Divino Gelato to open at Mayfair mall this month

Divino Gelato will open its fourth area location, at Mayfair mall, this month.

The kiosk, selling Italian ice cream, French macarons and Colectivo coffee, will be on the upper level, toward the Nordstrom / Boston Store end of the shopping center.

Divino was started in 2003 in downtown Waukesha by Lori Lester. She added a shop in downtown Racine in 2012 and one in Brookfield Square in 2013.

The expansion to Mayfair comes after the mall’s owner, Chicago-based GGP Inc., reached out to Lester several months ago.

“I’m pretty excited,” she said. “They actually approached us. They wanted us at two locations this year.”

Besides Mayfair, GGP asked Lester to place a Divino Gelato in the Fox River Mall in Appleton, but she’s holding off for the moment, she said.

“I don’t know that I want to expand that far,” Lester said.

Divino also recently began selling gelato and sorbetto wholesale to several locations in the Sendik’s Food Market chain, Lester said. Her company makes the frozen desserts at the Waukesha and Racine shops, and is building a third kitchen at Mayfair.

Divino Gelato employs about 25 people year-round, and as many as 50 during the summer, Lester said.