The Inside Scoop: Why 7 top Toronto chefs and industry vets pursued careers in ice cream during a global crisis
🕒 28 min read
Restaurants across the province were ordered to shut down indoor dining due to the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. A sharp rise in restaurant chefs delving into their own interests quickly followed. Sure, bread and pasta by culinary pros proliferated, and chef-driven fast foods such as pizza and burgers crowded social feeds, but a shocking number were getting into the ice cream/gelato game.
I interviewed seven chefs and industry vets who either launched their enterprise while still working at a restaurant or ditched their full-time job for the love of frozen dessert. Interviews took place in April, just before the season kicked off:
Mathew Cribari, Sous Chef at Buca Yorkville, was making gelato before switching to his home-based gelateria in January.
Michael Lam and Eric Chow met at Ascari King St. where their business idea was born. Chow left his role as General Manager a while back, while Michael did double duty as Chef de Cuisine until the end of May.
Lorenzo Loseto, Executive Chef of George Restaurant, was making hand-crafted, small batched gelato and sorbetto during lockdown last year before the official launch in February.
Baker Ashley Wittig co-founded Bunner's Bake Shop in 2010, opened two locations, and co-write the cookbook long before launching her line of plant-based ice cream on Instagram in September. A storefront quickly followed, opening just before Christmas last year.
Chef Onur Yilmaz spent time in kitchens in Antalya, Turkey, and Leland, Michigan before cooking up a storm at Toronto’s own Four Seasons, Cafe Boulud and Cactus Club. He spent the last three years focused on making his dream a reality, and opened an ice cream store in March, and moved to another location in June.
Chef Georgia Zimbel was working full time at Marben when she kicked off her virtual biz last summer.
Lest you think it’s easy or inexpensive making ice cream and running this particular kind of food business, these experts share the trials and tribulations of operating this unique venture during the pandemic.
The calling
Gelato has been a passion of mine since childhood. As a kid, mostly eating it, of course. The passion was sidetracked by my passion to cook and love for all things food. It was reignited through my travels with my family. In 2016 I decided to take a trip to Italy to eat gelato and learn more about gelato. We went for three weeks, ate gelato every day -sometimes 3 times a day - and for one of those weeks, I went to the Carpigiani Gelato University, which was amazing and set me up with the basic knowledge to make proper gelato.
I didn’t start Alberobello Gelato until we shut the first time, because the shutdown gave me the time needed to work on my recipes. I have made, turned, packed, and given out every gelato that I have made. Not sure how long that will last with us being open now. I will probably need help soon, but I will still only make small batches until I open a storefront at some point in the next few years.
- Chef Lorenzo Loseto, Executive Chef GEORGE Restaurant
Launched
June 12, 2020.
Full time or side hustle?
Side hustle.
Location
Based out of George Restaurant.
Number of employees including yourself
Three.
Required equipment/ingredients
Gelato machine, seasonal ingredients.
Takeout, delivery or both?
Takeout.
What makes your ice cream different from the rest?
Intense flavours, similar to the food at George.
What’s the most surprising challenge you’ve faced thus far?
Heat.
Staple flavours, if any
Salted Caramel Olive Oil. Sponge Toffee Pecan, Chocolate Cherry - Not necessarily staples, but signature flavours that we rotate through.
Most notable/outrageous flavour(s) to date if any
Nothing really outrageous. All the flavours make sense, but interesting flavours would be Miso White Chocolate, Celery Lemongrass, and Blood Orange Rose Water.
What’s to come
White Sesame Mint, Banana Marsala, White Chocolate Chip Rooibos.
Ordering details
Alberobello Gelato at George Restaurant
111C Queen St. E.
Takeout | Patio dining
$10/pint Gelato and Sorbet, plus tax.
New flavours are released weekly on Tuesdays. A small amount is made for takeout, the rest reserved for the restaurant. In the summer we scoop a limited amount of special flavours for cones on Saturdays. Gelato order pick up: every Friday and Saturday between 12pm - 6pm. Gelato orders with bread and/or pastry pick up: every Saturday between 12pm-6pm. Pick up at the glass doors next to the GEORGE Restaurant kitchen.
The calling
A common theme that Michael and I kept coming across during our preliminary discussions about Good Behaviour was the idea of comfort. The most popular foods in the city during the Fall of 2020 seemed to be those that elicited a sense of comfort and nostalgia - burgers, pizza, Italian food, fried chicken sandwiches - pretty much anything that could combat the overwhelming sense of uncertainty and chaos that came with the COVID lockdown.
This craving for comfort food really resonated with us, and so we knew that we wanted to provide the city with something that really satiated people on that deep and nostalgic level. For us personally, ice cream was the natural choice: We remembered eating it with our own families as children - it is Michael's wife, Gracia, and my daughter Matilda's favourite summer time treat. And it is a food that provides us with a nearly limitless canvas for culinary creativity and exploration. Also, ice cream just seems to make people happy, which is something that Michael and I really appreciate after so many years of working in competitive restaurants.
