There’s a new dessert place in town, and we couldn’t wait to find out more. We caught up with owner and chef Rasel to learn everything there is to know about Coco Gelato, from its inception to its future, touching on his top picks of the menu and what we can expect from the year ahead.
Can you tell us a little about your company and what you provide?
We are a dessert shop predominately focussing on waffles, crepes, milkshakes, and smoothies but we have a selection of cakes and doughnuts too. In terms of the service we provide, we offer a takeaway collection or delivery service within a three-mile radius and slightly over during off-peak hours. Of course, we also serve gelato as you may have already guessed, but we need to work on the logistics of incorporating this into the delivery side of things which should hopefully come into effect early next year.
How has the launch gone?
It’s gone fantastically! Coming into it, we thought we would have a slow start and then gradually pick up but whether it was down to opening during half term in October or because of the hype on social media, we did a fantastic 2-3 weeks of trading. Things have slightly quietened down but that’s the nature of this time of year, leading up to Christmas. With any luck, once we start marketing ourselves in the new year, we should be able to reach our targets and get to where we were aiming for.
Why was Witney chosen for the home of Coco Gelato?
I’m from Winchester in Hampshire, however, the majority of my working life has been spent across Reading, Winchester, Oxford, and Cheltenham so it was always one of those locations. We previously tried this in Winchester in 2013 – at which point I believe we were only the second of this kind of business to emerge on the south coast – and while it did reasonably well, I think we opened far too early before the trend had taken off in that area. I’ve done a few other businesses since then but always had this one in the back of my mind. I have known of Witney through family and friends and eventually moved here with my wife. I think it’s probably the best location for me and having got to know people in the area just gave me that vote of confidence. Initially, this was only meant to be a production kitchen where I trained and developed the menu for a sit-down model, but eventually, I got a bit carried away and decided to run the service from it, so here we are.
Have there been any difficulties so far?
Being new to the area myself and therefore only knowing
a limited number of people, has made staffing a slight difficulty, however having been in this situation before, we have managed to get away with it; it just means a few extra hours here and there. Other than that, about 99% of the people I have worked with have been fantastic so a big thank you to the local businesses of Witney who have helped us get on our feet so quickly.
Do you have a favourite item on the menu?
I would probably go for a waffle with a biscoff base which is my particular favourite. The most popular with the locals though would be our white galaxy waffle and choc Bueno crepe. I think the locals have a thing for the Bueno bars – they seem to be the best sellers.
What are you optimistic about for 2022?
It will be our first full year. This year counted as a launch and sort of a bonus for us just to try to get ourselves on our feet. We also have some lovely people joining us for training soon, so I am optimistic that we will have a good team going forward into 2022.
