Gelato art, a perfect (almost perfect) balance between Passion and Business. Would you please balance these ingredients for us and tell us what your recipe to success is?
Gelato business luckily belongs to a continuously growing sector: it has not experienced any crisis and we hope it won’t in the future, despite sometimes business expectations are different from reality.
Working in a gelato shop is really a matter of balance…as mine is a small artisan laboratory, I sometimes spend 18 hours inside it.
The secret of my success? COMMITMENT, KNOWLEDGE, TRAINING, DEDICATION, GOOD ORGANISATIONAL CAPACITY AND A WINNING TEAM, really collaborative, where nobody is better or worse than the others and the shared goal is to go on learning, growing and getting on together.
In my team we share these goals:
• to improve continuously the image of artisan gelateria
• satisfaction for all persons concerned (customers, employees, suppliers);
• Fulfillment of contractual terms, explicit and implicit;
• Concern in communication to customer;
• Kindness to customer (the fulfillment of these five goals will be constantly monitored through customer satisfaction surveys and the analysis of complaints);
• permanent training and update;
• fulfillment of all the regulations in force, with regard to safety and to good practice.
Gelato: love at first sight or a slow falling in love?
I began when I was a student and worked as seasonal salesperson in a gelato shop and we can say that it has been truly love at first sight….Since then I’ve never stopped loving this job.
I remember very well how difficult it was to prepare the first cones, light flavours first, dark ones after, hard flavour, soft flavour..and what a mess three flavours together!
Now I laugh at it, but when I was 16 I turned red and got angry.
I think about this each time I have a new trainee for the counter: they get angry, too, when the cone does not result fine. I tell them it doesn’t matter: if I succeeded in doing it, they can as well.
Smiling is really important: facing a smile even the most demanding customer doesn’t say anything, indeed!
Your commitment in one thought. What’s the reason why you get up every morning eager to create a tastier gelato flavour?
Frankly? Passion and debts, the so called investments...I am lucky because I would never quit my job for a different one. The strength to go on and improve myself never fails. I feel a great sense of responsibility toward the people who work with me and my customers: their satisfaction refunds any labour.
Tell us about your training.
I graduated as cost-account and I should add “by chance”, as there’s so much maths in gelato.
When did you start?
My first gelato course was in January 2001 with Gianpaolo Valli, when Carpigiani Gelato University did not exist, yet. From 2003 I attended all Carpigiani courses, I think, including two Masters.
Which was the most unpleasant lessons?
I can’t say anything about the teachers, it won’t be fair, but I have to say I do not like classes with too many students.
The Maestri: who were the ones who left their mark?
First of all Carpigiani’s Maestri all taught me a lot: from Luciano Ferrari, who also injects optimism through his lessons, to Roberto Lobrano, Francesco Elmi for confectionery and many others. There are renowned Maestri who have broken into my heart: Maestro Luca Caviezel, Maestro Eliseo Tonti, two people I remember with fondness because of their precious advices. Last but not least, I say thank you to my first Maestro Gianpaolo Valli: I feel very close to him, I like his way of teaching really a lot.
Which was the most important exam?
Any time we simulated a challenge, during the training for the Gelato World Cup, during Cast Alimenti, and, of course, when the international jury tasted the gelato I had prepared and balanced.
Your first gelateria. What came first, the idea or the adventure? When did you start moving the first steps and how long did it take before opening? Which was the best moment and which the worst in your success story?
In April 2003 I opened Dolce Sogno (Sweet dream), my small gelato shop…An idea, a dream, an adventure, an endless passion. A mix of all these things made me start. I longed to have my own activity or, better said, my twin Antonella and I both ached to.
That’s why it is called “the sweet dream”: we wanted to work together, but we really had few money. I was just married, therefore, because of the loan, the furniture to buy and more…the budget was limited.
No company would have helped us, so we had to do our best. We created the layout of the gelateria on our own and, helped by my family, we became bricklayers, painters, we spent entire days with the hammer and paint in our hands and we bought secondhand equipment.
After six months of hard work the Dolce sogno became reality. Here’s my gelateria, a beautiful creature, born from the strength and energy of a unique group of people.
But it was not a wonderful beginning! The most important person in my life, the collaborator who shared and supported this project with me, my sister Antonella, died in august that year for a cancer.
I couldn’t get me down: it was her project, too, I owed it to her. So I went on working alone, with the strength of two people. From that moment on the dream was slowly fulfilling.
On the 6th of september 2006 Dolce Sogno obtained the prestigious award (first place for the category ‘gelato shop’) from Certiquality for the quality manual ISO 9001:2000 (vision 2000). This certificate - n° 11241 – guarantees our commitment to offer top quality products, production methods, attention towards the customer, professionalism of all the staff, with definite responsibilities assigned and a strong effort for continuous improvement.
In 2007 we have been choosen to be part of the Italian team in the 3rd World Cup competition and in 2008…the victory in the 3rd World Cup competition! What can I tell you about my personal satisfaction in having been the one who prepared and balanced our team’s recipes, proclaimed ‘the best in the world’ by an international jury?! A great satisfaction!
To whom do you have to say thank you?
To my family and all the people who believed in me, in my talent and my honesty. Special thanks to the food technologist Andrea Rondanini, who has worked for many years in the research field for pharmaceuticals and edibles and patiently taught me a lot of things. I hope he will teach me more.
What's your gelato machine?
In 2006 I bought Carpigiani’s Compacta Coldelite and the pasteurizator: they work perfectly!
What's the best compliment you've ever received?
Luckily, every day I receive compliments on the gelato and on the positive atmosphere you live inside my gelato parlour, but when they say that my gelato is good for the soul I feel gratified to the utmost.
Would you do it again?
Yes, of course. I already did in Cassano Magnano (VA) in 2009, opening a second gelateria. In addition I help all those who want to start this adventure! I have a really interesting project for foreign countries...
If you were not a gelatiere (or if gelato didn’t exist) what would your profession be?
I love cooking...or I would maybe shift to a different sector and become an interior designer.
What’s your favourite flavour?
I like high quality gelato in general, but I’m nuts about my zabaione, mixed with chocolate with orange and almond.
Gelato: sweet, savory or...?
A nice gelato cup should be traditional and sweet on my opinion. I sometimes prepare savory gelato for some restaurants, but always really mild… I always taste a little portion, matched with other dishes.
What is the gelato you will never make?
The flavours with artificial colours and those gelatos that are too eccentric and tasteless, like anchovies gelato, garlic gelato…savory gelato to me should be palatable although not sweet, maybe with aromatic plants fragrance or cheese, but I don’t like excesses.
Which is the gelato you wish you had created?
I don’t know.
Name one flavour for your past, one for your present and one for your future (if you want to, tel us about a project you have).
A bitter-sweet past…I’d say chocolate.
The present? Vanilla (I’m just back from the homeland of spices).
The future? All cream and fruit flavours, with soy milk, rice milk prepared following a natural recipe, my patented base mix, with low glycemic index, but all excellent like my traditional gelato...
Customers nowadays are more demanding than before: there are lots of food intolerances and different “needs”, too. Making tasty gelato is not enough, you have to achieve excellence, using excellent raw materials (local, if possible), meeting customers’ needs and taking into accont the nutritional value. Gelato must be healthy!
Message in a bottle for CGU students
The ones who already study in Carpigiani started in the right way. I suggest them to go on studying, without giving up at first difficulty: the first years are the hardest and they require a lot of self-sacrifice. An incentive more: with respect to the past, nowadays companies are closer to the artisan/entrepreneur. You are better supported and there are more credit lines that allow the entrepreneur to work relaxed. Believe in your potential, learn and improve!
