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RECENT INTERVIEW WITH ALLIE T. Mallad
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View More Gelato di Roma Franchise Information
 Allie T. Mallad
President & CEO
Gelato di Roma Franchise Corp.
Gelato di Roma International's CEO Creates a Franchise-Friendly System
Gelato di Roma Franchise Corp., the leading franchisor of premium gelato products and quality pizza has captured the attention of both of these industries due to its unique concept. This is due largely in part to the efforts of the company's progressive CEO, Allie T. Mallad.
Former world's largest Little Caesars Pizza franchisee, Allie is a Dearborn, Michigan native. He first became involved with franchising when he opened his first Little Caesars Pizza franchise in Riverside, CA in 1988. Within just a few short years, he increased his enterprise to 159 restaurants, employed over 2000 and built revenues approaching $100 million per year. He was Entrepreneur of Year in 1991, an award presented by Ernst and Young, Merrill Lynch and Inc. Magazine, and in 1998 he was voted one of the country's Top 50 Franchisees by Nation's Restaurant News. "I knew that my opportunity with Little Caesars was my ticket to financial freedom," said Mallad. "I expanded my company to 6 stores within the first 8 months, built 11 stores within 14 months and 31 stores within 30 months. Eventually I parlayed this tremendous experience into becoming the world's largest individual Little Caesars franchisee with 159 locations in less than 6 years."
Later, he expanded his operations to 10 other national franchises including Applebee's, Baskin Robbins, Golden Corral Steakhouse, Bruegger's Bagels, Jiffy Lube, Mobil Oil and Big O' Tire. With an enormous wealth of franchising knowledge under his belt, Allie knew it was time to develop his own concept. After researching many opportunities and traveling to Italy, he became intrigued by the multitude of local gelato cafes and knew the concept could work in the United States if developed correctly. Allie's operational expertise coupled with his entrepreneurial passion and marketing savvy, gave rise to the Gelato di Roma concept. He combined two billion-dollar industry giants (ice cream and pizza) into a turn-key business model—two absolutely delicious products that everyone enjoys with an operational ease never experienced before.
Gelato is Italian ice cream. It has a richer flavor and thicker texture than regular ice cream because it includes more solids, no preservatives and less air. Since the air content is only about 45% (versus 100% in regular ice cream) and the fat about 7% (versus 16% in regular ice cream), the product is denser and the flavors more concentrated. Gelato di Roma offers 51 flavors (all made on premises with 100% natural ingredients and no preservatives), including a line of intensely flavorful fruit sorbets. Gelato di Roma also offers signature pizzas and newly introduced oven-baked subs—a natural fit for the consumer as well as an operationally perfect match for the business model.
Mallad always had the goal of being a franchisor, and he knew he had to have the perfect concept—and that was gelato. As a franchisor, he is able to shape his own future and quickly initiate changes in response to a very progressive market. Gelato di Roma is a winning concept. "Gelato is just now catching on in the United States—it's truly an untapped market and we strongly believe that it is going to take this country by storm very soon. By including pizza with our concept, it not only helps drive our gelato sales, but also increases consumer awareness for those not familiar with Italian ice cream," said Mallad. "Pizzalato" is a term Mallad coined that truly explains the concept. It refers to dinner and dessert—or pizza and gelato. The tagline is "Dinner with Us is Desert On us!" With a signature Pizzalato, customers will always take home a free pint of gelato or sorbet. It's a terrific idea that started as a promotion and is now an effective form of branding for Gelato di Roma.
Mallad considers his area development program so crucial to the expansion of Gelato di Roma. After researching several options, it was clear that the area developer program was the fastest way for Gelato di Roma to grow its concept. Having operators with successful track records within close proximity to start-up franchisees is key to providing support in critical areas such as real estate and architecture, research and development, operation and cash control, training and customer service and marketing and communications. Since area developers bring both business expertise and financial resources to the table, Mallad is more than happy to share the big picture with them when it comes to developing territories, selling franchises and providing support.
Remarked Mallad, "Our business philosophy has always been to stay one lap ahead of our competitors so they'll never be able to catch us." Currently, there are over 600 stores under contract in the states of Arizona, California, Michigan and Nevada, with a projected 1000 under development by the end of 2006.
View More Gelato di Roma Franchise Information
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