Join Us for a Taylor UK Gelato Academy Day
Discover what it takes to produce high-quality ice cream and gelato for a commercial foodservice business at one of our Taylor UK Gelato Academy days.
Held at the Taylor UK Kitchen at West London College in Hammersmith, London, these hands-on demonstration days are designed for anyone looking to start an ice cream parlour, open a gelato shop, or expand the dessert offer within an existing café, restaurant, hotel, farm shop, leisure venue or foodservice business.
During the day, our team will guide you through the commercial ice cream and gelato production process, from preparing the base mix through to batch freezing, extraction, storage and serving. You’ll see how professional batch equipment can help you create a consistent, premium-quality product while giving your business the flexibility to develop a varied and profitable frozen dessert menu.
A key focus of the day will be the Frigomat range of batch freezers and gelato equipment. You’ll be able to see the equipment in action, understand how it works in a real commercial environment, and learn how it can support everything from small-batch artisan production to a larger-scale dessert operation.
Whether you’re exploring a new business idea or looking to add fresh revenue streams to an existing operation, our Gelato Academy days are built to give you practical insight, product inspiration and a clearer understanding of what’s involved in producing ice cream and gelato commercially.
Join us at the Taylor UK Kitchen and experience the process, the equipment and the opportunity first-hand.
Register your interest today to attend an upcoming Taylor UK Gelato Academy day.
To book your place on one of our introductory gelato making courses, contact the Taylor UK Sales Office on 0800 838 896 or email sales@taylor-company.co.uk
What you can expect from the gelato making course
Our aim is to guide you through all of the different aspects of setting up your own gelato or ice cream making business. We’ll start at the beginning and walk you through all of the different steps to make sure you understand what you need to start making and selling gelato so you can make well informed decisions on which equipment you think is right for you.
Step 1 – Managing Expectations….
ISA Millennium Gelato Display
Just like an exotic package holiday, the costs associated with building a Gelato business can run away if you’re not careful. Our aim is to get you up and running without blowing the budget completely. We want to continue to work with you as your business grows. You need to ask yourself a few questions:
Have you given any thought to the type of business which you’re looking to run? Will it be in a busy tourist location where volume and throughput are key? Or will it be somewhere a little more rural where ‘artisanal’ or bespoke will be the selling points? What is your realistic budget?
Setting up a new Gelato or ice cream parlour will be an investment. So making some key decisions early on will make all of the difference down the line…
To start selling Gelato, all you really need is a good quality, eye catching display cabinet. This will be your shop window so getting this right is really important! You can simply wheel in your display, plug it in and you’re in business! Everything after this is an extra….
Initially you could simply buy a good quality display cabinet and buy in pre-made gelato from a wholesaler. This would get your business up and running but wouldn’t allow you to ‘make-it-your-own’. It would however start you off on your journey, helping you generate some profits which you can put towards your next step…
Step 2 – You’ll need to freeze it!
Assuming you’ve decided to start making your own gelato from scratch, the first major decision which you’ll need to make is which batch freezer?
Frigomat G10 Batch Freezer
Boring things like utilities will effect this decision. All of the bigger, higher capacity machines will require three phase power supplies and will often be water-cooled. Check what electrical capacity you have early on as this can become a costly mistake down the line. Single phase machines are available, but these are smaller which may effect your ultimate aspirations!
Size isn’t everything! Buying a gigantic batch freezer which can freeze 15Kg (or 4-5 standard 5ltr Napoli pans) of gelato every cycle will look amazing in your kitchen but if you’re only making one Napoli pan of each flavour at a time, then you’re wasting energy and product.
Frigomat T5s Batch Freezer
The key to deciding which batch freezer is right really depends on what your business goals are. If you’re aiming for a bespoke, artisan gelato parlour which adopts the philosophy that fresh is best and churn small volumes every day. A small single Napoli machine like the Frigomat T4s or Frigomat T3s will be sufficient. But, if your business has queues out the door and you go through five pans of vanilla a day, having a large Frigomat Titan 1 would make more sense!
The average freezing cycle on a Frigomat Horizontal Batch Freezer is 8 to 10 minutes (depending on mix/flavour). This is the same whether you’re freezing 3kg in a T4s or 15Kg in a Titan 1.
It’s important that you put a value on your time…
Too many owner operators fall out of love with their business as they get to a point where all they seem to do is make gelato all day, every day! Having a batch freezer which fits your needs is very important.
There are many different ways of making gelato base mix. These are split into two distinct categories – hot mixes and cold mixes.
A cold mix is exactly that, a cold mix. All of the ingredients are combined together using a blender. This is then poured into your batch freezer and churned until frozen. There are even pre-made gelato base mixes available which come in cartons. You simply add your flavour and freeze.
The hot mix requires some form of heating, ideally using a pasteuriser. Hot mixes are arguably better from a food hygiene perspective as you’re exposing the product to a controlled heat process which will kill off a lot of the bacteria which can be found in dairy products. A lot of the more common gelato ingredients work better when processed ‘hot’.
