Vivendo il sogno: living the dream

When Yuri Aristarco and Daniela Burlando said ‘arrivederci’ to Italy, for life in Nelson and their artisan gelato business, they were committing themselves to a unique set of challenges.

It’s a classic story of business romance. Travel to the other side of the world; fall in love with a city; set up a business creating true artisan gelato; and proceed to make the local, and wider, population swoon with delight.

That’s the story of Yuri Aristarco and Daniela Burlando and their Nelson-based Gelato Roma business.

The couple believed Europe would not offer the lifestyle they were looking for – such as spending more time with their two children, working fairer hours, with less pressure and easy daily access to fulfilling experiences in the great outdoors, and so on. 

After coming to New Zealand in 2009 for a holiday and back again in 2010 to trial the country for six months, they found the ideal destination in Nelson. 

“It ticked all the boxes,” recalls Daniela.

As well as the perfect weather, the multicultural community and the proximity to National Parks, Yuri and Daniela loved that Nelson is a hub for food and beverage manufacturers – the likes of Pic’s Peanut Butter, Chia Sisters, Proper Crisps and Hogarth Chocolate, to name just a few. 

The city has also experienced strong ties to Italian and European immigrants over the years – and as we all know, gelato is traditionally Italian.

The open and curious nature of Nelsonians and their propensity for expressing their creativity as part of their business success, also made Nelson the ideal environment in which to launch a new product, says Daniela.

Setting up a business is easy in New Zealand, she explains – unlike Italy where bureaucracy is pervasive and starting a business is expensive. She’s even a fan of New Zealand’s Inland Revenue Department – because staff always make an effort to help her solve issues when she calls them up.

“On the other hand growing a business can be quite hard here because of the small population – especially if you are based in a small town as we are,” Yuri says.

Before coming to these shores Yuri had an extensive background in hospitality and fine dining as a restaurant owner, in addition to a lengthy career in IT. Daniela is a trained accountant with a background as a risk analyst in the banking sector. When the couple moved to New Zealand Daniela was pregnant with their second child. As the children got older Daniela started her own business as an education consultant bringing Italian students to New Zealand. 

Then in 2017 the couple felt that the business needed Daniela full-time. 

Gelato Roma was launched in 2011. Its gelato and sorbet quickly won numerous awards and accolades. It is one of the only businesses in the country making true artisan gelato.

Yuri explains that ‘artisan’ is all about the ingredients and the process, where the person makes the real difference in creating a product. 

“The products are not created in a laboratory, leaving the making to a machine with occasional human participation. It’s about making something that requires human intervention, knowledge and expertise at every single step of the product making,” he says.

“Yes, we use advanced technology to produce artisan gelato. But the main producer remains the gelato maker – measuring, balancing the ingredients and ingredient components.

“Only lightly processed milk is used, he explains. “We make our own salted caramel and mascarpone, melt our chocolate by hand, and so on – instead of using premixed powders and artificial flavours.”

Yuri and Daniela use A-grade berries for their sorbets, hazelnuts from Canterbury, only the best vanilla pods and high quality handmade chocolate.

“We still struggle to get people to understand why artisan product making is important and to value that,” says Yuri. “And we deliberately choose not to sell to supermarkets in order to maintain our artisan production process and the high quality of our product.”

Challenges and lessons

Yuri admits that, as a wholesaler, it has been a challenge reaching customers, and he puts it down to New Zealand’s low density population and the role of infrastructure and service companies.

“We have found it challenging to communicate with our target market of wholesalers, franchisees and restaurateurs. We were confident the product would speak for itself, but communicating with wholesalers and explaining what’s special about your product is essential, especially new or potential customers that have never tasted gelato or do not know what an artisan product is, nor why they should value it,” he says.

“Doing business in a different country is also a big challenge as different cultures relate to each other, and communicate, in different ways.”

Having options to capture every consumer – such as dairy-free, vegan and gluten-free – is important, he says, as is having a wide variety of flavours (they have around 24).

“We also take the time to explain to customers the differences between gelato and ice cream,” he explains, which is in fat and air content (both higher in ice cream) and serving temperature (lower for ice cream). 

“These differences make gelato flavours more intense, creamier and tastier.”

Advice and goals

Yuri and Daniela’s advice for other Europeans weighing up an opportunity to set up a business here is to take your time, in order to study and deeply understand the market.

“Place a high value on connecting with people and understanding cultural differences, right from the beginning. This was the reason why we first came to New Zealand for six months before considering the move here permanently,” says Daniela.

Also observing potential competitors’ ways of doing business and trying to understand why they might have a different approach to business is very useful, she says, as it helps you to avoid making mistakes.

The goal now for the couple is to grow visibility and brand awareness for Gelato Roma around New Zealand. 

“Our primary goal is to develop the Auckland and Queenstown markets and increase our presence in Wellington,” says Daniela.

“We could potentially triple our production using our existing facilities and infrastructure, so we see growth happening in a relatively short timeframe.”

In the medium term they see themselves partnering with three key partners in those locations. “Therefore becoming, together, THE gelato brand in New Zealand.” 

That’s numero uno.