- Eric Chow (pictured right), co-owner of Good Behaviour Ice Cream, with Chef Michael Lam (pictured left)
Launched
February 12th, 2021.
Full time or side hustle?
Full Time!
Location
We are partnering with Morellina’s and The Social Blend for the scoop shop and are currently producing out of Ricarda’s. Big shout outs to all!
Number of employees including yourself
11, with more on the way.
Required equipment/ingredients
More freezers than you can imagine: batch freezer, blast freezer, stand up freezers, chest freezers, glass door freezers, walk-in freezers, dipping freezers; full commercial kitchen for cooking the ice cream base and the add-ins. Dairy, dairy, dairy!
Takeout, delivery or both?
Takeout and online orders.
What makes your ice cream different from the rest?
Fully from scratch, with a “composed dish” approach to building the flavour profile and textural notes; Low overrun (amount of air whipped into iced desserts).
What’s the most surprising challenge you’ve faced thus far?
Ice cream melts - who knew!
Staple flavours, if any
Cheesecake, HK Milk Tea, Torta Della Nonna, Afternoon Tea.
Most notable/outrageous flavour(s) to date if any
Absolute Brunch - maple & bourbon glazed bacon, buttermilk pancakes.
What’s to come
Ice cream stuffed donuts! [Editor’s note: They just launched June 24.]
Ordering details
Good Behaviour Ice Cream
Takeout | Delivery
12/pint, $7/half pint
The calling
Because ice cream is so romantic! It forces you to be present, it’s super pleasurable, and it’s fun to eat! Plus, I knew I could nail it ;)
- Ashley Wittig, Owner of Honey’s Ice Cream
Launched
December 20, 2020.
Full time or side hustle?
Full time.
Location
Storefront.
Number of employees including yourself
Four.
Required equipment/ingredients
Batch freezer, ovens, 1 million freezers, cashews, coconut milk, sugar, cocoa butter, coconut oil.
Takeout, delivery or both?
Takeout and delivery via the apps.
What makes your ice cream different from the rest?
Plant-based and super creamy.
What’s the most surprising challenge you’ve faced thus far?
How to make enough ice cream!
Staple flavours, if any
Peanut Butter & Saltine.
Most notable/outrageous flavour(s) to date if any
Nothing outrageous yet.
What’s to come
The cone zone! Can’t wait to do scoops starting in April, and ice cream cakes soon too. I’ll be expanding the pastry case come summer to include everything you want to smother in ice cream to have an a la mode option too.
Ordering Details
Honey’s Ice Cream
1448 Dundas St. W.
Takeout | Delivery
$12/pint
All ice cream is dairy-free, with some items gluten-free as well. Fun fact: Honey’s is named after Ashley’s dog.
The calling
Gelato for me is something I’ve always loved. As a kid, me and my family would go to Italian bakeries such as Nino D’Aversa and Francesca’s and get gelato on summer nights. Then growing up and discovering places around Toronto like Hollywood Gelato with their funky flavours, always sparked my curiosity. I’m a sucker for those little spoons too - it just makes the whole experience.
My girlfriend kind of convinced me to pursue it, as we were both unemployed last November and she was craving some fresh Mint Chip. I figured it was a good way to be productive, and it kind of sorted itself out for me.
Once January hit and people started placing orders, we were so happy to be making all those custom flavours for everyone, in the depths of winter. It was a bright spot in the dark winter months for my girlfriend and myself especially in the middle of a lockdown. We were very grateful that people were giving us a purpose. We are so happy over here to be a part of the great ice cream movement of 2021.
- Chef Mathew Cribari, House Scoops
Launched
First recipe tested November 18 2020; First Instagram post January 9 2021; First Sundae delivery January 2 2021.
Full time or side hustle?
Started as a fun way to pass the time during the lockdown; has now turned into a full time business.
Location
Home based, with some production taking place at Sheldon Creek Dairy.
Number of employees including yourself
Me, my girlfriend, my parents, and my friends who help deliver on weekends.
Required equipment/ingredients
Cream, milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla. No stabilizers or preservatives. Ingredients vary based on custom requests. Base always remains the same.
Takeout, delivery or both?
Delivery.
What makes your ice cream different from the rest?
The freshness of ingredients. Besides some of the best gelateria’s in Italy, I offer probably the freshest gelato/ice cream in Ontario, maybe in Canada. Cream and milk are produced for me on Tuesday’s every week. I make base with it on Wednesday, and spin gelato with it on Thursday and Friday for customer’s orders on Saturday and Sunday. In under 48 hours, milk is coming from the cow and being turned into gelato, that definitely differentiates me from the rest.
