While visiting San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf on a US business trip several years ago, Julie Ma, Dalian native and a successful businesswoman even then, had her first taste of Italian gelato and thought: Why not bring gelato to China?
Today, Aromilia Italian Gelato has a factory and 5 retail locations in Dalian, and plans to expand in Dalian and to other cities in China.
Aromilia uses Italian equipment and stresses quality, fresh local ingredients in season (like strawberries) and sells 16 varying flavors of gelato and sherbet weekly, made small daily batches, which usually sell in less than 72 hours. (What flavor is favorite for the international community? Please read on.) Ms. Ma's background hardly prepared her life with gelato. She was a doctor but found the 500 rmb hospital salary low (1993) and she longed to have more contact with people and new ideas. She returned to school to learn English (DUFL) and then began a career in international trade which took her to the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, where she lived for 3 years and earned an MBA degree. Her professional field? Importing beef, lamb, pork to China. On her wall still hangs “Export Cuts of American Pork”, which means, roughly, “the parts of the animal that Americans don't want.”
But life in Australia became too routine for Ms. Ma's entrepreneurial skills. In 2003, she traded in the “sun and sea” in Australia for KTVs, saunas and life she missed in China. But she never forgot the taste of gelato and tried to sample it all the countries she had visited. Finally, on a trip to Italy, she found the right equipment supplier. "Why not China?" Aromilia began in Dalian in August 2007 and has expanded since, roughly one location each month. Of course, she has had to make some adjustments to gelato to make it suitable for Chinese tastes – less sugar for example and some flavors don't work. (International community prefers chocolate, while tiramisu is the overall most popular flavor.)
But the gelato, made here in Dalian, sticks to Italian formula and uses less than 8% fat, while American ice cream is at least 15-18% fat. (Sherbet has no fat.) She uses fresh milk and fresh fruit, the other ingredients are from Italy, and she strives to make a healthy, high quality product, with nothing artificial – so perhaps the MD training is still with her. Each week Aromilia makes 16 flavors (out of possible 100 or so flavors) in small factory (200 square meters) in Jie Fang Square.
The gelato is popular but she continues to improve the business. "There are now different sizes, take out, more seats in the Walmart location, a new flavor each month and possibly coffee – quality Italian coffee, of course."
What does Ms. Ma feels is the key to her success? “Dedication and hard work, of course, also be smart, communicate well, make friends and have a sixth sense. You must know what people want and do market research.”
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