Tano Gelato: From Naples to Hackney, via Buenos Aires
When Tomas picked up the phone he was prepping for a heat wave. Which if you make gelato for a living, is basically the Champions League Final.
He's the founder of Tano Gelato, an artisan gelato operation that started two years ago out of a dark kitchen in Hackney. Then people started ringing the doorbell. These days Tomas is running a summer pop-up at Tom's Pasta while he searches for his own storefront.
Hey Tomas! 'Tano' is a really interesting name. But what does it actually mean?
So 'Tano' is a word Argentinians use for people who come from Italian families. My grandparents were Italian, so I'm Tano. It comes from the word 'Napolitano' because there was a huge immigration from Naples to Buenos Aires in the early 1900s. The name felt right because it's exactly the story of gelato in Argentina. We got all our knowledge from the Italian communities that settled there. So it's a bit of an homage to that really.
Tano started as a dark kitchen right? How did that set you up for success?
It was a way to start slowly and learn through experience. In Argentina, ordering gelato for delivery is totally normal. If you're going to a friend's house for dinner, the dessert is almost always gelato delivery. I wanted to try and bring that here. Then people started finding me and ringing the doorbell! Since then, I've moved to a pop-up at Tom's Deli while I look for my own shop.
What's the flavour people are most surprised by?
The banana split. People here are very hesitant with banana-flavoured anything because so much of it is artificial. But I buy the best bananas I can find, let them ripen properly, and make the mix from there. When people try it, something clicks and it reminds them of a shake they had when they were younger. People aren't drawn to it at first, but once they try it, they love it instantly.
Near the end of the conversation, Tomas made an observation worth noting: most of the successful independents he sees in East London right now are started by people bringing something from their home: a Lebanese bakery, a Japanese café, an Argentine gelato shop. Tano is an example of one of the many great brands built on authentic culture.
