Hannah of Little ‘Lato
Known for its small-batch, Italian-style gelato, made with real ingredients, plenty of creativity and a seriously impressive flavour list — almost 600 flavours and counting.
From the science behind the perfect scoop to the inspiration behind each new flavour, we caught up with Hannah to find out how Little ‘Lato came to be, what she learned training in Italy, and what a perfect gelato moment looks like to her.
“In 2015 I received a scholarship to travel to Bologna in Italy and attend Carpigiani Gelato University. This was where the dream for Little ‘Lato was first sparked. I realised how much of the world celebrates gelato, yet how little there was back home in New Zealand.”
Tell us about your background prior and how Little ‘Lato came to be!
Little ‘Lato was built out of a pure love of gelato! I have a background in Food Technology and have experience working at Tip Top, Much Moore, and in several roles at Fonterra. However, I have always been particularly excited by the world of ice cream.
In 2015 I received a scholarship to travel to Italy (Bologna) and attend the Carpigiani Gelato University. This was where the dream for Little ‘Lato was first sparked. I realised how much of the world celebrates gelato, yet how little there was back home in New Zealand. This was surprising given we’re some of the biggest ice cream lovers in the world. It planted a seed that there could be an opportunity to bring authentic, Italian-style gelato back here to NZ. I also selfishly wanted to be able to enjoy more of the good stuff back here!
Tell us about your experience studying in Italy…
Going to the Gelato University was a bucket list item. I genuinely just thought it would be a fun thing to do — I never imagined it would turn into a gelato business!
The University in Bologna, which is a real foodie hub (often referred to as the ‘culinary capital’ of Italy). Being surrounded by true gelato craftsmanship — and tasting gelato on every corner — made me fall in love with gelato all the more. While I did have pneumonia for a good chunk of my time there (less than ideal), I didn’t let that put a damper on experiencing everything I could of the city! I honestly loved everything about the experience: learning the theory, putting it into practice in the lab, and of course devouring as much gelato as we could stomach. I ate a lot.
Beyond gelato, I loved walking past pistachio-filled pastries every morning on the way to the bus, eating the original bolognese, working through an extraordinary amount of pizza and pasta, wandering the food markets and joining aperitivo hour every evening.
How does Italian gelato differ from ice cream?
While most consumers generally think it is just ‘fancy ice cream’ there are actually some technical differences. These are:
It’s often lower fat, made with more milk than cream. It doesn’t have the same strict regulations as ice cream so it doesn't need to contain more than 10% fat like ice cream does.
It’s churned slowly and has no added air, giving a denser and more flavoursome product (and more bang for your buck!)
It’s served at warmer temperature (roughly -13 degrees), which helps the flavour come across more strongly and gives that soft scrapeable texture.
It’s short shelf life as only real fruits and ingredients are used. It is designed to be eaten as soon as possible after making.
Overall, these things all lead to a completely different eating experience. Get the recipe and the serving temperature right and you should have a silky, warm-eating gelato with intense flavour — scooped rustically with a paddle.
What was the most challenging part of learning the craft?
Honestly, running a business in general: everything that can go wrong, does! We've had freezer and power failures, floods that wrote off just about everything, fires, theft, injuries — the lot. It's certainly been a journey. And when you're the boss, you can't quietly pretend you didn't notice the broken freezer (much as I'd love to). It comes back to you to get cracking and sort it.
From a technical perspective with the craft of gelato, there is a real science around getting recipes correct. If you have the recipe and serving temperature correct, there should be a silky-smooth texture with no icy notes, and definitely no fat film coating the back of your mouth. This is particularly tricky for the dairy-free flavours. I want them to be every bit as decadent and mind-blowingly delicious as our dairy ones, which requires a good understanding of each ingredient you are adding and how it impacts flavour, texture and freezing point.
What is one lesson from Italy that has stayed with you?
