Upstarts: Sweet Legacy

Paciugo plays up gelato’s Italian heritage and artisan techniques.

By Maya Norris, Managing Editor -- Chain Leader, 10/1/2007

Gelatos are made fresh daily in the stores. Paciugo offers 32 to 40 flavors daily ranging from Pistachio to more unusual flavors like Sweet Corn Thorntree Honey. Paciugo units cost $180,000 to $350,000 and range from 800 square feet to 1,200 square feet. They are located in lifestyle centers, mixed-use developments with an entertainment component, and upscale shopping malls. Its customer base skews female and college educated.

The art of making gelato is so revered in Italy that it is passed on from generation to generation. Ugo and Cristiana Ginatta are keeping that tradition alive with Paciugo, an expanding gelato chain that features the artisan techniques and authentic recipes that the husband and wife team learned while they lived in Italy.

Born and raised in Italy, the Ginattas opened Paciugo in September 2000 in Dallas. But before they immigrated to Texas, they sold their information-technology business and apprenticed at a four-generation gelateria. While making gelato was new to Ugo Ginatta, Cristiana Ginatta had worked in both of her grandfathers’ gelaterias.

Italian Tradition

Paciugo showcases what they learned. The gelato is made fresh daily in the stores in small batches with whole milk and no preservatives, using all-natural ingredients such as black cherries from Italy and chocolate from Belgium. Because the gelato is made from whole milk instead of butterfat, it has 70 percent less fat than ice cream.

"What you try and do is make the ice crystals as small as possible," says Founding Partner Vincent Ginatta, Ugo’s son. "That’s how you get a very smooth, almost creamy texture without having all the fat and egg you would have in traditional ice cream."

The units feature 32 to 40 flavors daily, out of the 200 recipes Cristiana Ginatta has created. The best-selling flavors include Amarena Black Cherry Swirl, Chocolate Chip and Mango. However, Paciugo also serves unusual flavors such as Black Pepper Olive Oil and Mediterranean Sea Salt Caramel. Costs range from $2.99 for a Piccolo Cup for three flavors to $5.58 for a large waffle cone.

Stretching Out

To expand Paciugo’s appeal across day-parts, it also serves blended espresso drinks and shakes made with gelato, coffee and espresso, and gelato cakes. It is considering pastries, too.

Paciugo is also tweaking its units to make it feel like a "third place," where people can linger without feeling pressured to order. So it is enhancing its modern decor with sofas, banquette seating and Italian music.

"We would like Paciugo to be another third place. We have another famous one in America, and we all like it, but it doesn’t have to be the only one," says Ugo Ginatta, referring to Starbucks.

In the meantime, Paciugo is expanding via franchising. With 22 units in Texas, Florida, Colorado, Wisconsin, Montana and Mexico, franchisees will open three units by the end of the year in San Antonio, Austin and North Plano, Texas. They will open 10 stores in 2008 in Texas, California, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, Florida and Mexico.

For its long-term expansion, Paciugo is trying to recruit area developers who have up to 1,500 units of a center-of-the-plate concept. According to Ugo Ginatta, these developers already have the infrastructure in place to expand Paciugo rapidly. "If they put a Paciugo in their territories, they can better cultivate their territories while not cannibalizing their food because it’s very complementary," he explains.