FRANCHISEES: MICHELLE AND TERRY FORMOSA
“We have been a franchisee of Gelatissimo for two years and in that time have found the company very supportive and progressive. Gelatissimo’s business model allows for franchisees to be supported by a larger entity and recognised company whilst still having the freedom to make our own decisions to run our own small business.
“The organisation encourages creativity and is consultative with franchisees actively seeking feedback on product development, marketing campaigns and the branding change.
“The franchisee group is also very supportive of each other and we are in frequent contact with others sharing ideas and offering advice on experiences.”
which we have also done a bit of over the years, but for me, it’s about the experience Gelatissimo can bring to the local markets that excites me.
I also get great satisfaction in extending our product offering to be more health focused and providing options in the plant-based and low sugar ranges.
This has been something we have spent quite a bit of time developing as we aim to provide choices for all.
HOW HAS THE GELATISSIMO BRAND ALTERED ITS BUSINESS MODEL?
The Gelatissimo business model hasn’t changed much from a retail perspective we just understand it better and know what works and doesn’t work for our business – whether that be in-store size, layout, rental costs etc.
Ultimately, we know what we are good at and that’s great tasting gelato with no artificial colours and flavours, made fresh in-store and we continue to offer this core proposition to our customers.
HAVE THERE BEEN ANY SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO BACK END SUPPORT?
From a human perspective, it’s business as usual with our support offering being focused on doing what the name suggests, support to our retail store and franchisees.
Where changes have come in is through technology, as we look to take advantage of new technologies for things like keeping track of communications, training and project management.
Tech innovations make the day to day side of things easier, more streamlined and efficient and thus allow people the breathing space to focus on activities that help drive sales rather than admin functions.
WHAT ARE GELATISSIMO'S EXPANSION PLANS?
Slow and steady wins the race. Covid has for us, as it has for most, slowed growth temporarily, but the sun will continue to shine, and we will get back on the path to open a few more stores in Australia, mainly focusing on the east coast and regional Australia.
Right now our focus is squarely on helping our existing network get through this Covid period.
TELL US ABOUT INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
It’s certainly a part of the Gelatissimo brand that is important and ultimately, we want to be the world’s number one gelato brand and be able to share with other nations what we have been offering to Australian for 18 years.
We operate in several international markets, for example, Singapore, Philippines and India and will open in the UA market in the next 12 months.
Internationally, the US is our main focus. Stay tuned for what we are confident will be an opening in the not too distant future.
David has worked with Gelatissimo for 13 years, starting out as a junior staff member at a Sydney store. In
2019 David took over the Orion Springfield store in Queensland.
“Gelatissimo maintains high product quality by making the gelato on site. The same recipe is given out nationally, but it is up to us to make our flavours fresh in-store daily. We are very lucky to have a great product development team who create the flavours and test the quality.
“Being able to control the freshness, making in-house and as we need to also means that food wastage is less, in fact, our food wastage level is less than two per cent in the regulated environment.
“Gelatissimo’s marketing team helps every store push the products into the market and ensure local and national media know about our new flavour releases. Having a great product development team and marketing team means that we as franchisees really get to focus on staff training and customer service, which is just so core to our business.”