‘Real life Willy Wonka’: Inside gelato Messina headquarters

Ever wondered where your favourite gelato started life? We went behind the scenes to find out the secrets behind your scoop.

Closest thing to 'real life Willy Wonka factory'. Picture: Supplied.

There are few things that capture childlike imagination more than the creation of Australia’s favourite desserts.

Messina Gelato knows this all too well, and is releasing two new flavours, P.B. Peanut Butter and Super Flan, exclusively to Woolworths shelves. As part of the rollout, the iconic gelato brand gave news.com.au exclusive behind-the-scenes access to their headquarters in Marrickville in Sydney’s inner west (where all their dessert and gelato flavours start life) to find out the secrets behind your favourite scoop.

Messina's new flavours of P.B. Peanut Butter and Super Flan. Picture: Supplied.

Messina’s head chef Donato Toce has the enviable task of developing new flavours and it’s a job he said means taking inspiration from anywhere and everywhere.

“Designing a flavour can come from anywhere – from a meal you had the night before (or more likely a dessert) to a more classic dessert, like we’ve done apple pie, tarte tatin,” Mr Toce told news.com.au.

“All these things where we’ve been able to sort of mash-up and put into a gelato.

“Flavours come from everywhere, customers give us flavours, staff give us flavours, so it’s basically about putting things together that work in a scoop,” he said.

“For us it’s really important that when we introduce a flavour or give a description of a flavour it has everything in that one scoop.”

Mr Toce has developed a mountain of specials over the years but said this rollout allows shoppers to get the gelato experience in the convenience of supermarket shopping.

Gelato Messina owners left to right, Nick Palumbo, Declan Lee, Donato Toce, Danny Palumbo. Picture: Supplied

“Super Flan is one of our biggest selling specials that we make, it’s real simple gelato but it’s just super tasty. It’s really rich custard gelato slathered with dulce de leche. This one here P.B. is really cool, it’s just peanut on peanut on peanut.”

Asked if there are any flavours that are off limits, Mr Toce said a brief experiment into tomato sorbet would likely never be repeated, but two varieties they’ll never stop making “because our roots are Italian” would be the hazelnut or pistachio flavours. “They’re definite, non-negotiable,” he declared.

“One of my favourite flavours is a classic Italian one, it’s called fat clemenza, It’s a ricotta gelato with smashed cannoli through it, just the Italian heritage for me is killer,” he said.

Founder and father-of-two Nick Palumbo said the milestone drop celebrates Messina’s 20-year journey from a single Darlinghurst store to a household name and celebrity favourite.

During her recent tour, pop star Dua Lipa was spotted at Bondi Messina enjoying a scoop of salted coconut & mango.

Head of brand and marketing Sian Bishop believes Messina is about as close to real life Willy Wonka as you can get and with the brand’s innovation and expansion will likely only become more fantastical into the future.

“It’s a brand of many parts. We have so many things going on here, which is the beauty of it right? We’re always pushing the boundaries to try and find something new and creative that other people aren’t doing,” Ms Bishop said.

“We’re always doing custom product development, like we recently launched our gelato Easter egg, which was like a one-kilogram gelato chocolate Easter egg, all handmade here.”

The new flavours join existing Pistachio, Tiramisu, Dulce de Leche, Hazelnut and ‘Robert Brownie Jr’. Picture: Supplied.

Robert Brownie Jr became one of the supermarket giant’s best-selling frozen dessert lines following its release last year. Picture: Supplied.

For the above-and-beyond gelato enthusiasts, Messina welcomes members of the public to check out the Sydney headquarters first-hand.

“We now have a wine bar downstairs, I don’t know of anywhere else doing that. We really want people to come and see what we’re working on so we’re opening up the HQ, people can take themselves on self-guided tours, where they can scan QR codes and they’ll play videos of what’s happening in the kitchen and what all the machines do,” Ms Bishop said.

“We also do an in-depth behind-the-scenes tour once a month on a Wednesday, which you can book on our website and that’s a full walk through with Donato and the team.

“We start off with a drink, come through the store, go behind the scenes in the kitchen, get to see how it’s made, get to see how the cakes are made, get to eat a lot of ice cream and a lot of chocolate,” he added.

The 475 mil pints are available from Woolworths for $14.50, on special this week for $12.50.

Originally published as ‘Real life Willy Wonka’: Inside gelato Messina headquarters