Local ice cream brand Rumah Gelato (RG) has an eye on opening kiosks in retail centres across Brunei after opening their third outlet in Serusop which houses their largest kitchen to date.
RG founder Mordeny Hj Modihi said the new branch would produce and supply gelato to their outlet at BIBD Connects in Lambak, private catering orders as well as kiosks targeted in the near future.
“Our Serusop kitchen is roughly double the size of our Kiulap kitchen (which is half a shop unit),” said Mordeny during his official launch earlier this afternoon. “This will allow us to produce quicker, with more consistency and quality and also allow us to do more research and development to improve our gelato further.”
Mordeny – who began RG from home in 2013 – shared that a central kitchen would be key for the company’s future expansion as it opens up potential for gelato to be supplied to smaller kiosk-styled storefronts which require less capital outlay.
The 39-year-old also said that RG would continue to experiment with developing new flavours to stay relevant to evolving customer tastes.
“Even though we now have a core set of popular flavours like speculoos, we spend a good amount of time experimenting with new flavours so that customers do not get bored coming in and seeing the same thing,” said Mordeny. “We want to bring that excitement. We’ve developed more than 60 (flavours) to date.”
Mordeny began his entrepreneurial journey after dusting off an unused ice-cream maker at his home, an impulse purchase he made after visting gelato cafes while traveling in Europe where his wife was stationed for work.
Then fully employed with a private IT company, Mordeny would work evenings and weekends to make orders for RG, which were either sold through customer reservations or at pop-up events.
While RG isn’t the first to serve gelato in the Sultanate – it’s the first homegrown brand to focus entirely on making it.
RG graduated to their first storefront, a half-sized unit in Setia Kenangan II in Kiulap in the middle of 2016 and despite competition from foreign franchises nearby, Mordeny has managed to gain a firm foothold in the area, and expanded to Lambak at BIBD Connects earlier in March.
Read how Mordeny began his entrepreneurial journey here. Rumah Gelato Serusop is located next to Fitness Zone and Bake Culture and like their other branches opens from 10am to 9pm from Monday to Thursday and stays open until 10pm from Friday to Sunday. To to get in touch directly contact +6737192919.
