La Copa Loca Gelato
Mauro Pislor grew up helping in the kitchen of his father's
restaurant in northern Italy. He later attended a local culinary
school where he refined his style and worked towards becoming an
executive chef. In the early 90's Mauro to the Bay Area to work as
a chef and fell in love with the City's rich culinary culture and
cuisine. In December of 2001 Mauro returned to Europe to master
gelato making and trained with gelato makers in both Italy and
Germany. In 2005 his business plan became a reality when he opened
La Copa Loca in San Francisco.
Poco Dolce
In 2003 Kathy Wiley started a small San Francisco baking company
specializing in regional Italian pastries. It wasn't long before
she discovered a passion for creating hand-made chocolates with
unique and exciting flavors. With a predilection for more savory
foods, she decided that she would finish her signature chocolate
with a sprinkling of Grey Sea Salt on some Bittersweet Chocolate.
Poco Dolce's Bittersweet Chocolate "Tiles" were born.
Torani
With handwritten recipes from their hometown of Lucca, Italy,
Rinaldo and Ezilda Torre introduced Torani syrups to the North
Beach neighborhood of San Francisco in 1925. Mixing their syrup
recipes with sparkling water, the Torres introduced the classic
Italian soda to local cafes, and soon began mixing, blending and
selling Torani Syrups from their Italian wholesale grocery. Fast
forward to the early 1990s when Torani was at the helm of a new
flavor movement in coffee. While sitting in San Francisco's Caffe
Trieste, coffee industry veteran (and friend of Torani) "Brandy"
Brandenburger spied Torani behind the counter and brought a bottle
home to experiment with espresso and steamed milk. And thus, the
first flavored caffe latte emerged, changing the pages of espresso
history forever.