LINDEN, NJ. — It was summer 2015 when Joseph Osborne was eating his favorite water ice treat, a frozen treat made from water, sugar and flavoring, from Jimmy’s Water Ice, a frozen dessert shop that produces water ice and other frozen novelties, while playing video games in his Southern Philadelphia home. The small inconvenience had Osborne thinking big, which began his entrepreneurial journey of launching Mojoz GummiCone, an edible gummy-like cone, to differentiate in the ordinary ice cream cone market, he said.  

“I would eat water ice, as we call it in Philly, while trying to get through the start-up menu in sports video games,” Osborne said. “You could do that (play video games) with ice cream because ice cream has a cone, but you could not do that with water ice or Italian ice, as it’s always served in a cup, which required a spoon.

“There’s a dozen different kinds of ice cream cones, but there’s not a single (water) ice cone, so to me it seems like a big miss. The Italian ice market is left without any other options; I felt there needed to be one option (for cones).”

The R&D process for Mojoz began with Osborne and his now-wife, Maureen, ordering bulk Haribo gummy bears, melting them by color and re-molding them as Osborne’s first gummy cone prototype.

“We used a custom rubber mold (made) by a family friend,” he said. “My wife thought gummy was best for this cone and Haribo is the big gummy bear company. That was the easiest way to make our cone at the time.”

Pictured is Mojoz GummiCone's original prototype, left, and the company's new market version, right. 

| Photo: Mojoz GummiCone

Upon producing the first prototype, Osborne pitched the product to Joy Cone Co., a company that produces ice cream cones for retail and ice cream shops in Hermitage, Pa., as he thought the product was a good match for the company, he said.

“They had a lot of synergies I was looking for, but they ended up passing on it and told me it was ‘too niche,’” he said. “I searched all over North America looking for a co-manufacturer for years. But because of how gummy candy is traditionally made with starch molds, a machine that makes shaped candies or candy centers from syrups or gels for gummy candy, my cone’s dimensions would never work with that set up, as it was much too tall. So, we had to build our own set up from scratch, which is why this took me so long.”

Even though Joy Cone Co. rejected Osborne’s prototype, Osborne forged ahead and officially launched Mojoz GummiCone in October.

Mojoz GummiCone is an edible gummy-like cone formulated with sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, allulose, MCT coconut oil, potato starch, tartaric acid, sodium citrate, carrageenan, cornstarch, dextrin, natural flavor, pectin and food coloring.  

Mojoz GummiCone comes in strawberry, lemon and mango flavors, providing “unlimited flavor combinations,” Osborne said.

“It’s a gummy candy ice cream cone that you would normally eat and it combines two of your favorite treats into one like gummy candy and whatever your frozen dessert of choice is,” he said. “They (the flavors) complement ice cream.”

The company formulated the GummiCone to be a less sticky product with a clean bite, Osborne said.

“When it’s filled it’s a cleaner eating experience,” he said. “It’s not sticky to the touch and we provide a cone sleeve.”

The GummiCone also is vegan, gluten-free and halal.

“People that can’t enjoy traditional ice cream cones can certainly enjoy our gummy cone,” Osborne said.  

Osborne said the product may be used in applications beyond ice cream and water ice.

“It’s also great with snow cones, snow balls, Hawaiian shaved ice, any frozen icy treat but also gelato and frozen yogurts,” he said.

The bootstrapped company self-manufactures its product in a 4,500-square-foot facility in Linden, NJ.  

Because finding a co-manufacturer was difficult due to the company’s different type of cone mold, Osborne, along with team members Carlos Veloso and Jeff Bogusz, built the company’s equipment.

“Carlos is my engineer who built the equipment from ground up, with sourcing and (we had) careful planning from Jeff along the way,” Osborne said. “They were both instrumental in this. Jeff (the developer of Nerds Gummy Cluster fame) developed the formulation with help from my other partner Abdul Rahman Kharboutli.”

The company will work with ice cream suppliers, ice cream distributors and wholesalers, and aims to be available wherever consumers may purchase an ice cream or water ice treat, Osborne said.

 “I have plans to go to a lot of places, like retail, but off the bat is expanding manufacturing and expanding flavors,” he said. “We may have a pre-packaged item of some sort (for retail) and a lot of other products planned. I see us as the dominant candy dessert company and being more than just GummiCones.” 

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