Mark England, the owner of Dolcetti Gelato, talks about his journey in running a small business. After 20 years of running the oldest gelato shop in Utah, he brings insight into starting and running a small business here in Salt Lake.
England talks about the origins of his shop by saying, “It is the only artisan Gelato shop in Utah since last year, but it is still the only one in Salt Lake.” He continues on to say, “When we started with Italian ice 21 years ago, it was just a summer thing. And I started to learn more and more about Italy, I have been 5 times. So I knew about it and thought, well okay, let’s try something we can do year round.”
England continues about the evolution from Italian ice to gelato by saying, “I learned how to make gelato using a mix, like 99% of Gelato Shops do. But I wanted to do more. So I learned how to make artisan gelato from scratch and we are still the only ones that do that.” England continues by saying, “We wanted to appeal to people who have been to Italy, who know gelato and who want the very best.”
England offered advice on how to find the best gelato, “You can tell good gelato and weed out bad gelato without even tasting it. There’s two ways to do that when you are in Italy. Stay away from all of the tourists… Ask locals where the artisan gelato is, they’ll direct you to the good stuff.”
He continues on by saying, “When you go to a gelato shop look at the color of the pistachio, if it is bright green they’re using a mix and it is a substandard pistachio that’s really sweet. If it is brown like ours, they’re using real pistachios, good quality pistachios and they’re not adulterating it, they’re not using coloring.”
Walking into Dolcetti Gelato you are welcomed by decor filled walls that are unique to this store. England talked about it by saying, “I am an artist, my paintings are here. I collect and, you know, my wife won’t let me put all this stuff up.” He continues by saying, “My daughter, who is also an artist, was working at the store five years ago and said that we need to redo the interior, it is too lean and sparse. She called it Italian Renaissance Kitsch style.”
England talks about community support by saying, “Ever since we moved here to this location 15 years ago we have just felt this wonderful connection to the neighborhood… Anytime in the evening, you will just see dozens of people just walking around. There’s something about 9th and 9th.” He continues on by saying, “There are lots of other little neighborhoods in the city, but this area has a very local feeling to it.” England talks about his favorite part of owning this business by saying, “It is really gratifying to just feel that connection with people who want to just come and hang out… So that is why I create this the way I do because I want people to come and just be like, ‘Hey, this is a local spot, this is my gelato shop.’ And a sense of ownership of this is my neighborhood place.”
