The Gelati Dino ice cream company, based in Empuriabrava, has opened its first store on the Asian continent, specifically in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Despite the fact that ice cream consumption in Qatar is low, its high prospects for tourism growth and the intention of the family business to enter other countries in the Persian Gulf in the future have led them to begin their expansion in the country that is located currently in full celebration of the World Cup. Until now, internationally, Gelati Dino only had stores in Marrakech (Morocco), although its ice creams are present through the horeca channel (hotels and restaurants) in countries such as France, Germany, Portugal and Italy.
The opening of the new premises in the port area of Doha is the fourth ice cream parlor that the company has opened so far this year. During the first semester, it inaugurated two new stores in the Chamberí neighborhood of Madrid, another in Esplugues de Llobregat and also in Tossa de Mar. The firm has 33 stores, the majority concentrated in the province of Girona and Barcelona, and plans to close this year with a turnover of around eleven million euros, a figure that will represent a growth of between 40% and 45% compared to a year ago. An increase that the company explains not only by the opening of these four new stores, but by the increase in sales of ice cream parlors in one of the hottest years on record. The company produces 450,000 liters of ice cream per year.
The landing in Qatar has been possible thanks to the investment group Naaas Holding Group, with ramifications in the hospitality, real estate and logistics sectors. One of these business divisions is the import of food that they carry out through the Harvest International Trading company. Initially in Qatar they will sell traditional products and flavors, although the forecast is to gradually incorporate new flavors.
"In Qatar they don't have the habit of consuming ice cream, there is a long way to go," says Stefano Rosso, brand director and third generation of the business that his grandfather, the Italian Dino Pavese, founded in 1978 with a small ice cream parlor in Empuriabrava. “The project starts in Qatar but in the future we would like to expand in the Arabian Gulf area”, explains Stefano Rosso.
The horeca channel represents 10% of the business volume of the firm, which has more than 200 employees, divided between the ice cream parlors and the Empuriabrava headquarters, where the company researches and experiments on new tastes and flavours.
The company, which also makes custom-made ice creams for chefs with a Michelin star, plans to invest 500,000 euros in the short term to renovate two stores and another new opening.
