Better-for-you ice-cream label Elato is on a mission to reduce world hunger and food waste by contributing half of its profits to food rescue non-profit organisation OzHarvest. The ‘clean label’ product is the only 3-star health-rated premium ice cream currently on the market. Here, Elato founder Roz Kaldor-Aroni shares how her passion became a business and how she manages an ethical supply chain. Inside FMCG: Tell me about your journey in learning how to make ice cream. Roz Kaldor-Aroni: My
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Better-for-you ice-cream label Elato is on a mission to reduce world hunger and food waste by contributing half of its profits to food rescue non-profit organisation OzHarvest.The ‘clean label’ product is the only 3-star health-rated premium ice cream currently on the market. Here, Elato founder Roz Kaldor-Aroni shares how her passion became a business and how she manages an ethical supply chain.Inside FMCG: Tell me about your journey in learning how to make ice cream.Roz Kaldor-Aroni: My food science and maths studies at university led me to become intensely interested in ice cream 10 years ago as a hobby – when I learned from an ice cream recipe book that ice cream recipes were based on maths, physics and chemistry, which were my favourite subjects at school. I was also very excited when I learned that a small test recipe at home could scale thousands of times in a factory and still have the same taste and texture! I am a foodie, have a sweet tooth and I’m a chocoholic – which are all important when developing ice cream. The more I knew, the more I wanted to know. This further led me to train in Melbourne, Italy and Canada (with the world’s leading ice cream academic) to learn all about both gelato and ice cream, especially how to create authentic ice cream without chemicals with the latest health benefits. My initial hobby evolved to become my passion and now my business.How challenging is it to hit all those key health trends while still making it really tasty?Very hard. It has involved considerable experimentation creating hundreds of recipes, mainly, because when you are learning about a complex food like ice cream from scratch, there is so much to learn and so much you don’t know initially. Recipe development is much quicker and easier now I have put in the time to gain knowledge and experience. This also led to me filing a patent for my dairy recipes as my non-standard journey to ice cream has helped me view the area with a different lens. What is your mission with Elato?To use the enjoyment of ice cream to help reduce world hunger and food waste, leading to a more sustainable planet.With ingredient suppliers in various countries, how do you stay on top of the supply chain to ensure that it is remaining ethical and sustainable? Starting initially with focussing on only flavour suppliers – there are only five of them which meant the task was manageable. They were selected for a number of reasons, especially including their commitment to ethical, sustainable business.Why was it important for you to support OzHarvest through this business?We were looking for a way to give back that was connected to food as well as to find an organisation that has a huge impact locally and overseas. Also, there are minimum charges for being able to utilise the name of a charity as a social enterprise. Ozharvest scored highest on all these criteria.What are your plans for Elato in the next 12 months?Build the brand by getting into more stores nationally, running marketing campaigns to get the brand better known. When Elato is a national well-recognised brand, I will pitch to the big chain supermarkets and release new products – new flavours and line extensions are well advanced.