing up. He took his grandparents' European ice cream recipes and altered them with the tropical flavors of Hawaii (pineapple, coconut, macadamia nut, Kona coffee, etc.) and created the Lappert's Ice Cream brand. Today, the third Lappert generation keeps the family tradition going strong. 

“Walter's little ice cream shop in Kauai was an overnight sensation,” said Joe Genua, owner and manager of the Redlands Lappert's Ice Cream shop.

With a college degree in accounting and business administration, Genua felt, “This is not what I’m meant to do.”  Instead, he opened a printing franchise business in the 1990s with a friend that became one of the top performing printing businesses in New Jersey. After two decades in the printing business, Genua decided he needed a change, and relocated from New Jersey to California in 2010 to try something new, and took over an established frozen yogurt shop in Palm Springs, CA. It was his first entry into the world of frozen desserts.

“I saw an opportunity to make the yogurt shop better" he said, and was up for the challenge.

A year later, he acquired a Lappert’s Ice Cream parlor in Palm Springs that was for sale and was shortly persuaded to take over two Palm Desert locations. He sold the yogurt shop within a few years, because the Lappert's Ice Cream shops were far more successful. For about ten years, Genua managed these three spots, building a solid relationship with Michael Lappert, the president of the company.

In 2017, Genua first discovered Redlands, and it was love at first sight.

“One of my Lappert's customers in Palm Desert insisted on taking me to lunch at Martha Green’s,” he said and noticed then, “This town is gorgeous.” It reminded him a little bit of home on the East Coast with the tree-covered streets, the architecture and the old historic buildings.

“I knew instantly that Redlands was where I wanted to live,” he said. This spurred him to look at the ice cream scene in Redlands. “I saw an opportunity here.”

He thought there would be room in town for an ice cream shop that offered "something extra, something more" – smoothies, shakes, sundaes and ice cream flavors with a tropical feel.

What makes Lappert’s stand out is its quality and unique flavors. “Lappert's is an ultra-premium or super premium ice cream, still made by hand, in small batches, with a higher amount of cream.  Cream is what gives ice cream flavor, it makes it smoother, it’s creamier,” Genua said. “The more cream it has, the more premium it is.”  This is why Lappert’s is categorized as an ultra-premium ice cream.

Since Genua did not see this option in Redlands, he began looking for locations on State Street which was his dream spot. He moved to Redlands in 2022 and opened Lappert’s a year later. “I looked at other spaces but they were too expensive, too big, or too small,” he said.

For nine months, Lappert’s in Redlands also made room for Ululani’s shaved ice. But maneuvering the two in the same space turned out to be a logistic nightmare.

“The Ululani slowed down the lines tremendously,” he said, instead they chose to make room for more seating, something that other dessert places in town do not have as much.

Lappert’s has 44 different flavors of ice cream on display every day – with over 150 flavors in their repertoire.   A vast assortment of tropical and coffee flavors are their specialty and what sets them apart from their competitors. Some of the flavors were developed specifically for the Redlands shop and are unique to this location.

Adding Dole Whip to the menu has been a huge success story. “Dole Soft Serve was founded in Hawaii, as was Lappert's Ice Cream, so it goes well with our brand.  Dole Whip truly has a cult-like following"  he said. “People really know and love it from Disney or the Dole pineapple plantations in Hawaii.  No need to travel to Disney, Hawaii or Palm Springs to get Dole Whip anymore. Redlanders can get it right here in their hometown!" 

Date Shakes were a very popular menu item in his Palm Springs and Palm Desert stores, so Genua decided to add them to his Redlands menu to accommodate and celebrate the local Southern California and Coachella Valley iconic treat.  Genua gets fresh dates from a date farmer in Indio, and blends them with a mix of vanilla and date ice cream.

“People who are into date shakes, they rave about our date shakes,” he said. "Our Date Shakes have been voted BEST DATE SHAKE in the Coachella Valley for several years now.  Quite an accomplishment considering we're up against some very stiff competition with several date farms in the area."

To pay tribute and celebrate Redlands' rich citrus history, Genua created the Redland Bowl Sundae, a special Ice Cream Sundae made with Lappert's Navel & Ganache ice cream, and can only be found in his Redlands shop. 

Genua makes sure to give back to the community. The shop hosts many fundraisers for schools and have provided ice cream coupons by the thousands to local schools for teachers to hand out as student reward certificates.

Lappert’s Ice Cream was awarded New Organization of the Year by the Redlands Chamber of Commerce in 2025, earning accolades for its creative menu and community involvement.  

Lappert's of Redlands has also been voted BEST ICE CREAM, BEST DESSERT and BEST NEW RESTAURANT (less than 2 years old) 2 years in a row in a San Bernardino Sun and Redlands Daily Fax reader poll.   

Redlands Lappert’s donates ice cream to local non-profit organizations like Redlands Family Services with Dinner at the Grove, the A.K. Smiley Library, the Historical Society and the Redlands Bicycle Classic.

“I wanted to get involved and be a part of the Redlands community,” he said. Owning one business instead of three has made life easier for Genua and being in Redlands is the cherry on top. 

About Lappert’s Ice Cream

Address: 206 E. State Street, Redlands CA.

Phone: (909) 894 3400

Website: lappertsredlands.com

Instagram: @lapperts_redlands