NZ's Best Gelato - Officially! Boy oh boy, we are absolutely buzzing here at Little ‘Lato right now… the 2024 NZ Ice Cream Awards were last night and we came away with 5 trophies!! Have a read of what we won here.
Taking nuttiness to a whole new level is Little Lato’s indulgent (and award-winning) Peanut Butter Chocolate flavour. It’s even dairy-free, so plant-based eaters can also enjoy a scoop or two. That said, Little Lato’s new flavour collaboration...
Self-professed ‘gelato fanatic’ Hannah Wood shares a little bit about her Gelato journey.
A new report suggests ice cream could become New Zealand's next big export success and we were interviewed by Newshub to tell our story!
Little ‘Lato follows Farro with Moore Wilson’s launch - the title of an article just published about us on Food Ticker!
We have just won the Food Safety & Culture Award at the NZ Food Awards! Such a surprise and feeling so grateful to be acknowledged amongst some other epic NZ food businesses. Bring on the future!
These guys are bringing some seriously incredible flavours to the table, including a few life-changing seasonal offerings (we're looking at you, Christmas Pudding) and even vegan alternatives.
We were asked to share our story for 2021 Fieldays TV. Here is the video talking about how we started and what we do - have a watch!
The finalists for the 2021 NZ Food Awards have been announced today and we are over the moon to be finalists in three categories! - Below Zero - Business Innovation - Food Safety & Culture Such an honour to be recognised amongst some other very epic brands l looking forward to the awards night on October 14th!
Our Mango Lassi took the top spot - Champion Free-From Product in the 2021 Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards! In the judges comments: "So bloody nice! Totally, utterly, delicious!” We'll certainly take it - feeling mighty chuffed!
We just won three new gold medals! Choc Sorbet, Mango Lassi and Salted Butterscotch all just won gold in the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards. All three are now in the running for one of the supreme awards, announced on 22nd June.
"Banana & Peanut Butter, Pina Colada, Hot Cross Bun, Banana & Bacon French Toast as well as Massaman Curry gelato are just a few of the unexpected, sublime flavours that earned this little Auckland shop the nation's number one scoop shop spot."
In addition to its spiced hot cross bun gelato, this year Little Lato is scooping two Easter-themed flavours in collaboration with Remarkable Chocolate Company...
Meet Little 'Lato - Kiwi's favourite scoop shop! An article published in FENNEC Magazine.
Little Lato is a bespoke gelato company, with a dream of adding just a little more joy into your day.
There's nothing little about these guys. With big scoops and even bigger imaginations, Little 'Lato has created a constant rotation of innovative flavours you won't want to miss out on.
Our delicious affogato features in Heart of the City's list of favourite frozen treats. An affogato is perfect for anyone who wants to combine their love of coffee with their love of ice cream.
Hannah Wood, Founder and Chief Gelato Maker at boutique manufacturer Little Lato, says the NZ Ice Cream Awards celebrate the best-of-the-best and the competition is always fierce because of the overall high quality of NZ-made ice cream with locally sourced dairy and other ingredients.
“Little ‘Lato cupcakes offering all the joy and nostalgia of an ice cream cake with the class of Italian gelato.”Our gelato cupcakes were announced as finalists in the 2018 Inspire Artisan Food Awards. Check out the full article which featured in Supermarket News here.
“Little ‘Lato is proving that good gelato is necessary all year round.”Margie Cooney from Denizen Magazine wrote a piece about Little ‘Lato and our gelato offerings. Check out the full article which featured in the Denizen.
“Find Little 'Lato and you'll be one scoop away from heaven.“ Annie Hollister Jones from Concrete Playground came to chat with us and taste some of our gelato creations. Check out the full article here.
“Good things come in small packages, especially with Auckland’s new one-stop sweet spot Little ‘Lato.” Jaiden Bhaga from Urban List came to visit our sweet spot – Little ‘Lato.
Hannah from Little ‘Lato has been recognised for her crazy cool confections yet again at the New Zealand Ice Cream Awards with a freezer full of awards.
We were lucky enough to be approached by Woman’s weekly to feature in the March edition of the magazine.Click here for a snapshot of the article, written by Ciara Pratt.
These guys are bringing some seriously incredible flavours to the table, including a few life-changing seasonal offerings (we're looking at you, Christmas Pudding) and even vegan alternatives.
