The Courier Business Awards, in partnership with Henderson Loggie, is celebrating 10 years of finding and showcasing the best businesses across Tayside and Fife.
With entries now open for The Courier Business Awards 2023, we’re taking a closer look at the impact of the awards on previous winners.
Here, we speak to Nicola Hazel of Jannettas Gelateria which won Courier Business Awards in 2014 and 2015.
A century of serving delicious ice cream
More than 100 years before winning its first Courier Business Award in 2014, Jannettas Gelateria was founded.
The business, which was established in 1908, is now a popular and very well-known ice cream parlour in St Andrews and Dundee, famed for its queues outside in the height of summer.
However, since it ‘scooped’ the Retail Business of the Year in 2014 — and again in 2015 — it has flourished and continued to go from strength to strength, according to Nicola Hazel, director of Jannettas.
She said: “We have been in the same family for generations for more than 100 years and are known as an institution in St Andrews and, hopefully, now in Dundee after opening at Slessor Gardens in April 2021.
“Jannettas already was an intuition but winning the Courier Business Award cemented that more.
“It was fantastic getting the recognition and the acknowledgement. Because you and your team work hard, it is nice to get an award to tell you that what you’re doing is working and that people enjoy going into your shop.
“It’s all down to our team — they have been instrumental in the success of the business.”
Inventing new ice cream flavours
At Jannetttas, they say ‘it’s never too cold for ice-cream’, and it’s true.
Come rain, hail or shine, it is a haven for ice cream lovers, all drawn to its counters to select from the 54 flavours on display.
Nicola, whose personal favourites are pistachio and hazelnut, explains that Jannettas has more than 100 flavoured ice-creams in its total offering as it is always inventing new creations.
Success after The Courier Business Awards
In the nine years since winning Retail Business of the Year in 2014, many more celebrations have been marked in the business.
Besides going on to win the same accolade the following year — a first for The Courier Business Awards — and opening its second store in 2021, Jannettas has undergone renovations, switched to self-service and expanded its team.
More recently, Nicola’s son Lewis has entered the business, making Jannettas a fifth-generation company.
Like many local businesses across Courier country, Jannettas has weathered the Covid storm and emerged stronger.
Given the success of the business in the years since its award wins, Nicola has some advice for other local businessowners: “Stay focussed and stay positive. What you are doing, you are doing right.”
The director added: “To run a business takes a lot of commitment, so celebrate that and your business’s achievements by nominating it for a Courier Business Award this year.”
Entries for The Courier Business Awards 2023 are now open, and this year’s winners will be announced during an awards ceremony in October. Find out more about The Courier Business Awards 2023.
