Want to know what happens when you say, “free gelato” to students? Actually, you can probably guess. Tuesday night was our free preview night to celebrate the opening of our fourth store, the Naia Lounge, on the campus of UC Berkeley. It was crazy. Fortunately it was also a lot of fun. In three short hours we gave out 1,100 servings of gelato. Even with a few loose ends to tie-up everyone agreed that the store looks great.

The lounge is different from our other gelaterias. First, it’s big. We can seat 100 people in comfort in our dining room. We have large tables for meetings, booths for conversation, seating in our performance area, and plenty of room to study using the school’s Air Bears wireless internet conection. It is also different because our store directly benefits the ASUC. Just like the bookstore, a portion of the sales generated by the lounge are turned over to help fund the student groups on campus. Gelato is not just good for your body, it’s good for the student body as well.