Food coverage is supported by a generous donation from Susan and Moses Libitzky.

Three Twins Ice Cream has closed after 15 years in business. The organic ice cream company, owned by Neal Gottlieb, was never profitable and needed an infusion of capital to survive, he wrote on Instagram.

Three Twins (named after Neal, his twin brother Carl, and Carl’s wife Liz, also a twin), which started with a scoop shop in San Rafael, grew over the years and could be found in shops internationally and in many grocery stores, picking up devoted followers along the way.

One regular flavor was “Land of Milk and Honey,” and in 2013 Gottleib told J. that among his crazier experiments was “Carl’s Kugel,” named after his brother, which had cottage cheese, sour cream, raisins, cinnamon and applesauce in it. “We actually tried a version with noodles, but frozen noodles are not good,” he said then.

Three Twins launched a land conservation initiative in 2011, donating a portion of sales to save rainforests and other sensitive habitats. Gottlieb said the business had been struggling even before the pandemic, but that sealed its fate.

“I have always lived by the philosophy that it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all,” Gottlieb wrote on Instagram. “While this is a heartbreaking end to a 15 year (and two day) dream, I feel entirely lucky to have had this opportunity. Thank you for sharing it with me.”