It is a new brand, which has been in existence for little over a year and very soon will be distributed in the whole of Europe, but it has already obtained the highest recognition at the International Chocolate Awards 2015 the World Finals of which were held in London on 10/17/2015 within The Chocolate Show. We are talking about Gustolato, which with two golds and a bronze is up there with the best chocolatiers worldwide.
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The production laboratory is in Croatia, at Cittanova, but its soul is Italian: the chef Michele Gentile and the management team are Italian, as are the recipes and the production techniques starting from the toasting of carefully-selected dried fruit.
The bronze was won by the “Avola Almonds coated with White Chocolate rolled in Istrian Saffron” whilst on the higher step of the podium were the “Greek Pistachio Nut Spread (50%) with Natural Cocoa Butter Ecuador” and the “Gianduja Milk and White Chocolate Cremino, coated with Milk Chocolate”. These are high-end products, masterfully created right from the finest-quality ingredients such as the natural cocoa butter from Ecuador.
In its recipes Gustolato uses different types of chocolate from the best cocoa plantation from Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Madagascar and Vietman and other excellent ingredients such as Pistachios from the Mediterranean, Piedmont Hazelnuts (Italy), Avola almonds (Italy), Istrian saffron.
But, lets start from the beginning: Gustolato started out in the first months of 2014 as the iniziative of a young Italian entrepreneur, Dario Traverso, who wanted to take overseas the best Italian culinary specialities, from ice-cream and desserts to chocolate and coffee. He immediately applied an innovative business model which envisaged a centralized laboratory capable of serving different single-brand sale points as well as the Horeca channel. The adventure began thus, in Croatia, in Cittanova, where it expanded rapidly from 5 single-brand Gustolato shops already active (Cittanova, Umago, Fiume, Varazdin and Fazana) but also with a sale point at Budapest (Hungary), opening soon, and with the recent acquisition of a production laboratory overseas, in Canada.
Strengthened by the recognition received, it is organizing the distribution of its own Chocolate Line through the retail channels and Horeca in the main European countries, English first of all.
Selling points are the high quality and the wide range which includes smooth and enriched bars, single-origin napolitains for tasting, dragées, Gianduja-Cremoni, cakes, spreads, Creminos, big bars and preparations for chocolate drinks.
Among the most sought-after specialities recognizable by the White Label, dedicated to those who are seeking a sensorial experience which is even more exclusive, are the three product winners which at their launch last July obtained a gold and two silvers at the Italian/Mediterranean Competition 2015 of the International Chocolate Awards. The award in London is therefore confirmation of the excellence of the flavor, soon available also in England.