The cream and milk I get from Sheldon Creek, also makes me stand out from the rest. The cream comes in at 45% fat and the whole milk a lot higher than the traditional 3.25% found in stores. Because there is such high fat, I do not need to use any stabilizers to add to the texture of my product. Most ice cream and gelato you’ll see in stores, and sold in shops have locust bean gum, or guar gum or some other stabilizer, which enhances the texture and changes the molecules of the gelato/ice cream. The gelato found at House Scoops uses none of those enhancers but still offers a silky-smooth finish, something we pride ourselves on.
Another thing that makes us stand out, is our menu. There really isn’t one. We offer some flavours that I have created, like the Ube, Vietnamese Iced Coffee, or Strawberry Cheesecake, but mostly, we let our customers tell us what they want. It’s a lot more work, but it’s better that way. I don’t want pints of gelato sitting in my freezer for weeks at a time, waiting for someone to buy it. We take the orders, gather the ingredients and give the people exactly what they want. This way we keep our rotation of product super fresh, and always use fresh dairy for the following week’s order. We like to think of our gelateria as something similar to a bakery. I would feel bad giving people week old gelato, just as a bakery offers discounts on day old bread. Gelato sits in our freezer for no more than two days before it reaches the customers.
I had a customer message and ask for a Baklava gelato they had while on honeymoon in Greece, and we’ve done it. Another customer from Los Angeles whose favourite flavour was Lavender Honey from this one shop, and we’ve done it from them. Another customer from Northern Ireland asked me for a Honeycomb flavour she grew up with. That’s the best thing about this: People are so happy that we’re able to give them something that reminds them of a certain memory. During the pandemic, everyone needs a little morale booster and I’m happy we can give it to them. It’s funny, every week, the same nurse orders from me, the exact same order, and requests her order be waiting for her at 5pm specifically because I guess that’s when she finishes her shift. Me and my girlfriend refer to 5pm as ‘Earl Grey O’clock’ now.
What’s the most surprising challenge you’ve faced thus far?
Physically producing all the gelato for the orders. Taking orders is easy, spinning gelato for 15 hours a day is not. Some days are a grind, but I mean there are worse ways to spend your day besides sampling gelato.
Staple flavours, if any
Vietnamese Iced Coffee, Mint Chip, Peanut Butter Chocolate, S’Mores, Crème Brûlée, Strawberry Cheesecake.
Most notable/outrageous flavour(s) to date if any
Durian, Avocado, Brown Sugar Bubble Tea, Jalapeño, Hong Kong Milk Tea, Earl Grey, Nutella Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Peanut Butter Caramelized Banana.
What’s to come
Looking for a store to set up shop. If anyone knows a good location, feel free to reach out.
Also
I just want to say thanks to everyone who has helped me get this going. First off, Sheldon Creek Dairy. Marianne at Sheldon Creek has been extremely helpful in this whole process. She just had her third baby, and still takes the time to message me, ship me emergency dairy when I need it, and offer up her facility for me to make gelato. All the people up there are good people, and I hope this leads to them getting more popularity in Ontario. Good people make good dairy.
I want to thank my girlfriend and parents, who basically welcomed in this gelato baby which is House Scoops with open arms. Couldn’t have done it without them.
Also, I want to thank all my friends who offered help. My friend Colin, who woke me up one morning and told me to fix up my Instagram page. My friend Andrew, who helped me file the paperwork with his law firm to certify the business. My friend Steve, who spent his free time making the website. My friends Andre, Alex, Brian and Toni, who offer up their weekends delivering to all of Toronto for us. My friend Ryan, who spent his free time creating two logos, and looking into stickers and packaging.
Big thanks to The Chew Review. Carly reached out to me on Instagram, and really set us off. At the time we had 200 something followers, and she made a TikTok video, next thing we knew, the video has almost 500,000 views, and now I have people from all over the world messaging me for gelato. One lady from Kentucky was willing to pay almost $600 for dry ice packaging, express shipping and three pints of gelato! That’s how crazy things have gotten over here.
Just a huge thanks to everyone else that ordered and shared the post to their feeds. This whole thing started from word of mouth and continues to grow week in and week out. This has given an unemployed chef a purpose in a world which deemed our industry non-essential. Thank you so much!
Ordering Details
House Scoops
Delivery
$15/ 710ml, $6 for 225ml
The calling
Me and my wife grew up in south part of Turkey. It never snows, so you can live almost seven months of summer. Ice cream was everyday activity for our family, that’s why it always had special place in my life. When I came to Toronto three years ago, we decided to open up an ice cream store, so me and my wife can make new memories that we made with our families in back home.
- Chef Onur Yilmaz, Ice Creamonology
Launched
March 5, 2021.
Full time or side hustle?
Full time.
Location
Storefront.
