Gelato D'Amore Nice, The Passion For Life And Icecream

Patricia and George Balan are two enthusiasts for life, love and gelato. They came to the French Riviera to fulfill their continuing dream and to bring their savoir-faire to this Mediterranean land. Their story is filled with passion and each word is uttered with a lot of dedication.

Their dream is crystallized at 125 Rue de France, Nice, a gelato shop that has already a charming aura that needs to be discovered by each of you.

What's the story behind Gelato D'Amore Nice?

The story of our project in Nice started about two years ago when we were searching for a market outside our native Romania and we were very much exploring the opportunities of the Southern part of Europe. It was something between Italy, France and Spain.

We made a trip to the South of Italy, we fell in love with Sicily, and we decided it would be a good place for our products and Gelato D'Amore concept. But in trying to discover and understand the market, the clients and their needs, we felt like searching for new places even more.

And you found the French Riviera...

The second option, yes, was the French Riviera. We, first, arrived in Menton which was a very lovely place for us and we immediately fell in love of the vibe. We started to come several times here, we started to get to know the market, the people. We tried to understand a little bit how it works and we, eventually, found a real opportunity here. We felt welcomed here. We loved the hospitality and generosity of the South of France. That gave us confidence to go on and pursue our dream here.

When, exactly, does the story of Gelato D'Amore Nice start?

The origin of the story starts with the study of our concept here, discussing with our suppliers who counselled us for Nice.

What were the challenges you faced while coming from Romania to the French Riviera?

The main challenge was to understand how the market works. We were pleased to discover pleasant parts like the French joie de vivre which fell exactly with our concept. We want to show our creativity and the products' versatility to the clients.

Time was another challenge. We needed more time than expected.

The actual sanitary situation was a challenge for your project?

This year has become the main challenge, eventually. We tried to approach it with confidence in thinking it will make a worthwhile story to tell, after all. Our plan took longer than we expected, everything was delayed, but we stayed optimistic and loyal to our project. We love it so much and we believe in it and now we are very close to its opening.

Soon, it will be the opening...

Yes!

What will be the services that Gelato D'Amore Nice proposes to its clients?

From the day one, in this business, we want and we will offer a perfect product. This is the least we can do! And we hope, like for the last twenty years, that we will have a very good feedback from our customers. Other than that, which I think is basic for any professional in this business, or any other business, when you manufacture a product, it's the experience we offer. I and my good wife, as the owners, we will be there to welcome and serve the customers. At Gelato D'Amore we have Ladies and Gentleman serving Ladies and Gentleman, to bring you joy and happiness, passion and love and a wonderful experience not only with tasting these amazing products. They were delivered to the world probably in the best times of humanity.

You propose a lot of services like Gelato Bar, Gelato Gourmet...

Yes! In our home market, this is something we are specialized in.

We, also, have the workshop where people can come and make their own gelato, ask questions and learn about this wonderful product.

There will be plenty of events to bring people to the shop ...

Yes! We saw that nobody is doing this and we have done it from day one. We want to do All You Can Eat event, which is one day event where you can come, sample our products for a very democratic price.

We will, also, have Gelato Outlet, an event where you can come and serve the product at the shop or take away, and you have a special price, on that day.

We, also, want to approach the Football Club here with a programme targeted to the youngsters. We were influenced by a story told by a footballer who told us about the times when he was young and there were those ice cream goals. When they had the training day, they had the football game at the end of the training section. The footballer, who scored the last call of the game, got an ice cream. For this guy and his teammates, this was something very special. For us, it was a very touching story!

There are a lot of stories that link Romania to the French Riviera like that of Negresco, Capsa ...

Negresco was an apprentice at the well-known Casa Capsa in Romania and he was, also, making ice cream. In fact, there was an Italian professional there who was making the ice cream and Negresco was helping him.

We, also, have this wonderful story with this house, Casa Capsa, and the prominent French military Joffre. One day, he visited Romania because the Romania military system is the Copy Paste of the French military system. In his honour, the Capsa brothers made the wonderful piece of confectionary, a praline named after this person. We developed it before coming here and we will have it in our shop on a permanent basis.

We'll have these flavours which is basically our wonderful chocolate from Italy and French orange liquor with bits of this praline. I don't know if we'll have some issues with the French name. If so, we will use the Romanian version, Joffra. 

Back to challenges ...

The challenge we had by coming here was about timing. Even if it looks like it's not the right timing, with this sanitary problem, on the other hand, this was a challenge. We are opening outside the main season but, on the other hand, we have been saying, for the last twenty years, that gelato has no season. It's full year, you can have it any day, any time of the year, in any circumstances.

Another challenge is that, here, there are some very good professionals, really artists. It is not like this market was missing something! This is a real challenge! Of course, we will deliver the freshness of the new comers, and this French-Romanian link which is very strong. The way we see it in Romania is that we are the same family. Through all these, we will show people that we, truly genuinely, love Nice.

What would be the message you want to convey to your customers to be?

As always, every person in this world deserves, at least, one chance. We ask them to offer us, at least, one chance. This means that they should come to our place, at least once, try the product and be honest with them and with us, and say if they like it or not. One chance and they will decide if their experience with our products, offers and events is something they fancy or not.

D'Amore means we do it through love. We are business people, but, first of all, we are professionals. We love our craft, our business, our customers, our suppliers, the places we are operating.

We can only assure them of our dedication to this wonderful place and to everything we want to share.

Without them, and the honest feedback we are nothing!

By saying this, in the bottom of your heart, you are sure that people will be conquered by your products...

Yes! For a couple coming from the Eastern Europe part, we've overcome this special year! Also, to be in your 50s like I am, or 40s like Patricia is, making such a dramatic step change from your own home country where you are well-known, to being nobody here, that's quite a challenge! I hope people understand this courage!

We start here and want to continue in the South of France and, in ten-fifteen years, to have, maybe, national presence.

We are very lucky, not only because we are in France, but because we are making a selling gelato which is very versatile...

Gelato, a product that has no season, with no restrictions...

Yes! And we'll take it step by step because we are here forever.

There is only one place to fall in love with gelato and his owners who will show their passion to you with everything they do:

Gelato D'Amore Nice

125 Rue de France, Nice

Phone : +33.7.63.45.83.58

Email : gelatodanice @ gmail.com

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Interview by Andra Oprea