Gelats Torres

In 1930 Miquel Torres and Maria Llorens, who already had six of their ten children, lived in Qui no Passa Street. In the courtyard of their house they began to make ice cream that Miquel then distributed through the streets of Ciutadella with a cart that had an ice-cream machine. A Valencian friend, Francisco Amorós, was the one who gave Miquel the idea of making the ice cream, as well as helping him to buy the delivery cart.

As the business prospered, new products were added, such as different types of Easter sweets, flat and round wafers, hazelnuts, etc. In 1940, Gelats Torres opened an establishment at Ses Voltes, 1, where it is still located today and where they continue to make ice creams, ice lollies, horchata, etc.

Toni and Llorenç Torres were the sons who continued the family business with the help of their sisters Tònia and Coloma. In this new stage they expanded the range of ice creams with new flavours such as vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, hazelnut and Jijona.

In 1964 Gelats Torres launched a version of Valencian tigernut horchata, made with machinery purchased in Barcelona, which is still one of the company’s star products today. Today the ice creams are sold in different shops and supermarkets in the city, but the horchata can only be found at Gelats Torres.

Today, two of Llorenç’s daughters run the family business, Joana and Tònia, who are supported by the fourth generation of the family, especially in summer.

As a curiosity, it is worth mentioning that many inhabitants of Ciutadella know Gelats Torres by the nickname of “Mèrvol”, as a result of a picnic that Miquel Torres Amengual made with a group of shoemakers in his orchard. There were fruit trees there, such as a pear tree with large, good-looking pears, and some of the shoemakers said that they were “com mèrvols”. From that day on, Gelats Torres was known as Cas Mèrvol.