My trip begins on Jan 24 and after a few long flights, layovers and bus rides, I finally arrive in Rimini, Italy. I am staying in the next town over, Riccione, at the Mediteraneo Hotel. A wonderful accommodation, steps away from glamorous shopping as well as the beachfront of the Adriatic Sea. The town is a little quiet this time of year but from what I understand, in the summer there are a gazillion European beach goers.

The Fabbri 1905 company sponsors the stay of their entire worldwide team at this hotel. I immediately feel at home when I see all the giant Fabbri logo material in the lobby. There are sales people, distibutors, importers and many other important folks there from around the world. I am the only gelato shop owner being sponsered by Fabbri North America. How special do I feel?!

After checking in, I go to my room. I hear loud music so I open my balcony door. Across the way is a large ice skating rink on the beach with the Adriatic Sea practically touching its back wall!! Once I settle in, I go to find Donna Domiano, my friend and Fabbri sales rep. She lets me know drinks at 7:30, dinner at 8. I head down to the bar to meet the rest of the Fabbri North America group. What a wonderful group of people! Some I had already met but everyone I was now getting to know were extremely nice and made me feel very welcome.

Dinner turns out to be one of the most amazing buffets I have ever enjoyed. The presentation was stunning, the wine was flowing and the chefs had really outdone themselves. I’d been dreaming of eating this way since I found out I was going. Although Fabbri has grown from a small family operation to an international distribution and production giant, it is still run by two sets of brothers. I was fortunate to spend time during the week with Nicola and Umberto Fabbri, two very special gentlemen. It was their grandparents who started the business in their house in Bologna, Italy in 1905. The company has an amazing history and now has production facilities in 6 countries.  For as big as the company is, those brothers are friendly, genuine, easily accessible and know how to make everyone feel special. I felt very welcomed and appreciated.

Since the time difference is 6 hours, I was barely able to get up at the first alarm. 2 more snoozes did the trick. Once on the train for the two stops I was riding, the adrenaline was pumping. Everything was as I remembered when I got off the train. Especially the giant inflatable Amarena cherry vase next to the train stop. Passing thru the ticket gates, experiencing the rush of the people and the energy of the show, I know I am in gelato heaven. In addition to gelato, the show featured chocolate, pastries, coffee, bread making and the latest and greatest production and display equipment. The expo is held at Rimini Fiera, one of the worlds largest convention centers. Last years attendance was over 90,000 people!! It takes several days to see and eat your way through here. Several competions were also held during this event. The Gelato World Cup (which I hope to be a part of next year), numerous chocolatier, bread baking and pastry competitions. I even got to see them making ice statues with chain saws.

Now, back to the entrance gate. I slide my pass thru the turnstyle and put my Fabbri pass on around my neck. Fabbri and i Dream of Gelato logos on the same card…I am feeling really important now. I know that to the left of me is the heavenly kingdom of gelato….here I come!

It is almost a little overwhelming at first. Gigantic booths with fabulously decorated gelato cabinets as far as you can see. Almost looks too good to eat. More than half the show is geared toward gelato and all the companies are out in force. They all have their new product lines as well as the classics. You can go up to them and taste as much as you want.

I started my tasting adventure at the Fabbri booth. Their newly redecorated area was filled with all sorts of new products and I sampled all of them. Products included many new gelato and sorbet flavors, frozen coffee, granita and yogurt drinks, rich Italian chocolate and nut sauces, pastry products and their new line called Simple’. I spent quite a bit of time at this booth because I was really enjoying all the tasting but also because they had a demonstration area. Every couple of hours the Fabbri chefs and Donna Domiano would present ‘how-to” demos. The demos included frozen gelato desserts, monoportions and cakes. I learned a lot from these presentations and plan on adding some of these to my menu next summer.

In addition to learning about the new products, I had a meeting with Bob Bruno, the head of Fabbri North America. We discussed the newsletter format I would be working on. Instead of a mailed out quarterly letter, we decided to dedicate a section on my website to Fabbri. I really believe in their products and am happy to do so. Future blogs will include new flavors and ideas that you can easily introduce in  your store. I will describe in greater detail the products necessary and the ease of making these creations. In the summer we will venture into frozen drinks and desserts and in the fall, all types of hot beverages.

