A.J. and Christina Bordelon are putting one trending business on hold to launch another.

Wonderland Cookie Dough & Ice Cream just opened at 10580 Colonial Blvd., Unit 107, in Fort Myers at the corner of Colonial Boulevard and Treeline Avenue.

The Bordelons found the two major ingredients for their new shop while working their other job, the Viet Yum food truck. It led them to discover ice cream made by Yoder’s Southern Creamery in Sarasota and edible cookie dough made by Jeff Smith’s Wonderland in North Fort Myers.

The Bordelons joined forces with both businesses in opening the first Wonderland licensed location.

“This really took off because my wife is in love with the Lewis Carroll story,” A.J. Bordelon said of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. “And we thought it would be a good opportunity for her to expand on her dream, her childhood loves.”

The family also wanted more time — and to keep cooler.

Running a food truck, especially in the sweltering Southwest Florida summer months, had taken a toll, along with the time necessary to prepare all the food each day.

Opening a brick-and-mortar dessert shop would make it easier on the family, said A.J. Bordelon, whose children, E.V., 19, A.J. V, 17, and Ella, 8, are all involved.

“We worked with Jeff from Wonderland, and he has a great product with edible cookie dough,” A.J. Bordelon said. “The cost model, I believe, is more attractive. You need to marry that with a good strategy. Otherwise, you’re going to end up like any other ice cream shop that opens up.

“We decided to approach our renovation with the very clear intention on what we wanted it to look like and wanted to create a destination spot for anybody who came in.”

The Bordelons chose a space that had been a mortgage broker’s office in a shopping center anchored by a Winn-Dixie grocery store. They enlisted Cape Coral-based High Impact Designz to decorate the walls with a wrap showing artwork inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

“We did the original Wonderland a couple of years ago,” said High Impact Designz owner Quarry Reppert. “The original one was the harder one to do. We joke we bring dreams to life. It’s much easier to recreate.

“About 90% of what we do are car wraps. This was a great change of pace.”

Sourcing the ice cream from Yoder’s Southern Creamery, a division of dairy supplier Sutter’s Quality Foods, was an easy decision, A.J. Bordelon said.

Yoder sales representative John Chapman said he was happy to expand his product into the Fort Myers area.

“We’re super excited to be working with them in that area of Fort Myers that’s growing,” Chapman said. “So much of our product is consumed by northerners and snowbirds. Whenever we can get into a niche with return business, that’s a key to success.

“We’re small-batch made. I got in on the ground floor when we were just starting out making ice cream. I took a lot of care on each flavor that we developed. We go to the drawing board two or three times to get a flavor right. Vanilla is a proprietary flavor. We worked really hard to blend some vanillas together to get that flavor. It’s No. 1 and always will be.”

Smith makes the cookie dough at 5781 Bayshore Road, Unit 108, in North Fort Myers. He bought the original Wonderland business from Derek Plaisted in Celebration. Smith shut down that location and relocated it to Southwest Florida bringing all the cookie dough recipes with him.

“I’m excited,” Smith said of the Bordelons coming on board with a second location. “I’m glad they wanted to be a part of my business. They’re going to do well.”

Bordelon said he did plenty of research while planning the business move. The Viet Yum food truck will be on hiatus, but the family plans to resume running it at times after focusing on Wonderland.

“We realized that the top three reasons for the failures were location, marketing and financial management,” A.J. Bordelon said. “And so, we realized that as we looked around at a number of ice cream shops, there was one thing that was missing was some sort of a cohesive theme when you walk into the shop, whether it be a ’50s diner, old fashioned or a lot of pastel colors or just things thrown on the wall as random decorations.

“What we did was, we took the concept of Wonderland, and we really enhanced it. When you come in, you’ll see what the final product looks like. You’re going to see nuances of Alice in Wonderland throughout the place. You’re going to feel a comfortable atmosphere. You’re going to smell waffle cones. We have sensory things all over the shop.

“We’re going to hit on all your senses.”