Gelato entrepreneur rolls out Aider, with expectations of more beach time!
Little ‘Lato is thrilled to be a part of Crave Café and the Community that surrounds this. Check out this article talking about how the Little ‘Lato dream began and how the partnership with Crave Café became a reality
Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer - in collaboration with Pāmu NZ deer milk
We were interviewed by Careershifters to showcase our journey from product development to gelato. Check out the article that was written here.
The writer Madeleine L’Engle said stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving. We have been part of Crave Café’s Under the Hood series, showcasing stories of the Morningside Community. Check out our stories (and others from the neighbourhood) here.
"Judges were full of praise for the Little ‘Lato Speculoos Gelato saying “Deliciousness by the spoonful. Wonderful innovation. We loved the creamy texture…the balanced spice notes lifted the overall experience, enhanced its eatability, making it totally morish.”
Taking nuttiness to a whole new level Little Lato‘s indulgent (and award-winning) Peanut Butter Chocolate flavour. It’s even dairy-free, so plant-based eaters can also enjoy a scoop or two.
Little ‘Lato received the inaugural Free-From Special Award for Little 'Lato Mango Lassi in 2021 and received the Award again in 2023. This year’s award was received along with two Gold Medals, a Silver Medal and a Bronze Medal with the judges raving about the Mango Lassi saying ‘Yum we love it, blown away! Beautiful mango flavour. Great balance, not too sweet. Fab texture. Nailed it!’
Officially NZ's Best Dairy Free Ice Cream - our Raspberry Lamington vegan gelato took the top spot! Your favourite kiwi treat, like you have never tasted before. Watch behind the scenes of how we make it.
Waipu locals, Mangawhai locals and Northland holiday makers - we have some exciting news for you!
We are opening a gelato pop-up in the heart of Waipu (right opposite Pizza Barn), scooping up the very best of our award-winning gelato, sorbet and vegan gelato goodness throughout all of summer ahead.
Come and visit at 1 Cove Road, Waipu (opposite Pizza Barn) from 1st December.
We are looking for parlour staff so if you are interested please reach out to hannah@littlelato.nz.
Some very exciting news - we are making our debut in Hamilton, opening a flagship parlour inside Hamilton East!
In the past 5 years we have partnered with some awesome vendors - cafes and parlours that have been absolute legends at scooping up the gelato goodness. We have been thinking about doing a proper flagship store for a while now, an opportunity came up, and we are taking the plunge!
We are opening inside Made of Hamilton East - a brand new development in the heart of Hamilton.
It will be a great chance to showcase the very best of the Little ‘Lato brand and to really add a little joy into people’s day. We are also excited at being able to offer some of the weird and wacky flavours made in recent awards – Massaman Curry, Peanut Butter &Kimchi, Marmite Cheese & Cracker – just some of the gold medal winning flavours to name a few!
So, if you’re not already totally sold, [or even if you are]; grab that spoon and come taste for yourself.
Opening 4th November
401 Grey St, Hamilton East
11am - until late (closed Tuesday)
A creamy blitz of coconut and real raspberry, topped with more coconut for good measure. Refreshingly fruity yet mind-blowingly creamy, familiar yet curiously different. Raspberry Lamington like you have never tasted before!
Officially NZ’s best dairy-free ice cream
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxUnUjCrPsY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
This has to be one of the most common questions we get - "What actually is gelato??"
As one five year told us, gelato is "fancy ice cream".
True, yes, but there are a lot of other differences which you may not actually know about.
Here is a quick snapshot of what gelato is!
NEW OPENING!
Coasties, this one is for you. Our new gelato hub in the heart of Orewa is now officially open. Just a hop, skip and jump away from Orewa Beach, you can grab yourself a scoop of your favourite Little 'Lato gelato and mosey on down to the beach to devour!
We have partnered with Bakeaboo Boutique Cakery to bring this hub to life - a small business run by Elina and stocked with some insanely delicious cakes. Similar to us, Elina crafts all of her cakes by hands using top quality ingredients. A lady who is passionate about delicious food and a delight to work with.
We even have a couple of bespoke flavours just for this location - jamming chunks of handmade cake into silky smooth gelato. Boy oh boy - this is certainly one of our favourite parts of the job!
LOCATION:
6 Moana Avenue, Orewa Beach, Auckland
Little 'Lato Orewa
Partnering with Bakeaboo Boutique Cakery
Best gelato in the country - we'll take it!!
