The Beginning…

On Jan 2nd, 2004 we reopened the store under the name Gelateria Naia. Some people were confused but it is pretty simple. A pizzeria is where you get pizza and a gelateria is where you get gelato. Naia is the name of Bobby's daughter, who was born the same time the store opened.

We opened our doors for the first time on August 22, 2002.
At that time there were only four shops in Berkeley: Ben & Jerry's, Cold Stone Creamery, Yogurt Park, and us. We were the only shop actually making our own product from scratch. When our lease was up ten years later, the retail landscape had changed dramatically. We were now one of 22 different ice cream, gelato, yogurt shops in Berkeley.

When we first opened we were called Mondo Gelato. We had partnered with a small gelato shop out of Vancouver BC, Canada. We thought they were going to be a great partner but after just a few months we learned they knew little about business or gelato. Some of our flavors were made using pre-finished ingredients from Italy that came in cans and bags. They were delicious, and truly authentic, but not very good quality and certainly not fresh or local.

As Gelateria Naia we were able to begin making our own gelato from scratch recipes. We welcomed this challenge and thrived.
Over the years we have worked with so many other Bay Area companies to make amazing gelato flavors. Our first was Scharffen Berger Chocolate. We met John Scharffenberger at a trade show and he insisted we make our chocolate gelato with his chocolate.