Jon Snyder, owner of Il Laboratorio del Gelato, has been approached countless times about franchising his gelato and sorbet business based in the Lower East Side. Snyder, who deals mostly in wholesale, has always refused. Until now. Upper Montclair is now home to the first franchised Il Laboratorio del Gelato location in the United States, which officially opens on May 28. (There’s one other — in Shanghai.)

“I’ve always taken pride in what we make to a fault,” he says. “I didn’t want to spread myself thin and leave control in someone else’s hands in case the quality suffered.” What changed? Snyder says slow business due to COVID-19 gave him some extra time to develop franchising relationships. After working with a Shanghai-based couple, he was contacted by Michael Kurt of wholesaler Eve’s Bakery in East Rutherford.