Staff Photo by Gillian Bolsover Cristina Koch, left, and Laura Brock make pizza cones at Primo Gelatto Wednesday. The store, which is located on Broad Street, opened Saturday.
On their annual summer vacations to Hilton Head, S.C., Jeff and Cheryl Sims kept finding themselves drawn to the same little gelato shop.
Mrs. Sims, who said she never has been a big fan of ice cream, loved the creamy chocolate gelato she found there.
So during last year's vacation, the couple started telling the owners how much they loved the Italian-style ice cream. In the course of their conversation, they learned the owners were about to begin licensing the shop. They also learned the owners had relatives in Chattanooga.
The couple asked for a copy of the licensing agreement.
"Really, we just kind of sat on it for about four months and looked at it," Mr. Sims said.
He slowly developed a business plan, borrowed the money they needed and on June 6 the couple opened the doors to Pino Gelato. The shop is on the 400 block of Broad Street in downtown Chattanooga next to the new Sweet Peppers Deli.
Mr. and Mrs. Sims are running the shop together, but since they both have full-time jobs -- and Mr. Sims also is in the Army Reserves -- they have hired a manager.
Mrs. Sims recalls the appeal of the store they fell in love with at the beach.
"When you walk into this gelato store in Hilton Head, you just feel happy," she said.
The couple initially invested about $175,000 to get the shop open, and since have learned a great deal about gelato.
For one, it's healthier than ice cream, Mr. Sims said. Gelato is both lower in fat and calories compared to traditional American ice cream, according to WhyGelato.com, a gelato industry Web site.
Ice cream is typically made with cream, and is classified by its butterfat content, usually 10 percent to 12 percent, the Web site said. But, gelato is made from milk or water, and has less butterfat -- 5 percent to 8 percent, it said.
Also, gelato has less air than ice cream and as a result is creamier and denser than ice cream, the industry site says.
Prices for a scoop of gelato start at $2.50. The store also sells Stone Cup coffee and something called pizza cones. Like the name implies, these are 6-inch cones made of pizza dough. Customers choose toppings, which are layered into the cone before the whole thing is put in the oven.
The couple said their location on Broad Street, near Rock Point Books and the Tennessee Aquarium, is a good spot to attract traffic from tourists and locals.
One snag in the city's permitting process will keep the store without any signs until the end of June, so the store's visibility will suffer, Mr. Sims said. But business has been pretty good despite the lack of visibility during the first week of business, he said.
Mrs. Sims said she hopes to one day work in the shop after she retires.
"To me, that would be perfect," she said.
Her 15-year-old son already is working in the store, and her 12- and 9-year old daughters will eventually, she said.
