A decade ago, siblings Nick and Mary Lemmer opened Iorio Gelato on E. William, selling the gelato the brother and sister began peddling from push carts in Lansing in 2004.

But with their Maynard House lease up for renewal this year, and busines suffering due to the pandemic, the Lemmers were looking to cut costs and reinvent.

They found the answer in their neighbor, the Original Cottage Inn. “Basically, we’re picking up everything in the shop and taking it down the street,” Nick says. Cottage Inn’s owners, the Michos family, will be partners in a new shop, which will be accessed from a new door a few steps away from the current bar entrance. The deal also will give Iorio access to Cottage Inn’s liquor license, bringing up the possibility of boozy gelato, Lemmer says.

Gelato will be made on location at Cottage Inn, but Iorio’s also has a new wholesale production facility in Manchester, replacing space it previously leased from Zingerman’s Creamery. It plans to add Italian pastries and other treats to the Cottage Inn location.

Lemmer says Iorio will be open the same hours as Cottage Inn. The opening date is TBD, but he’d like to launch the new location in August.

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