Perthshire gelato maker Joelato has opened its first gelateria offering homemade artisan ice cream, milkshakes, hot chocolate and coffee.
From a commercial kitchen in a shipping container in Guildtown, Joe Sykes makes gelato using local ingredients.
After joining the Bonnie & Wild marketplace in Edinburgh’s St James Quarter in July 2021, Joe and his wife Lucie have been busy keeping up with demand.
Joelato now has a second location – with its own storefront – in the Stockbridge area of the capital. And Joe has also hinted at a possible Dunkeld addition in the future, too.
Joe says: “It’s a small space, which is just what we wanted. There’s a bit of seating at the window, but it’s mostly takeaway.
“Our opening weekend was wonderful, far beyond our expectations.
“We received such a warm welcome from local businesses and residents, which has made us immediately feel part of the fantastic community of Stockbridge.”
Joelato Stockbridge offering
Open everyday, the gelateria offers a rotating range of Joelato flavours, including salted caramel, vanilla mascarpone and stracciatella. Following their popularity at Bonnie & Wild, it also sells milkshakes.
Joe has even completed barista training to be able to offer coffee from Aberfeldy’s Glen Lyon Coffee Roasters. He has also been working on a whole new recipe.
“We’ve been busy developing our own hot chocolate recipe,” he says.
“I’m quite passionate about hot chocolate. When I was at university I spent some time in Paris and discovered a shop that made the most heavenly hot chocolate I’ve ever tried.
“As soon as we had our shop I thought ‘I’m going to do something like that’, because I don’t think anyone has hot chocolate like that.”
Local ingredients
Over lockdown, Joelato offered a delivery service across Scotland. Demand dropped off as lockdown ended, but the service made a brief return ahead of Christmas.
With costs going up across the board, the firm offers tubs of gelato to take home instead.
Joe says: “We noticed many of our ingredients quadruple in price, and of course electricity and diesel has gone up, too.
“We had to increase our prices marginally a while ago and we don’t want to put them up any more.
“I like to think we make phenomenal ice cream, but we still want to offer value for money.”
Perthshire dairies deliver milk and cream to the gelato makers, and all their berries are grown in the region. Some ingredients even come from Joe and Lucie’s garden.
Future Perthshire gelateria?
Once the Joelato team is used to running the new shop, they hope to make a return to events such as farmers markets and weddings.
There is also a chance of Perthshire one day getting its very own gelateria.
“Our dream has always been to open one in Dunkeld. We just adore Dunkeld,” Joe reveals.
“We do need a number of tourists, so somewhere like Dunkeld I think it would be very seasonal.
“It’s got that level of tourists that a business like ours needs, certainly during the summer months.
“It’s become a real little foodie place – I think it’s probably thanks to Flora Shedden at the Aran Bakery – there’s some fantastic food businesses there now.”
Conversation