May 31, 2007
3 Questions For A Gelato Slinger
The other day, we told you our impressions of Naia Gelateria (nutshell: pretty good overall; you should particularly dig it if you enjoy having a ton of varieties to choose from). We wanted to know a little more about this Bay Area company, so we approached Trevor Morris, the company's general manager. He's been running the company since 2003, and had prior experience in the restaurant industry before that. He took the time to answer a few questions:
1. You guys have some crazy/innovative flavors. Do you have a personal favorite? What's a perrenial best-seller? Are there any flavors you've tried that just haven't worked out?
Our best seller is Dark Chocolate. Each of our stores has different flavors that are popular. Black Sesame is very popular in Berkeley but is frowned upon in Walnut Creek where Espresso is popular.
Because gelato is so low in fat it is very easy to work with if you know what you are doing and there are few flavors we haven't been able to make. We are serious about our ingredients though and we don't use anything artificial.
2. What's something about the gelateria business that an industry outsider just couldn't know?
I think people would be surprised to know that many gelaterias in Italy and here in the US make their gelato from cans of goo, bags of powders and bottles of syrup. Anytime you hear, "We import our ingredients from Italy" that's what they mean. We have gotten away from making our gelato like that.
Examples of Naia's ingredients and Trevor's dip into the blogging world after the jump
For example, our Scharffen Berger Chocolate is made from blocks of Scharffen Berger chocolate. Our Pistachio is made from pistachios grow in the Central Valley and roasted and milled to our specifications.
3. We love the fact that you are using the blog format for your news section! We found some fun stuff there. What was the impetus to use the blogging format? How's it been thus far?
Our interest is in making great gelato; we are not marketing experts. We wish we were. Did you know that one of our competitors was named "Best Ice Cream in the Bay Area" by San Francisco Magazine a month before they opened and had served a single scoop? I'd like to call that dishonest but I guess it's just good marketing.
We use a blog because we are always doing something new and it helps get the word out.
Well, we find the info on your news page very enjoyable, so please keep it up -- thanks for the time, Mr. Morris!
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Damn, I thought "we import our ingredients from Italy" was a good thing! Now THAT'S shrewd marketing.
One way Naia avoids being another "pretentious Bay Area artisinal gelato boutique" is with their service. Every time I'm in there, they're always incredibly friendly and remarkably patient with people who want samples of 18 flavors (seriously, from what I've observed, that's the median). They deserve a lot of credit for that.
I actually find their liberal tasting policy to be a bother. Customers keep sampling as the lines stretch out the door. I've actually heard one waiting customer yell out, "Enough already!"
They used to be called Mondo Gelato, why the name change?
Another sign of good gelato vs. not-so-good gelato: The good stuff will be in metal containers, which usually indicate that it was made at the store. The plastic containers usually mean that the stuff was made elsewhere and shipped to the shop.