Niccolo and Andrea’s love for Italian culture and cuisine inspired them to build a gelato brand rooted in quality ingredients. Leo! Leo! uses locally sourced dairy, fruits, and herbs to create an ultra-creamy treat made in the heart of Paso Robles. Available in decadent flavors such as Chocolate and Sea Salt Caramel, each handcrafted pint transports your taste buds to Italy one scoop at a time.
Recently, we caught up with Niccolo to learn more about their journey and hear his advice for fellow entrepreneurs.
1. Why did you start Leo! Leo!?
I started Leo! Leo! to be close to my Italian heritage. I love Italy—I love the people, the language, the food, the cities, and the family-friendly culture. I just wanted to be fully immersed and a part of it.
2. What obstacles did you face along the way?
How much time do you have? I could write a lengthy book on all the obstacles we faced along the way. Let's just say overnight success takes more than a decade to achieve. I’d like to preface that without partnerships like Bristol Farms, and its customers who shop to support small businesses like ours, we wouldn’t be here.
The greatest challenge we face today is the stiff competition with the national manufacturers who work tirelessly to keep prices artificially low and own the shelves of the grocery marketplace.
The second challenge is finding distribution. Most of the mom-and-pop regional distributors are being purchased by the national distributors, which is making it more and more difficult to enter markets outside of California. I am proud to say that we are distributed through a regional, family-owned distribution partner, which we are so grateful for.
3. What lessons do you have for other entrepreneurs?
Stay creative with the limited resources you have at your disposal. Lead with your weaknesses so you can turn those weaknesses into strengths. If you are going to fail, fail quickly. This was a counterintuitive concept that was taught to me by a mentor of mine. If you can test concepts and fail quickly, you’ll have information at your disposal to quickly adapt when something does not work. Stay resilient and never take things personally. Always make decisions without emotions. This is the hardest for me because I wear my heart on my sleeve!
4. What is on the horizon for Leo! Leo!?
Well, we were so incredibly fortunate to be awarded a grant for over $400,000 this year. We have purchased a lot of new equipment that we intend to use to help us support our own growth. Most importantly, however, we intend to support other small ice cream manufacturers by providing access to a co-packer who can offer lower “minimum order quantities” than the industry standard.
We are also having discussions this winter with national distributors to help grow our food service business while having discussions with friends in the industry to help grow our presence on the East Coast. Lastly, we are growing our novelty offerings as well…so STAY TUNED!
5. How do you keep a work/life balance? What drives and inspires you?
This is actually very important to me because it is really easy to slip away into all that goes into working, period. It doesn’t matter if you own a business or if you are employed. Keep your working hours to somewhat of a minimum if you can. Of course, emergencies do come up, so you’ll need to navigate those while knowing that you’ll always have emergencies and you’ll always work through them. As they say, work is never done.
Lastly, when I am home, our phones are out of reach and the TV is off. I keep the ringer on in case an emergency call comes through, but otherwise, I am home cooking and spending time with my family, playing games, playing with Lincoln Logs, reading, or singing to 90s classics on Pandora.
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