Two of its five staff are being made redundant, one consultant has not had his contract renewed, and the remaining two staff members have been redeployed to parent company Blis Technologies.
Stock exchange-listed Blis bought The Gourmet Ice Cream Co in April 2011 for $225,000, as a vehicle to have its probiotic health product included in ice cream, alongside Blis' established manufacturing of its product into lozenges, gum, powders and yoghurt.
Blis chief executive Barry Richardson confirmed the brand closure and three jobs losses yesterday.
''We had some discussions with parties [about selling Gourmet] but it was operating in a very tight niche market. No, nothing came of those discussions,'' Mr Richardson said.
Blis is moving in about mid-April to Gourmet's premises in Birch St, where its 12 staff will concentrate on making lozenges, gum, powders and yoghurt, whose applications include assisting in fighting gum disease, strep throat, bad breath and tonsillitis.
Mr Richardson said though ice cream production would cease he hoped to license manufacturing of probiotic ice cream to a third party.
Gourmet ice cream co-founder Mark Scorgie did not return calls yesterday.
After Blis announced three weeks ago it was restructuring, and relocating from the University of Otago's on-campus Centre for Innovation, the company further downgraded its forecast annual losses. It is edging towards a record $2 million loss for the year, fuelled by about $500,000 in restructuring and relocation costs.
