A bold brand refresh, a focus on international expansion and the launch of a retail range into Coles Supermarkets, Gelatissimo is geared for their sweetest chapter yet.
2022 has been a year of celebration for Gelatissimo, with the beloved Australian brand marking its 20th birthday with a new look, new store openings both here and overseas and launching a retail range into Coles Supermarkets.
“It’s certainly been a milestone year that we’re justifiably proud of,” says Gelatissimo CEO, Braeden Lord. “And being able to deliver all our plans despite a global pandemic is a true testament to the strength of our team.”
It is a team that not only includes an experienced executive group based in Sydney, but also a large community of franchisees.
In fact, two of the newly opened Australian stores are owned by existing franchisee owners who have been excited to actively bring the refreshed brand look to life.
Airlie Beach in sunny north Queensland was opened in August and is the third store for franchisee owner David Lim. They welcomed over 650 customers with free scoops on their grand opening day and also launched their limited-edition flavour, Airlie Beach’s Tropical Sunrise.
“Since opening, we have felt so welcomed by all the locals in Airlie Beach and are very excited to continue serving our award-winning gelato to both our community and visiting guests,” said David.
Alongside the new Australian locations, the brand also launched its first USA-based store in Houston in January with Thailand, Singapore and Hawaii all set to open by December.
“We spent a long time considering Hawaii,” says Mr Lord. “We wanted to get the position and store concept just right for our first venture into such an iconic holiday locale.”
Positioned on famed Kalakaua Ave, the store will be located just outside of Tiffany & Co.
Like all new stores, Gelatissimo’s refreshed branding will be on display, with a bright and bold palette of gelato-inspired colours adding a fun pop to the new look logo and store design.
“Our refreshed brand look and feel brings all that we stand for at Gelatissimo to life and truly represents our brand’s flavour obsessed proposition. Our new logo is fun and fresh; the colours evoke the taste and flavours of gelato, and our customers can walk in-store – or enjoy gelato at home – and immediately share the magic of Gelatissimo in a fun and engaging way.”
The refreshed look also extends through to the packaging for the newly launched retail range, which sees gelato tubs in five delicious flavours now stocked in Coles Supermarkets across Australia.
The flavours include on-trend tastes such as Caramel Cookie Butter with caramel swirl and speculoos pieces, Cheesecake Swirl with dulce de leche and buttery crumble and Peanut Butter Brownie with brownie pieces and salted caramel sauce.
“We developed this range with our loyal family of customers in mind,” says Filiz Kaya, Gelatissimo’s Head of Product Innovation, who works in with the wider Product Development Team.
“We looked at our most popular flavours as well as ones that have stood the test of time, then also considered current trends both here and around the world to create this range.”
It’s a method that extends across all Gelatissimo products, with their ‘Flavour Obsessed” ethos ensuring every scoop of gelato is deliciously creamy, innovative and full of flavour.
Within each of their stores, there is always a selection of made without dairy, vegan-friendly and reduced sugar flavours to ensure there is a scoop to suit everyone, with continuously new flavours guaranteeing there is always something different to try instore.
Chilli Chocolate, Sticky Date Pudding and Filipino Ube Cheesecake are just some of the flavours that been released in recent months, with each one not only making for a fresh new taste, but also a fresh new marketing angle.
From a franchisee perspective, Gelatissimo’s commitment to a strong and continual marketing plan is one of the significant benefits of becoming part of the brand.
Their dedicated in-house marketing team creates a variety of customer-centric campaigns each year alongside the flavour campaigns to keep Gelatissimo top-of-mind. They also run continual PR campaigns across Australia and have a combined social media following of over 222,000.
Another benefit is the continued support from the National Development and Operations Teams, which commences with helping new franchisees with their site selection and store fit-out planning then an initial three-to-four-week training program as well as continued post opening support.
“Our people are just as vital to the Gelatissimo brand as the gelato. Their combined passion is an essential ingredient to our continuing success,” says Mr Lord.
As to the next twenty years for Gelatissimo, the brand has no plans to rest easy.
“We have spent the last two decades enjoying sustainable growth and increasing brand awareness nationally and now with our brand refreshed, we feel the time is right to really ramp up our international presence and continue our Australian expansion,” says Mr Lord.
“With our continued focus on innovative flavours and quality ingredients driving our consumer experience, we look forward to delivering Gelatissimo’s flavour obsession to an ever-growing customer base throughout 2023 and beyond.”
About Gelatissimo
Since opening in Sydney in 2002, Gelatissimo has been proudly bringing its flavour obsessed approach to gelato to every occasion. Mixing the freshest and finest quality ingredients with traditional techniques, a splash of imagination and global inspiration, Gelatissimo serves experiences with a difference you can taste. Quality ingredients and pure indulgence, made the Australian way. Gelatissimo is now available in 42 stores throughout Australia, and in 26 overseas locations including Singapore, Saudi Arabia, The Philippines – and most recently the US*, with their inspired approach to everyone’s favourite Italian treat creating Gelatissimo moments, all over the world.
*Gelatissimo launched in the US in January 2022 in Houston and will be opening soon in Hawaii.
Website: https://www.gelatissimo.com.au
