Awards
**No Australian Food Awards were held in 2020, 2021, 2022 due to COVID
Dairy Industry Association of Australia – Victorian awards
Best Premium Ice Cream/Gelato in Victoria: Jaffa
Gold: Jaffa, Banana
Silver: Vanilla, Choc Mint
Australian Food Awards
Best Gelato in Australia – Choc Mint
Champion Dairy Product (Australia)
Victorian Champion Dairy Producer
Gold medal: Banana, Choc Mint, Vanilla
Silver Medal: Matcha with Black Sesame, Roasted Coconut, Chocolate, Pistachio Lux, Strawberry
Bronze medal: Salty Monkey, Lemon Curd, Maple Walnut
2019 Australian Food Awards
Consistency of Excellence Medal – Raspberry sorbet
Silver medal: Roasted Coconut
Bronze: Hazelnut
2018 Australian Food Awards
Champion Small Australian Producer/Manufacturer
Champion Frozen Dessert in Australia – Roasted Coconut
Best Gelato in Australia – Roasted Coconut
Gold medal – Hazelnut, Roasted Coconut
Silver medal – Coffee, Salty Monkey, Passionfruit
Bronze medal – Salted caramel, choc mint, Mascarpone, chocolate
2017 Australian Food Awards
Champion Small Australian Producer/Manufacturer
Champion Frozen Dessert in Australia – Roasted Coconut
Best Gelato in Australia – Roasted Coconut
Gold medal – Hazelnut, Roasted Coconut
Silver medal – Coffee, Salty Monkey, Passionfruit
Bronze medal – Salted caramel, choc mint, Mascarpone, chocolate
In the Media
Media Release: Local Business continues top award winning streak
Local business Gelato Gelato have once again received top accolades for their artisan Gelato, winning Best Gelato in Victoria at the 2024 Dairy Industry Association of Australia awards
<Gelato Gelato owners Jo Stevens and Stephanie Lewis receive their 2024 Best Gelato in Victoria award at the recent DIAA Awards>
Having won ‘Australian Champion Dairy Producer’ and ‘Champion Victorian Dairy Producer’ along with ‘Australian Best Gelato’ at the Australian Food Awards in 2023, owners Jo Stevens and Stephanie Lewis are both absolutely thrilled with their continued success.
Jo commented that “We are hoping we can contribute to growing ‘foodie based’ tourism in our region, as we arefinding an increasing number of our customers are visiting our stores as a result of the recognition we are receivingthrough our wins at both the Victorian and Australian Food Awards”.
“We make all of our gelato inclusions from scratch, so are always busy roasting, making sauces, pralines and cookiesto add to our gelato. Sourcing high quality ingredients is
definitely one of our keys to success, and we don’t use anything artificial in our products – which our customers love”. “Winning these top level awards provides a huge boost for our team, as it acknowledges the hard work and effort weput into producing the highest quality products”.
With uncompromising commitment to the use of homegrown and local ingredients, Jo and Stephanie are gratefulfor the strong relationships they have created with high quality suppliers whose products feature in their gelato. “Wehave incredible fresh produce available to us on the Surfcoast, and the quality shines through in our gelato”.
Store Locations:
10-14 Eastern Beach Road, Geelong 114 Mountjoy parade, Lorne
4/141 Great Ocean Road, Anglesea
For more information contact: Jo Stevens, 0412 600673
Article from Melbourne Royal – available here
Australian FoodAwards Producer Spotlight: GelatoGelato
17 OCT 2024 / FOOD
On Thursday, 3 October,Melbourne Royal proudlyannounced the winners of the2024 Australian Food Awards,showcasing the bestproducers and products across Australia. This year’s competition brought togetheran outstanding selection ofentries, with each productblind tasted and judged ontheir own merits against a setof criteria by a panel ofesteemed industry experts.
One of the standout winners was Gelato Gelato from regional Victoria, which took home the trophy for Champion Australian Small Dairy Producer as well as BestGelato. Melbourne Royal had the chance to speak with Stephanie Lewis of GelatoGelato, who shared what this achievement means for their business, the significance of the Melbourne Royal Australian Food Awards, and her favourite moments from the 2024 Trophy Presentation.
What does winning the Champion Gelato award mean for your business?
As a small business, our focus is on quality over profit. This means taking the time to find quality ingredients, as local aspossible and knowing our suppliers. We also make 99% of our inclusions, meaning we REALLY know what goes into ourproduct. We love what we produce but we need to benchmark ourselves, to know we are the best we can be. We travel, we taste, we compare and we are inspired. Inspired to stand by our principals and know what to continue doing and what not to do.We know where we think we stand in the industry but by entering the Melbourne Royal Australia Food Awards, we objectivelyknow where we stand. The results help us analyse our processes and how to do better.
Winning Champion Gelato is thrilling and affirming. It is an absolute thrill to be recognised as the best in the country and affirming to know our philosophy on producing a quality product is the right one. But being located in regional Victoria has it’schallenges. Business is inherently seasonal and despite having an incredible product, we don’t have the volume of patronage allyear round. Whilst quality is of utmost importance, we need to be viable to survive and thrive. We can also use the award as aplatform to inform the public of our quality and increase visitation.
Why are the Melbourne Royal Australian Food Awards are so important for the industry?
Quite simply, the Melbourne Royal Food Awards are the benchmark for theindustry. The Awards have a quality focus, they are impartial and they aremeaningful. They are meaningful to the people that enter them and to the public that take note of the results.
What did you most enjoy at the 2024 Melbourne Royal Australian Food Awards Trophy Presentation?
Whilst we have attended and really enjoyed previous Melbourne RoyalFood Awards ceremonies, we absolutely loved the format this year,whereby there was a real connection between the winners and theirproducts. By having the platters on the table and announcing the winnersin conjunction with what was served on the platters, really put in focusthose producers. We could see, first hand, why they were Trophy winners.It has encouraged me to seek out the producers, see where I can buytheir product and also share that with family and friends.
The flow from being seated, enjoying the platters and awards ceremony totea/coffee and dessert (scones and ice cream cart) worked incredibly well.It was the conduit for getting people up and about and mingling! Thewhole ceremony was very well done.
We also loved meeting the Melbourne Royal staff, judges andproducers. It was a great space to meet people but the time to mingle was all too brief!
To view the full list of winners, head to melbourneroyal.com.au/food