I think a big lesson is not to take shortcuts! It’s all about using real fruits, churning gelato in small batches and not pumping it full of air. You can really taste the difference if you do so. Even in Italy, there were some parlours that were amazing and knew the craft of creating good gelato recipes, while some used pastes or premixes and blitzed with milk. The ones that were good were the ones with queues out the door.
You are always releasing new flavours and flavour collaborations, where does inspiration come from and what is the process for creating a new flavour? What’s been the most coveted released you’ve done?
Inspiration can come from everywhere! I can be walking the supermarket, drinking a cocktail, see a dessert menu, or seeing a product that was launched overseas. I also have friends who love to give me suggestions and see if they can come up with an idea I haven’t already done. We have also had some great suggestions come through from staff or customers – if you are reading this and have a flavour you think would be amazing, let us know!
A lot of our new flavours at the moment might come from ingredients we have readily available to use, or because of a collaboration with another local business. We also try to make sure we have a wide range of plant-based options, ensuring these are just as decadent and delicious. We've done almost 600 flavours now, so I get very indecisive about what to develop next and what to bring back — a fun problem to have.
The actual process starts at my laptop, working out the fats/sugars/proteins in each ingredient to build a rough recipe. I then make this up and taste in liquid form, balancing each ingredient as I go. It’s then time to churn it and check it freezes well and tastes as good frozen as hoped!
The most hyped limited edition flavour… this is a tricky question to answer. I think the range of flavours we did alongside Griffins last year might take the top spot though! We had a Griffin’s freezer takeover, with 9 biscuit-loaded flavours including Squiggles, Chit Chat, Shrewsbury, White Chocolate Toffee Pop, Hundreds & Thousands, Krispie, Mint Thins, Cheese & Snax Crackers, and GF Gingernut.
How does seasonality and ingredients impact your decisions with flavour?
Seasonality definitely plays a big factor. We do try and purchase key fruits in peak season, and freeze to get us through the year. However; we often run out and have to wait for the next season. With so many hundreds of flavours in rotation though, it isn’t easy to find another flavour to sub it for.
Can you name your all time favourite flavour?
This is one very tricky question to ask – I’m someone who would happily list off 10 favourite flavours. But to break it down to top three right now, I would say Chocolate Orange Sorbet, Hazelnut Chocolate, and Speculoos.
What does a perfect Little ‘Lato moment look like to you?
Sitting in the sunshine on a warm day – either on the deck at Made, or at the beach in Hahei, and having a double scoop with your favourite people. A double scoop means I can have my favourite flavour alongside a new one!
What does your day to day role in the business look like now and who is your team made up of?
I now focus on new parlours, marketing, innovation, and finances. It is hard to describe a typical day, but it could include anything from scouting new parlour locations or potential customers and everything needed to get them up and running, developing new flavours or products and getting everything sorted behind the scenes for launch, creating content for social media, as well as the comms for posters, media, influencers, etc, working on strategy, getting through finance admin or visiting customers around the country to check in or help train staff.
We also have a brilliant kitchen team making all the gelato and getting it out to our parlours and customers, led by Himani. And Carolyn oversees all of our parlours (and the incredible crew in each of them), as well as events and our wholesale customers.
What’s next for Little ‘Lato?
We have a couple of new parlours opening this summer which is exciting! More details are still to come, but we can’t wait to have a couple more spots where people can get their gelato fix. We have heard this summer is supposed to be a stellar one, which makes it even better!
What does life look like outside of desserts - how would you spend a day off?
If the sun’s out, I am guaranteed to be out walking the beach at some point! I recently moved back to Auckland and live over on the shore where there are so many great spots to explore. There'd be good food involved too (I'm one of those people who plans the day aroundmeals), whether that’s cooking something or having a little treat somewhere. Then I’d catch up with family or friends and finish the day cosying up on the couch.
Favourite eat at Made?
I am a big fan of Japanese food, so I think the Chicken Katsu bowl from Omo Omo would be my top pick. I'm also partial to a good coffee or a cheeky bevvy, and there are several great options for both at Made.
On your Made wishlist at the moment?
Everything at Citta. It’s dangerous!
