Who doesn't like a scoop of Gelato? Okay fine, two scoops of Gelato. Wait, three? However many scoops you do like, @gelatosecrets must be one of your go-to places to cool down in this hot weather!
We recently caught up with its owners duo, husband and wife: Maria Indah & Gregory Lentini and asked them several burning questions from how do they ended up in the business to their inspirations and creation process behind it. Read more below.
1) Hi, tell us more about yourself.
Hi, my name is Mariah and I spent most of my childhood in various cities in Indonesia, which has broadened my perspective on the cultural and cuisines diversities in the country. I received my Bachelor's degree in International Communication Management in the Netherlands and continued to work in PR & Marketing in Dubai and Bali. My passion for food was the foundation for the creation of Gelato Secrets in 2009.
With a family originated from Italy, Gregory has found his love for Italian food since he was young. Having also lived in Rome, Italy, during his study he embraced his Italian roots further. Graduated with a degree in Business Management, Gregory started his professional work in the hospitality industry and after years of travel and experience, he found joy in creating recipes from scratch and using the best local raw ingredients for Gelato Secrets.
2) What was the inspiration behind Gelato Secrets?
Gelato Secrets was founded in 2009 in Ubud, Bali. Around that time, there was no gelateria in the centre of Ubud to cool down from the scorching heat. Inspired from his Italian root and my previous visit to Italy and France, we decided to open gelato shop in Ubud as our first shop. Indonesia is a rich country with great diversity of natural resources where we can get various exotic fruits-spices and we want to share these discoveries with others. We have created some unique flavours, like the chocolate chili gelato, dragon fruit cinnamon, lemongrass sorbetto and many others. We believe that there are no limits in creation and we still want to create new flavours often and this is why we have our special flavour of the month.
3) How did you and team come up with the flavours, textures, etc?
As food enthusiasts, we are inspired from our travel, tasting the local food and discovering new culture. For example, we discovered kacang kenari from the street of Selayar Island where people dried their fruits on the alleyway. Our team members also shared their love and ideas for food, and together we create new flavours and strive to achieve the best result.
4) What makes Gelato Secrets different than other gelato shops?
At Gelato Secrets, we made our gelato with 100% natural ingredients, with no added artificial aroma, colouring and preservatives. We are also glad to have received certificate of excellence awarded by the Gelato Naturale Academy in Italy as acknowledgement for this hard work. We also adopt the "East meet West" philosophy by still using authentic Sicilian ways and blending it with local ingredients, and"Eating Consciously", where we create good, fair and clean products. We also support local farmers and sustainable farming to protect our land-field and ecosystem from the mass industrial process.
We believe that the best product comes from best ingredients, so by keeping the short distance journey from the harvest to the production, it will produce best taste from the ingredient itself.
5) What are some of the challenges you faced while setting shops in Jakarta & Bali?
Many people are still not aware of the difference between gelato and ice cream. Some customers still complained about gelato's faster melting point than ice cream, which we can't alternate. Ice cream contains more fat content and air inside and it should be stored at -20 degree Celsius. While gelato is healthier and contain less fat and air, which makes it tastier and should be stored at -15 degree celcius. Therefore, the melting point of gelato is faster than ice cream, especially since we don't use added preservatives like others who displayed it in mountain waves to attract customers. [Laughs]
6) Any exciting future plans for Gelato Secrets that you can share with us?
At Gelato Secrets, we believe that there are no limits in creation. Therefore, please follow our social media to get the latest news like special flavour of the month or past unique flavours. We also have exciting new project coming up in Bali next year, where we plan to create a learning centre so more people can learn about gelato in a fun way.
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