Our Speculoos gelato just took top spot in the country - blowing away with the judges with the ginger caramel decadence inspired by the Dutch biscuit Speculas. This was the gelato that won Category Champion for NZ Gelato in the 2020 NZ Ice Cream Awards.
The other awards we scooped up were:
GOLD MEDAL - Raspberry Dark Chocolate Smash (dairy-free)
GOLD MEDAL - Mango Lassi (best of fruit)
GOLD MEDAL - Speculoos (gelato)
SILVER MEDAL - Vegan Roasted Hazelnut (dairy-free)
SILVER MEDAL - Espresso (gelato)
SILVER MEDAL - Salted Butterscotch (gelato)
SILVER MEDAL - Vegan Banoffee (dairy-free)
SILVER MEDAL - Oat-milk Latte (dairy-free)
We also entered a couple of mind-blowing gelato into the open creative category and received silver medals for both. We guarantee they are gelato like you have never tried before (and actually delicious if you can believe us!) Would you dare to try?
SILVER MEDAL - Cream Cheese & Asparagus Roll
SILVER MEDAL - Maple Roasted Parsnip
While one Little 'Lato hub closes, we have couple of very exciting opportunities just beginning. The very first one in the mix is one that we are over-the-moon to be announcing. Starting THIS WEEKEND we have your favourite Little 'Lato gelato opening up in Hahei Beach!
Scooping up all summer long, Hahei is your new holiday destination for your favourite holiday treat!
Boy oh boy are we excited.
*The end of an era, and the beginning of a new one! *
We have some big news team!
As you know, we put the gelato bar at Crave Café into hibernation this year, to help both of us be more efficient during the crazy year of lockdowns we have had. However, after much thought and a few tears, we have decided not to re-open this gelato bar this summer.
But we’ll be around! Look out for some pop-ups and events in the Morningside area throughout summer (more details to come).
We are so grateful for Crave Café and the awesome team of legends who have helped us to kickstart Little ‘Lato from this space. These guys have a heart for doing good and helping people/businesses to connect and grow. They provided such an epic platform for us to get our gelato goodness scooping and we most certainly couldn’t have done it without them!
While we are closing this chapter, we have some very exciting new chapters just about to launch and we can’t wait to update you all. More details to come!!
We have just won Gold in the NZ Outstanding Food Producer Awards. Our Dairy-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Gelato came away with a gold medal, with judges comments including “very moreish” and “very decadent!”
The NZ Outstanding Food Producer Awards were set-up to celebrate Kiwis who harvest, grow and make food and drinks. These awards focus on product quality, as well as hard work, innovation and sustainability in NZ’s local producers.
Here at Little ‘Lato we have a big focus on sustainability. Half of our range is completely plant based and all of our consumer packaging is biodegradable. We work with local suppliers where possible and aim to minimise waste where we can, recycling, re-using and composting where possible. We have a heart for this planet and for the people that live in it and have big plans to do good in the future. Watch this space!
As well as the Gold Medal for the Dairy-free Peanut Butter, our Espresso Brownie gelato also won a Bronze Medal in the awards.
We recently won a whopping 10 awards (including 2 trophies) at the 2019 NZ Ice Cream Awards, competing against ice cream and gelato makers from all around the country
The two trophies were for Best In Category. Our Hazelnut Chocolate took out the Nuts category and then our never-before-tried Massaman Curry took out the Open Creative Category (a category that aims to push the boundaries of innovation).
The full list of awards we received is below:
BEST IN CATEGORY - NUTS: Hazelnut Chocolate
BEST IN CATEGORY - OPEN CREATIVE: Massaman Curry
GOLD AWARD: Honey, Fig, Ricotta & Poppy Seed Gelato
GOLD AWARD: Lime, Coriander & Grapefruit Sorbet
GOLD AWARD: Hazelnut Chocolate Gelato
GOLD AWARD: Massaman Curry Gelato
SILVER AWARD: Banoffee Gelato
SILVER AWARD: White Chocolate Passionfruit Gelato
SILVER AWARD: Mango Lassi
SILVER AWARD: DF Peanut Butter Chocolate
We went along to our very first NZ Ice Cream Awards this month and were stoked to come away with 6 silver awards!
Flavours that won a silver award were: