13 August 2021
It’s our birthday! Looking back at a decade of Snowflake.
Happy Birthday to us! Nine years ago today, Snowflake was born. Yet it was 10 years ago that we set our dream in motion: to create fresh, delicious gelato for all to enjoy, handmade with love using the world’s finest ingredients. To this day, that dream holds true.
It’s safe to say that the first two years of business were nothing short of a whirlwind. The opening of our first London store nine years ago this very week in Bayswater was followed by Soho a year later. Pop-ups at Harvey Nichols and Selfridges came just two years on, in 2014. In the same year our Raspberry Sorbetto was awarded the ultimate accolade of Supreme Champion in the 2014 Great Taste Awards.
In year three, we opened our permanent concession in Selfridges, and enjoyed five glorious years as part of the world famous Selfridges Food Hall. Since then, we’ve been rather busy. We’ve launched four more boutiques across London, and one in Manchester just this week. Our first international store in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, launched earlier this year.
As we’ve grown from a start-up to an international brand, we’re proud that we’ve stayed true to our values. We still use the same quality ingredients that we hand-selected when we first started out, with no compromises. In fact, to this day, all our organic Jersey milk (and we use a lot) comes from the same family farm in Somerset. The fresh raspberries and strawberries that go into our sorbetto are picked by hand from the Garden of England – Kent.
We’re serious about the quality and provenance of our ingredients. No matter how much we grow as a company, our produce will always remain home-grown. Because we know that great products are made by great produce. To date, we’ve picked up an impressive 27 Great Taste Awards.
We’ve had so much fun creating new product launches over the years. From the playful, to the theatrical, to the downright mad! In 2017, our outrageously decadent Billionaire soft-serve gained international recognition in the media, featuring in Business Insider, CNBC and even on ITV’s This Morning.
Then in 2018, we launched one of our proudest and most ambitious creations: The Avalato, made with vegan avocado gelato, complete with a nut butter stone. The Avalato became the talk of the town, and the highest grossing product in the Selfridges Food Hall. Demand was so high that specialist staff had to be recruited purely for Avolato production. Intended only as a limited edition special, the Avolato is still sold today in all our Snowflake boutiques.
Our love of gelato has taken us across the world, from land, to air, to sea. We are currently supplying artisan gelato to guests on board P&O Cruises’ newest and greenest-ever ship, Iona, during her maiden voyage. We’ve also had the opportunity to be part of some fantastic pop ups over the years, from serving our gelato up in the clouds at the top of the Shard, to popping up at St Pancras International station, to creating a Citroen gelato experience for the launch of the Fiat 500 range. We’ve had the pleasure of working with amazing fashion, retail and beauty brands too, and have partnered with Michael Kors, Elizabeth Arden, Acqua Di Parma, John Lewis and more.
It would be remiss to talk about our journey without talking about the difficulties of the last 18 months. The pandemic hit many businesses hard, and none more than the hospitality industry. Like many, we were forced to adapt and innovate in order to survive. We created at-home gelato kits to brighten our customers’ days at home, and we hunkered down and focused on making big plans for the future. Simply surviving the pandemic is one of our greatest achievements. And we’ve come out stronger.
There’s so much to be thankful for in our journey, but what we’re most proud of is our Snowflake family – from our chefs, to our staff, suppliers, and of course, our lovely customers. We’re nothing without you.
Our plans for the future? Aside from the modest ambition of becoming the world’s best-loved destination for desserts, and getting world famous? We simply want to continue to spark joy. To serve the purest, most authentic and delicious gelato, sorbetto and desserts, that always leave our customers happier than we found them.
Here’s to the next nine years!
