Learning to make gelato or ice cream isn’t just for those people who are entering the ice cream market for the first time or setting up their own parlour or gelateria. Here at Antonelli, we are proud to be able to advise and support businesses through our ice cream training courses, as they learn to use ice cream ingredients, to create their own in-house unique range of flavours, rather than buying in from other suppliers.
How do you know where to start and how to learn to make gelato?
Let us introduce you to the owners of Swirlz (an ice cream house in Yorkshire); Neil & Clare. They have been buying in ice cream to serve to their local customers and visitors to Yorkshire for many years, but decided it was time to take the plunge and begin to make their own. The question was where to start? Sensibly Neil and Clare chose to start their quest for information and advice by visiting the annual Ice Cream Expo held by the ICA in Harrogate, in February this year. After talking to many potential suppliers and then going back home to look at the information and literature they had collected, they decided to contact Antonelli.
“We spoke to everyone at the show…. Antonelli were the only company to make us feel like people and not just a number to them”
The first thing to do was to learn how to make gelato. With this aim in mind Neil signed up for one of Antonelli’s ‘So you want to make Gelato’ courses (one of our many ice cream training courses) held regularly at the Antonelli National Training & Demonstration Centre in Cheshire. The interesting fact about this course is that whilst it teaches the attendees about the technical pointers of how to make gelato, there is in fact much more to it than physically making ice cream. The course introduces all the commercial elements and factors that need to be considered when starting to make your own gelato as a business concern.
Continued support from Antonelli as Swirlz become gelato makers
However, our ice cream training course was not the end of the support from Antonelli, in fact it was just the beginning. Having gained an understanding of the technical aspects of making gelato and the commercial costs on the training course, the Antonelli Sales Manager for Yorkshire Jonnathan Ireland and the specialist Technical Manager Demis Metwaly then visited Swirlz on several occasions to help formulate a plan and develop a range of their own flavour combinations and a selection of cones in which to serve these.
Whilst Jonnathan helped Neil and Clare to understand the costing process, looking at portion sizes, taking into consideration ice cream ingredients lists and identifying profit margins, Demis spent time helping to develop their initial range of flavours and demonstrate how to serve the gelato with a spatula. By the end of these visits, Neil & Clare were able to make all of their own gelato and knew exactly how much it was costing them.
And yet this is still not the end of the Antonelli support, as our philosophy is to provide continued support to all our customers building long term relationships, in some cases over several generations. So Jonnathan Ireland regularly keeps in touch with Neil & Clare making sure they are happy and have everything they need.
How Swirlz has increased their revenue by making their own gelato
A couple of months on from their initial ice cream training course …
Neil and Clare are now very comfortable with making and serving their own gelato and what’s more their bottom line is healthier than ever, with their takings being up by over 50% on previous figures. When our customers are happy then so are we and it gives us great satisfaction to see businesses prospering partly as a result of our help. We look forward to helping many others like Neil & Clare or anyone who is interested in starting up their own gelateria. Everyone at Antonelli wishes Swirlz all the very best as they continue to develop their own flavours over the months and years to come.
To find out more about our training courses you can email us training@antonelli.co.uk or for a list of up and coming courses see www.antonelli.co.uk/index.php/blog/ice-cream-training-courses. Alternatively to chat about your options contact the office on 0843 515 1912 and they will put you in touch with your Antonelli Sales Manager or our Technical Services Manager.
