Canelands Hellacool Creamery selling truck before lease expires

A well loved ice cream and coffee business will be leaving a Mackay shopping centre as its owners sell their purple truck ‘Frenchie’. See why the price was slashed from $145,000 to $65,000.

After five years of business Hellacool Creamery will be leaving Canelands and Mackay for good. Picture Tony Martin

A popular ice creamery and Canelands fixture of five years will soon disappear while its iconic purple truck searches for a new home — which it will need to be driven to by another vehicle.

Hellacool Creamery was started by Enrica Di Luca in 2019 outside Target, the heart of Canelands shopping centre.

Ms Di Luca said her coffee was the stand out product at their debut but what Hellacool was known for was their French truck shopfront.

‘Frenchie’ a Citroen HY Van was imported from France and retrofitted for the purposes of the business by Double Jacks Garage and rebuilt by Bella Manufacturing on the Sunshine Coast.

In total, Ms Di Luca invested up to $220,000 in getting the business started.

Hellacool Creamery is shutting after five years at Canelands.

After unsuccessfully trying to sell the business in 2023 for $145,000, Ms Di Luca is now selling the van for $65,000 before their Canelands lease expires, but she said she’s experienced misunderstandings with interested buyers.

“Most people assume that it’s drivable,” Ms Di Luca said.

“It’s not sadly.

“It’s definitely designed to be in an indoor location.”

Ms Di Luca said the van could possibly be converted into a mobile operation, but that would be up to the buyer.

“I just wanted to have something quite unique and fun,” she said.

“A product that was quite different to what the town had been offering at the time.”

Ms Di Luca said the asking price has come down since 2023 because they were trying to sell the entire business to someone who could take on the lease, customer base and reputation of Hellacool.
While the equipment inside the van is not necessarily included in the sale, Ms Di Luca said that is something she’s open to discussing with potential buyers.

“I’ve had a lot of inquiries from people that don’t want to do anything with it,” she said.

“They just want to have it as an asset because it’s quite rare.”

Ms Di Luca specified she’s happy to discuss the Hellacool brand continuing with buyers, but said she herself will be moving out of the hospitality industry.

“We’re going to be taking a holiday and then maybe look into a different career path,” she said.
“We’ll just wait and see what kind of opportunities arise.”
If you’re interested in taking over Frenchie or the Hellacool brand you can reach out to Ms Di Luca here.