‘Mad’ gelato shop opens on the Danforth
[attach]6631[/attach]Although The Mad Italian didn’t open on the Danforth until September, people had already gotten a taste of their Zazzu hot cones — pizza in a cone — in August.
“We were able to partake in Taste of the Danforth just by setting up outside and we were serving gelato and hot cones and over the two day period we sold 1,300 hot cones,” owner Eli Turkienicz says at the third and newest location of the gelato bar and café near Pape Subway Station. “So people were anticipating the opening, they knew we were coming.”
Hot cones come in 15 flavours such as meatball, spicy barbecue chicken, prosciutto and mushroom, as well as non-traditional pizza toppings like turkey club or macaroni and cheese.
The Mad Italian also serves entrees and 48 varieties of gelato, including strawberry mint, spicy chocolate and a new bacon and burnt caramel flavour.
“The gelato is an old school recipe from Rome,” he says. “It’s been in an Italian family for generations and it’s the same recipe that we use.”
Turkienicz, who also has brainstorming sessions with his master chef to come up with new concoctions, is often inspired to try something new through his travels. Last year at a trade show in Italy, he saw companies offering gelato on a stick and was inspired to incorporate it with another trend in the snack industry: personal toppings.
“I thought we could probably do something with the gelato on a stick, offer people a variety of toppings they can add to it, roll it in those toppings and then dip it in chocolate,” he says. “To me, that sounds like a no brainer.”
The resulting Mio Pops are now available at all three The Mad Italian locations, including on Bayview Avenue near Manor Road East and on College Street near Bathurst Street.
This month they plan to exhibit at The Franchise Show in Toronto in hopes of expanding up to 10 locations within the GTA over the next two years.
“Everything is homemade. It’s about authenticity and tradition and offering products that are real and not pre-packaged,” he says. “It’s not fast food, just a warm and inviting environment where you can come for two minutes or two hours to sit, have a coffee, have a meal and know that it’s a really good home-cooked meal.”