The Gelato Brothers: An Authentic Italian Experience in Tennessee
Inspired by shops that can be found in Italy and Greece, Gelato Brothers seeks to provide consumers with a truly authentic product. With one brick-and-mortar store in Talbott, Tenn., and food truck and catering services, the brand offers customers the chance to taste simple ingredients with a European twist. Shawn Wilmoth, founder and brand builder of Gelato Brothers, explained that his business is, first and foremost, an experience and branding company.
"We're giving the Italian experience to the consumer and delivering a brand that's memorable every time they visit," Wilmoth says. "And we sell gelato to fulfill the experience and branding concept that we have."
Gelato vs. Ice Cream
Gelato originated in Italy during the 16th century, though there is some debate on who exactly concocted gelato. A man from Florence, Bernardo Buontalenti, is said to have amazed the court of Italian noblewoman and future queen of France Catherine de' Medici, but Francesco Procopio Dei Coltelli, a Sicilian, is credited with introducing gelato to Europe after he opened a cafe and began serving it in Paris in 1686. Throughout the years, Italians passed down their gelato-making technique, adjusting the recipe into what is now modern gelato.
Europeans take gelato seriously – and even though it means "ice cream" in Italian, you shouldn't make the mistake of calling it ice cream or trying to pass ice cream off as gelato.
"Gelato in Europe is very strict," Wilmoth explains. "There are gelato standards that you can actually be sued for representing a product as gelato when it is in fact ice cream."
Gelato is a frozen dessert that – like ice cream – is made from a base of milk, cream, eggs, and sugar. The primary difference is that gelato is made with more milk and fewer eggs. The addition of butterfat in ice cream also adds to the difference and gives ice cream a much different texture and consistency than gelato.
"(Butterfat) is an agent that cheapens [and] thins the product. It's kind of like adding too much water to coffee. When you do that, the flavor goes down, but the size goes up," Wilmoth says. "American manufacturers added butterfat as a way to make product cheaper and appear bigger in the cone. The Italians don't believe in watering down product with butterfat and so they only use milk."
The second difference between gelato and ice cream is the percentage of air inside the product. Gelato is churned more slowly than ice cream, which creates a denser texture. However, it is served at a warmer temperature than ice cream, so the finished product is soft and smooth.
"Air and butterfat ... you don't add either one. We don't add any more air than we have to, and we don't add any butterfat," Wilmoth says. "Our gelato is 94 percent fat free, 25 percent or less in air, and no additional butterfat is added. This is tough for us because Americans are used to huge scoops of product and a lower flavor. And then they try our product, and they're like, 'Oh my God, why is this so good?' The smoothness is much different."
What Gelato Brothers Has to Offer
Gelato Brothers currently has around 20 flavors, but features only a dozen or so rotating flavors in its shops. Current flavors include Strawberry Cheesecake, Madagascar Vanilla Bean, and Sea Salt Caramel, as well as stracciatella, or Italian chocolate chip gelato, that consists of chocolate shavings in vanilla gelato.
"Some people are familiar with something called a 'Brown Cow,' an American ice cream with thin, mild chocolate on the outside," explains Wilmoth. "I tell people that stracciatella is like Brown Cow that has been mashed all up and broken into pieces for you, and then presented throughout the Madagascar vanilla base."
Affogato, another treat that means "drowned" in Italian, typically features a scoop of vanilla gelato that is drowned in a shot or two of espresso. After customers struggled to grasp the term – hearing "avocado" instead – Gelato Brothers decided to call their product "brogato®."
"Brogato is easier for Americans to say, and it's allowed us to enter our brand into the product. And, whereas in Italy, they traditionally do a Madagascar vanilla with a couple shots of espresso on it, we took it up a notch, and we began using our Italian chocolate chip," says Wilmoth. "We do double scoops of stracciatella gelato with a double shot of espresso poured on top. It is super popular."
In addition to gelato, Gelato Brothers also serves sorbetto, which is the Italian term for sorbet. It doesn't contain eggs or dairy and is made with only fruit juice or syrup and water. Gelato Brothers serves multiple flavors of sorbetto, including Raspberry Tart and Sweet Strawberry, and are planning to debut a third – Blood Orange – in the Fall.
Gelato Brothers offers Triple-dark Vegan Chocolate as another option for customers who are lactose intolerant. What makes this product unique is that it's made of three blended Italian chocolates, sugar, and water. Since it doesn't contain eggs or dairy, it's the ideal choice for non-dairy folks.
Gelato Brothers doesn't just serve authentic Italian gelato and sorbetto – the Brew Bros line of coffees gives customers the option to sip a cup of cold brew coffee with their gelato. The cold brew uses locally roasted beans that have been roasted for 16 hours. This gives the cold brew a big kick of caffeine, and Wilmoth warns customers to be "ready to rock" after consuming a bottle.
What Makes Gelato Brothers Authentic
Family trips to European countries, where dessert bars serve gelato, espresso, and waffle cones into the early hours of the morning, inspired the Wilmoth's shop. The brightly colored dessert bars in Europe are well lit and filled with the sounds of trendy, popular music, similar in experience to bars in the United States. On the streets of Capri, an island in Italy, bakers prepare fresh waffle cones and locals sip espresso. Seeing these sights inspired the Wilmoths to create a truly authentic and European experience.
"We wanted that fun, cultural experience that we saw, and we wanted to bring that experience to the U.S. and let people dive in and try this fantastic product," Wilmoth says. "That was our passion, and travel equated to the brand."
The company doesn't make their own gelato, but uses an authentic product supplied by Italian brothers in California.
"They are great guys, and they do a fantastic job," Wilmoth says. "Our commitment was the highest possible quality and freshness that we could do."
Gelato Brothers ensures their gelato is true to its Italian roots, foregoing sprinkles – an American topping – for a Nutella swirl. The company even goes so far as to make their own waffle cones and waffle chips, which Gelato Brothers call "Brodallions®." Brodallion chips are round chips that go on top of the gelato and with every coffee.
Using their Gelato Brothers trailer, the company is able to bring their Italian gelato to corporate events, weddings, and other gatherings. The trailer serves gelato, brogato, and the Brew Bros line of coffee, and so far has been a big hit.
"We just did an Italian family's wedding, and they could not believe the quality of the fresh-pulled, local-roasted espresso. They were drinking shots like alcohol," Wilmoth says. "And when we did the brogato, they were just blown away because they know that product in Italy. They thought it was so incredible to have [an] authentic Italian dessert trailer at a wedding."