After leaving the Fabbri area, I looked around to see which way I would be venturing next. Slowly I proceded thru the crowd taking in all the sites, not wanting to miss anything. The gelato cases had stunning presentations. Some of the cases were just for decoration while others were for pure eating enjoyment. The list of companies there was endless and I sampled so much. New flavors, new toppings and a multitude of hot and cold beverages. I really got to do a lot of comparison tasting. There were great and not so great samples.

I noticed many companies were trying to expand a “healthy” line to their product repertoire. Lots of all - natural, gluten free, sugar free, lactose free, rice and soy based flavors and the use of vegetable fats instead of dairy. Although not all the flavors were great, some of them were. I will be adding the great ones to the i Dream of Gelato flavor list for next summer so people wilth special dietary needs can enjoy dessert as well.

By the 4th or 5th booth I was starting to feel a little full so I decided to take an eating break and see what was happening in rest of the show. Working my way out of the gelato area, I entered the section of new gelato display cases, otherwise know as dipping cabinets. Some of these models were absolutley breathtaking. Classic, retro and futuristic cases with matching decor and equipment for the gelataria. I can only hope that my store will have such a spectacular look in the future. In this section, there were even little self contained kiosks. Adorable and portable gelato stands. How I would love to have one of them set up on the beach! In this slide show, the 1/2 open orange is a portable kiosk by Gelito. They are an off shoot of Fabbri that is only available in Italy.

I decided I was ready to do a little more eating so back to the gelato section I went. Quickly stopping back at Fabbri, I grabbed a bowl of Red Passion Chocolate and Mascarpone al Chocolate and headed off to watch the Gelato World Cup.

There were several teams from around the world competeing. The U.S. was represented but did not place. Next year, I hope to try out for the team…wish me luck. I sat in the stands for a while and watched. There were lots of judges and activity but unfortunetly, everything was in Italian and I couldn’t understand anything so I decided to keep going. I kept going right into the chocolate section.  Although I still couldn’t understand Italian, I could certainly understand chocolate. I watched as a chocolate master was creating an Easter Egg. The Italians are really the masters of the Easter egg and a five pound egg is small. The elaborate egg decorations are their own art form and there were so many of them to admire.

It was starting to get late in the day and I was heading to the station to catch the train back to Riccione. The Fabbri North America group met back at the hotel bar for a drink before getting ready for dinner. Walking back into the dining area, to my delight, was another stunning buffet. All of the Fabbri worldwide team was there and the excitement in the room had carried over from the excitement during the day. The wine was flowing, the people were laughing and the energy high!

The next day at the show was similiar to the first. I decided to start off with some light flavors . I went to the Fabbri booth for a bowl of Mojito sorbet and Passion Fruit yogurt. I was there to “suffer” thru all the gelato eating I could do and I wasn’t going to let myself down! Even though it was only 11:30 in the morning, I went on to other booths to sample the goods. Spoonfuls of this and cups of that. I got to taste some amazing stuff. Next summers flavor list is really going to grow.

By now I was starting to feel a little full so I ventured into another part of the expo. Large scale production equipment caught my eye. I have been thinking about the next way to grow my business and pint production seems like a good idea. I spent some time looking around and dreaming of future possibilites. I kept wandering through sections of packaging, presentation, signage, display and eveything you could imagine that had to do with being in the gelato business. Hard to believe but there was still more to see. There was a bread section, pizza, pastry and chocolate equipment. Every type of pretty packaging you could imagine. Several types of competitions including sugar sculpture, bread baking and the under 25 chocolate competitions.

Dinner that night was Fabbri’s Gala Dinner. As you might expect, the food was fabulous. At the end of the evening, a toast was made. In the bottom of the champagne glass were two Amarena cherries. It was so good. A new flavor idea came to me….Amarena Champagne sorbet…..look for it next summer!

By day 4, after all this food,  I was not feeling my best but I was determined not to go down! On the last night, Fabbri North America went out to dinner for more spectacular food. Afterward we headed back to the hotel to finish the evening smoking cigars and drinking champagne on a balcony overlooking the Adriatic.

The next days trip home was incredibly long but it was worth every second. I met some amazing people, saw a future vision for my business and over all, had a blast.

I look forward to writing future articles and I hope you will all enjoy reading them.

Ciao for now,

Michelle Jaffe