Over the Christmas break I finally got the chance to go to the recently opened Gelato Messina in Melbourne. There’s no doubt that the gelato was delicious, but I couldn’t help wondering what was the reason that 15 minutes later I was still waiting in a queue that started on the street.  Messina’s secret is simple – a high quality product coupled with innovative marketing.

As the people in front of me took their gelato and moved away it was as if a curtain had been lifted, unveiling a long cabinet of delicious goodness. Finding myself in this situation for the first time, I wasn’t sure what the best strategy was for the very difficult task of choosing two flavours out of the 40 on display – do I try to make my way to one of the menus to make sure I don’t miss any flavours, do I consult the specials board and confuse myself even more or do I ask the staff for a recommendation? With my taste buds tingling and my attention darting from the gelato to the lab where you can see them making it, I did what seemed like the only logical thing to do– I chose the 5 scoop tasting plate. White chocolate and salted caramel, rhubarb and pear, peanut butter chocolate fudge, salted coconut and mango and finally, poached figs in marsala. You might be thinking that’s a lot of gelato and it was but it was also the yummiest gelato I had ever had and I was finished faster than it had taken me to choose which flavours to get.

The gelato is hand made on site, using natural and locally sourced products. From the meticulous roasting grinding of pistachios, to the baking of apple pies and brownies, everything is made in-house by a team of what Messina likes to call mad professors. Every week Messina produces 6 ‘Specials’ (a new one every day from Tuesday to Saturday), with each one staying in the cabinet for 7 days. Every now and then specials are so popular, they make a come back or they end up becoming a permanent fixture. Constantly inventing new flavours is intended to create intrigue and keep the customers coming back. To date, Messina has a back catalogue of 900 flavours.

More importantly, Messina has managed to do what many have failed – build and maintain an engaged social media following. It’s 37,000 strong Facebook community regularly submits suggestions for new flavours, which Messina are more than happy to listen to.  Messina also uses Facebook to keep its customers up to date with the flavours it is releasing each day.

I am not sure how I will feel when I go there and the taste tingling roasted mango and coconut flavour is not there but one thing is for sure – I am excited to find out what they will have instead. It is this thrill of uncertainty and the delight of discovery that not only keeps customers coming back but eagerly waiting to finally get to the front of that queue.

TOP THREE SELLERS ON PERMANENT ROTATION

• Salted caramel and white chocolate (their biggest seller)
• Chocolate fondant
• Pandan and coconut

GET THE NUMBERS

• 9000 litres of gelato sold every week across three Sydney stores
• Of those, 1300 litres are salted caramel and white chocolate
• 1300 litres of salted caramel and white chocolate gelato equals 12,000 scoop