Number of employees including yourself
Two.
Required equipment/ingredients
Everything that I need for ice cream production - Batch freezer, waffle cone maker, milkshake maker, and so on.
Takeout, delivery or both?
Both, delivery via third party delivery app.
What makes your ice cream different from the rest?
Ice Creamonology makes the classical and extraordinary flavours by using the most quality ingredients. Turkish Coffee ice cream is from the coffee that we bring from Turkey. Mint Chocolate Chip is from actual mint leaves. Cocoa powder is the best cocoa powder in the world, Callebaut. Mango Sorbet is made from 100% mango juice. We never use food colouring in our ice creams. We would like to bring the beauty of the product itself.
What’s the most surprising challenge you’ve faced thus far?
How ridiculously expensive batch freezers/ice cream machines are.
Staple flavours, if any
Turkish Coffee ice cream is our signature, with Mango Raspberry Sorbet a signature for dairy-free preferenced customers.
Most notable/outrageous flavour(s) to date if any
Mint Chocolate Chip from actual mint leaves as well as Cherry & Beet and Maple are our outrageous flavours.
Ordering details
Ice Creamonology
250 Queens Quay W.
Takeout | Delivery
$12.50/pint
The call
When I was nine, I saw a documentary about a lady making ice cream somewhere in rural Ontario, and she would bake fresh pies and crush them into her ice cream. I decided that would be my retirement plan - I too, wanted to make ice cream and smash pies into it. Then the pandemic hit, and I had just made some ice cream for an event, and thought; why not now? And Parlour Tricks was born. It'll be a year in August!
- Chef Georgia Zimbel, Parlour Tricks Ice Cream
Launched
August 2020.
Full-time or side hustle?
Side Hustle...for NOW!
Location
Currently working out of a restaurant; selling via Instagram.
Number of employees including yourself
Currently just myself! My sister helps with social media and customer relations.
Required equipment/ingredients
We are currently using a 2-quart ice cream maker which makes spinning a slow process, but we make it work. Parlour Tricks is custard-based ice cream using eggs, sugar, milk, and heavy cream for the base. After that, we add whatever we want! Steeping flavours into the warm milk or adding cookies, cakes, candy, and/or fruit after we have spun it!
Takeout, delivery, or both?
For the winter months, we have been delivering ice cream to our customers in Toronto. We totally get that no one wants to go out in the cold, plus we want to keep our customers as safe as possible during the city's COVID lockdown. In the warmer months, there are pick-ups every Friday in the west end of the city.
What makes your ice cream different from the rest?
One of the things that has always set us apart is our cheeky flavour names. It gives you a little laugh and is a way for us to set the tone and tell a story.
The ice cream itself isn’t too sweet, you can easily sit down and eat an entire pint without feeling like you’re going into a sugar induced coma (we’ve tested that!). Any additions to the ice cream are made in-house whenever possible. For Thanksgiving, pies were made from scratch and crumbled into the ice cream.
As we grow, we have been trying to give back to our local community on the regular. So far we’ve been able to support three different organizations through our ice cream sales, but our goal is to make this a monthly commitment.
What’s the most surprising challenge you’ve faced thus far?
I had no idea how strict dairy laws were in Ontario until I started making ice cream. It’s thrown a lot of curve balls at us, making it almost impossible to get our product out there.
Staple flavours, if any
Part of what sets Parlour Tricks apart is the weekly variety. Every release features three new flavours. We like to keep it a surprise until the Instagram post goes up on Thursday. There is always a theme with each release tying the flavours together. In January we did all soda pop flavours; Cherry Cola, Root Beer Float, and Orange (Pop) Creamsicle. It’s a fun way to keep our customers engaged.
Most notable/outrageous flavour(s) to date if any
Our first flavour ever released was called ‘The Date They Never Took You On.’ It was everything you would find in a banana split - sprinkles, bananas, cherries, chocolate sauce, and peanuts all in one pint.
My sister Hannah’s favourite flavour was ‘When Decision Making is Too Hard.’It had Ruffles chips coated in chocolate crushed into vanilla ice cream. It was the perfect balance of salty and sweet.
What’s to come
We are getting excited for the summer months and celebrating our one-year anniversary. We’d love to have our own storefront eventually, or at least a bigger ice cream machine!
Ordering details
@parlourtricksicecream
DM on Instagram
Pickup | Delivery
$12/pint. Additional $2 for delivery anywhere in Toronto.
Flavours are released on Thursdays, and delivery/pickup is available on Fridays. Parlour Tricks is proud to be a part of the Parkdale Community. We have donated proceeds from ice cream to charities/food banks/ organizations in the neighbourhood in the past. Going into warmer weather this will be a permanent monthly practice. We believe that everyone deserves access to healthy food and safe housing. We will continue to do whatever we can to help ensure this becomes a reality.
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