At more than a century old, family business, Giacopazzi's, in Eyemouth has invested in an ice-cream factory

They’ll be able to produce more of their award-winning ice-cream

“We’ve been on Harbour Road for over 100 years,” says Kerry Waddell, sales and marketing manager for Giacopazzi’s. “We didn’t want to leave Eyemouth but we had outgrown the space”.

Thankfully for locals and visitors to this harbour town, who enjoy walking along the sands with this restaurant’s ice-cream (or fish and chips), they’ve stayed put. Instead, they’ve opened their first wholesale factory, just up the road at the un-glamorous sounding Eyemouth Seafood Technology Park.

It’s a move that’s been three years in the making, and means they can free up the chockablock freezers at Giacopazzi’s and their other business, Oblo Bar & Bistro, which is just above the shop. Also, owner Peter and his nephew Somers Giacopazzi, the descendants of Lorenzo, who established the restaurant in 1898, won’t have to produce the ice-cream “in the middle of a kitchen”.

“They worked 17 hour days, and a seven day week in the summer. It got too much,” says Kerry, who is Peter’s partner. “In terms of peace, and being able to concentrate, it was challenging. The factory will give us a better quality of life as a family”.

Sadly, it’s a bit like Willy Wonka’s premises, but without the golden ticket, as civilians won’t be able to visit the factory.

It’ll only be open to potential new wholesale customers, so they can supply more than just their current portfolio of small farm shops and cafes. Their distribution will be wider, just in time for summer.

“When the season starts to improve, everybody wants ice-cream”, says Kerry. “It’s a busy time anyway, but when you put the post-covid recovery into that, it’s like, wow. Once you hit summer, you’re just making and supplying”.

Giacopazzi's ice-cream

Despite the production upgrade, they will still be staying relatively small, which is sometimes a good thing.

“There are lots of good ice-cream producers in Scotland, so competition is steep,” says Kerry. ”One of the advantages of being small is that we can make what we like. Bigger companies can only run eight or 12 flavours, but we’ve got 40 or 50 on our list at any one time”.

This summer, look out for Biscoff, white chocolate with lemon and ginger ripple, Kinder Bueno, or vanilla and tablet, among many other flavours.

www.giacopazzis.co.uk

Reception and conference area at Giacopazzi's factory

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