As a newspaper advertising copywriter who lost her job during the Great Recession of 2008, my prospects for finding work were bleak due to my age (46), profession and state of the economy at the time. A year after my husband and I moved from Seattle to Austin to be closer to my aging parents, he too lost his corporate job. We knew we had to quickly reinvent ourselves without the safety net of a 9-5 job.
My husband came up with idea of starting a gelato business, but the excitement of starting our own company was tempered by the realities of learning that business from the ground up. We traveled to New York to learn how to make gelato and sorbetto from an Italian gelato master, Stefano Tarquinio of Rome’s renowned Al Settimo Gelo gelateria. We brought that knowledge back to Austin and poured all our savings and hopes into our start-up, Austin Gelato Company.
From the very beginning we were dedicated to doing business the right way, and not just financially. We purchased an expensive chiller for our water-cooled equipment that saves hundreds of gallons of water a week. We use all-natural and organic ingredients sourced close to Austin whenever possible, for optimum freshness and to support local farmers and producers. We now get the finest quality milk from Richardson Farms, a small family dairy an hour outside of Austin, our wildflower honey comes from Austin’s own Good Flow, and we continually search for local suppliers whenever possible.
We’re in 42 stores and restaurants now and are continually expanding. With help from Kiva, we will improve our marketing efforts, hire employees and pay them a good living wage. That’s our idea of success.