Two of our vegan options in a disposable liner that we use for wholesale & events: silky Raspberry Sorbetto on the left & a super creamy Vegan Gianduja (chocolate & hazelnut) made with almond milk on the right!
The Problem
Many business owners wonder if they should be making their own gelato or simply buy from a national or local wholesaler. Making your own gelato involves extra staff, getting them some training, buying expensive machines (more than one), find a space in your kitchen (if you already have one) for all that stuff and understanding how to properly handle the product (serving & storing temperatures & freezers, display cabinets…and so on).
The short answer is simple: if you want to offer freshly made, truly authentic & handcrafted gelato you only have one option… you’ll have to make your own!
Everything that is a few days old, full of preservatives, powder mixes or hydrogenated fats to extend shelf life is NOT gelato. Buy & re-sell ice cream at that point, you’ll be better off!
If you want to explore more in details, keep reading as I see 2 ways to approach the matter:
If your business is mainly gelato (40% or more of total sales) - Gelato or dessert shops & cafes
Here the problem is simple: buying gelato wholesale kills your margins & brings you a product that is already old and poorly stored (transporting gelato perfectly frozen is expensive & you need a specific set-up). I have heard all sort of horror stories from my students, some of them were even working with well established gelaterie.
This can be minimized by buying a product that has preservatives, is made with hydrogenated fats (they don’t melt as fast) - but this is not gelato.
Another problem is that here you will need a display case (that ruins your product faster) and you will hopefully go through a lot of product (gelato is your main product, remember?), therefore you will have to rely on a larger gelato manufacturer that normally will provide you with a lower quality product. Smaller shops normally can produce only for themselves, or they have some extra capacity but for small wholesale orders, especially in the summer! Remember when you need gelato the most, they will too and they will obviously prioritize their own needs.
If this is your situation the answer is simple: do it yourself or you just will not survive. Even a lower quality, but fresher product wins every time. The alternative is to buy & re-sell ice cream instead. I see so many awful, unappetizing gelato displays around in the US that those places would do much better by just sticking with ice cream.
If gelato is not your main business - Restaurant or mostly savory food business
On the other hand, if gelato is just needed to be paired with some desserts or used to make your Italian restaurant sound more “Italian” than by selling just ice cream then I normally recommend to buy wholesale - but consider a few things.
Handling fresh and handcrafted gelato is really hard and for your restaurant staff that is not a priority, and chances are they probably don’t even know what to do with it (this is why I personally educate all my wholesale customers - some work is always involved on your end too). This ends up being an issue as you will be serving a product that has not been properly stored or handled. Gelato is meant to be made & consumed fresh (it’s not ice cream) and letting it seat in your freezer for weeks while you finish the pan just kills it…and will kill your margins on it too!
If your need really little, I would recommend buying the smallest wholesale option you can find within a 20-30mins drive from your restaurant, maybe from a local gelateria. Keep also in mind your target customer: is it really worth it to work that hard to give them quality gelato? Sometimes, again, just average ice cream will serve you better.
If you have larger needs you have no choice but buying from larger wholesalers, but again calling that gelato is a stretch and with time consumers are becoming more & more informed. Also if you own a high-end restaurant you cannot serve gelato delivered by national restaurant suppliers! In this case making it yourself can be a better option.
Are you a gelateria owner thinking about wholesaling your gelato?
This also goes for gelateria owners when thinking if selling their gelato wholesale is good for their businesses.. It depends, don’t consider it the cure to slower winter months because that will bring more trouble than it’s worth! Normally, to bring in decent numbers, you’ll need a large pool of customers (they come & go all the time, it does not work for everybody) and a dedicated production line/facility which involves a lot of up-front costs on your end, while dealing with many, extremely volatile, customers…it’s a totally different business!
The conclusion is that real gelato is a lot more delicate than ice cream, it is meant to be produced and consumed fresh, made with no preservatives or other crap therefore really not the best product for long time storage, wholesale in general or poor handling practices.
Then again in the US most ice cream is so bad that even a half good gelato would be better, but this should be your call by thinking about margins, target customers, average check amount and so on.
Hopefully this was helpful & valuable!
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A presto amici!
Vincenzo