Using a cold mix is a great way to keep moving on your gelato journey… its the next step from buying in ready made Napolis. Once you have a batch freezer, you can start making your own home made gelato. once that’s proved successful, you can take the next step…. buying a pasteuriser!
Confused?
Contact the Taylor UK Sales Office on 0800 838 896 or email sales@taylor-company.co.uk to arrange a FREE consultation with one of our Gelato experts
Step 3 – Pasteuriser or Combination Machine?
We know making gelato using a “cold process” is a great way to get started if your budget is tight. However, you may soon find you are working longer hours, and struggle to keep up with production, especially in the summer months. Producing gelato and ice cream using a hot process makes a safer (from a food hygiene perspective) and long lasting finished product.
Frigomat PEB 60 Pasteuriser
If your budget can stretch, you now have another tough decision to make…. do you go for a standalone pasteuriser or combination machine which both heats and freezes the product?
Pasteurisers – If you have plenty of space, power and a water supply a standalone pasteuriser will work great for most businesses. The process is simple. Add your liquid ingredients to the vat and start heating, slowly add the dry ingredients and once you’re done the machine will automatically heat, hold and chill the mix without the need for you to supervise the process.
Make one simple base mix the night before, the mix will then be heated up and pasteurised and then chilled down and then held at 4 ℃. Allowing your mix a good time to age. The next morning blend in your flavours and you will have a full display cabinet in no time.
A 30 litre PEB30 pasteuriser will make enough mix for 8-10 napoli pans, the 60 litre PEB60 will make up to 20 napoli pans, and the 130 litre PEB120 will make enough to make up to 45 napoli pans.
Frigomat Combination Machine
Combination Machines – If you have limited space in your gelato kitchen, a combination machine could be for you.
This process is called “thermal shock” where you pasteurise your mix and then drop it straight into the freezer barrel below. Making gelato in as little as 20 minutes. However there are some disadvantages…
It’s a little more time consuming, as like cold process, you need to weigh out your ingredients for each pan, however if you have one of the larger combination machines, you can make multiple pans of the same flavour at the same time. Also, your mix doesn’t benefit from ageing which can effect overrun (how much air is in the product) and shelf life.
But regardless of the downsides, you will get a far more consistent, safer and longer lasting mix than the cold process.
If money is no object…. why not go for both? In a world where your budget has no limits, having a combination machine and a pasteuriser would be the perfect combination!
Use a neutral base mix from the pasteuriser for your fruity flavours and the combination machine for your chocolate and nutty flavours, which all benefit from being heated.
You are also then able to make bespoke recipes for these flavours, allowing you to make sure they are well balanced, and won’t be too hard to scoop from the cabinet.
Your Gelato Journey Continues….
Step 4 – Blast freezers, display cabinets & storage
Blast Freezers
Gelato which is dispensed directly from the batch freezer, it will be around -8 degrees centigrade. It will be soft and will start to collapse if it’s not served straight away or stored correctly.
If your napoli goes directly into the display cabinet, which will be set around -14 to -16°C, it will need to be served that same day as the quality will begin to deteriorate. Its going to slowly freeze, making larger ice crystals, giving that icy feel to your gelato. To help combat this, you will need a blast freezer.
A blast freezer is basically a super cold and powerful freezer. Its design allows your gelato to get to -18°C, quickly, this stops large ice crystals from forming, making a creamier gelato which, once frozen solid, will last much longer once it’s transferred to your display cabinet and tempered to -14°C. Blast freezers rapidly freeze products by blowing extremely cold air (-40°C) around your product and hardening the top.
ISA Super Capri Gelato Display
You then need to display our Gelato… The range of cabinets for gelato is vast, and your choice will depend on budget, and what you want your “shop window” to look like. Your first choice will be its refrigeration. There are 2 main types, ventilated and static.
Static refrigeration works similarly to your freezer at home, where there is very little air movement. If you are busy, the gelato can suffer as it can’t get cold enough quick enough, and ice crystals will form. This will effect shelf life and the quality of your product.
Ventilated refrigeration. These cabinets, often referred to as professional cabinets, blow continuous cold air over the top of your gelato, constantly hardening the top, which will reduce the amount of ice crystals, improving the quality of your gelato.
Size is also a factor, if you have a small store, and want to concentrate on speciality flavours, a 10 – 12 pan cabinet would be plenty. If you have a lot of space, and want to give your customers a large selection, a 24 pan would be best.
Step 5 – Bespoke Design and Shop Fitting
If the sky’s the limit then building your entire shop and gelato kitchen from the ground up would be the way to go…
The Taylor UK projects team can help you completely design your shop from the ground up, advising you on the equipment you need, layout, colour schemes and even guide you on branding.
Contact us to learn more about our design options, call 0800 838 896 or email sales@taylor-company.co.uk
