ROCKLAND—This past weekend marked the grand opening of Gelato Rose, an artisan gelato shop and Ice Blossoms, an old-fashioned shaved ice shop on 497 Main Street. While it’s common to see teenagers working summer jobs behind the counter, these teens aren’t just saving money toward college or a car. These kids have a stake in the making each business successful because when they grow up, they will inherit it. Cecile Bizet, 15, co-owns the business with her mother Annie Higbee, and is not only working 15 hours a day on the retail side, but she is also instrumental in helping her mom create new flavors and market them on her Instagram account.

“When my mom went to Mexico, she found this great little gelato shop and ended up going there every day,” she said. “When she came back she asked me if I wanted to go into business with her and start one here and I said yes. Obviously. Why not?”

They spent several months working on their business plan, but they needed downtown space. It just so happened that Robert Arena, the owner of the building they were interested in, also had the idea to create a shaved ice business for his grandson Dylan Whitamore, 15 and his sister, Adrianna, 12.

“My mom and my grandfather started this business for my sister and me with the hope to pass it down,” said Dylan.

“They’re doing very well,” said the teens’ mother, Jessica Arena. “I’m very proud of them.”

After converting a small jewelry shop into an efficient space with an industrial cooler filled with 12 gelato flavors on one side for Gelato Rose and shelves of shaved ice syrups on the other side for Ice Blossoms, the teens are happy to work together and welcome folks in with samples of anything they desire. “We prize ourselves on offering unlimited samples and we’ve had people come in and ask to try every flavor,” said Bizet.

“We make it all ourselves with fresh, local ingredients. We love going to the farmer’s markets and finding new flavors, like our strawberry rhubarb gelato that comes from a couple who jars rhubarb from Whitefield, Maine. Other flavors such as blueberry sorbetto, Maine maple and lemon basil are all come from Maine as well.”

One of their most interesting flavors is rose. “We’re hoping to integrate some rosa rugosa from the beaches into our next batch,” she said. “The real difference between gelato and ice cream is that gelato is more dense and you can use whole milk instead of heavy cream and more natural flavors and less sugar, so it’s less fattening,” said Bizet, who also makes origami paper cone holders for that extra homemade creative touch.

As for shaved ice, the most requested flavor is Tiger’s Blood, a fruit punch with a hint of coconut. Jessica Arena said the concept of shaved ice is really popular in the south, but not something northeners see very much. They import their flavors from a company in New Orleans. “We’ll also have a couple of sample flavors to try every day,” said Dylan Whitamore, “but if anyone wants to just try a flavor they see that’s not out, we’ll do that for them.”

The next time you’re on Main Street, try a sample and congratulate the kids on their new business!

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com