Scooping from a pozzetti case
Before you think about opening your own Gelateria, you’ll need to understand that gelato equipment (especially since the best is made in Italy) is EXPENSIVE! Making the right choice from the beginning is really important!
You will need refrigerators & freezers, batch freezer/s, pasteurizer/s, blast freezer and this is just for the kitchen. Then you have the front of your store, which should be look the part as well: I am talking about your most important selling tool, your display case!
I am not even going to cover the crappy looking, cheapy “ice cream style” dipping cabinets, we are selling artisanal gelato here, if you want to buy those, I recommend you open an ice cream shop!
For true authentic gelato, there are only 2 kind of display cases that you should consider, and they are both very different in price, display style, energy efficiency & overall performance.
Pozzetti style
This is the old school, all enclosed, traditional look. It’s basically a counter that has holes/slots for metal tubs, and these are sealed by a solid metal lid that you’ll need to open every time to scoop each flavor. This case does not showcase the product, but it’s normally the best way to store gelato. From your batch freezer your gelato is extracted into a “carapina”, a large metal tub, which is then dropped into the slots available. The temperature of this display is more stable, there is less oxidation, less chances of cross contamination, less light and this is great for gelato. The mayor downside, especially outside of Italy, is the fact that you cannot see the product (people buy with their eyes), and on a busy night is more time consuming for the staff to serve your customers. Also newer pozzetti cases are actually “air cooled” therefore they are now more environmentally friendly, but the air circulation will ruin gelato faster.
An Italian company created a pozzetti style cabinet with clear lids (IFI) so that you can see the product, and that display case looks really amazing, but at the same time it still slows your staff down, it’s harder to clean and I have heard all sort of mixed feedbacks about performance.
Pozzetti are normally less expensive, more energy efficient, they don’t produce as much heat and you could leave your gelato in them overnight without ruining your product too much.
Visual display case
The most common display case for gelato normally offers a really enticing view of your product and this is why most Gelaterie, even in Italy, decide to go with this one. Normally big enough to host 19,24 or more metal gelato pans, your product is kept behind a fancy looking glass. Customers buy with their eyes and I see it all the time in my store: they come in for a drink or a gift card and they always stop in front of the gelato case to take a look, maybe sampling and possibly buying - is that powerful.
In the past few decades these cases have came a long way and the newest one can store your gelato in optimal conditions, even though you will always have more oxidation, more light and less protection from temperature fluctuations! But gelato is meant to be made fresh daily, and you are supposed to know how to adjust your recipes to compensate for display issues, therefore it will not matter that especially this type of case slowly kills your product. With this kind of display, cleanliness, decorations & scooping ability of your staff play a big role in keeping the view enticing all day long..even after a big rush! These displays are normally more expensive, I also don’t recommend using them for overnight storage, but they are a show stopper!
There is no right or wrong answer here, you can weight the pros & cons and decide what is best for your store. It might depend on your location, climate, country, design & feel of your store or personal preference!
My opinion is that in the US (but also outside of Europe) a pozzetti case is a hard sell, people are not used to that, they are not even used to gelato, therefore everything we can do to show them what we’ve got is an additional help to close the sale! But if you put out sloppy gelato pans, if your staff cannot keep the case neat and organized then it might be easier to handle a pozzetti case. A pozzetti case is also much better in a hot & humid climate.
What’s your choice?
Hopefully this was helpful & valuable!
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A presto amici!
Vincenzo