When she launched her now-booming Elm City gelato business nearly a decade ago, Giuliana Maravalle set out to recreate the frozen confection she knew from her childhood in Italy. The “industrialized” versions of the treat being sold in the U.S. just didn’t live up to her memories.
But producing a top-quality product while growing her business posed a challenge. How would she keep prices competitive without cutting corners on ingredients?
“I insisted upon not ruining the tradition – everything was fresh, everything was quality – and I was up against people who were putting things like drops of raspberry (flavoring into their product), rather than the raspberry,” the owner of Gelato Giuliana said.
People tried to convince her to do the same – 10 drops of strawberry flavoring is a lot cheaper than a pound of strawberries, they’d tell her — but Maravalle didn’t waver. Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: Stay true to your vision.
“It’s difficult to stick to your guns, but I’ve found in the long run it has worked out,” said Maravalle, whose business was named one of Fortune magazine’s fastest-growing inner city companies in 2012. “People do recognize a quality product.”
Maravalle was one of four successful New Haven-area entrepreneurs who offered advice to current and would-be business owners Thursday during the panel discussion “Trends & Tips from Leading Entrepreneurs: How to Manage a Healthy Business in Any Business Climate.” Brent Robertson of Fathom, a West Hartford company that helps businesses reshape their brand identities, moderated.
The session was one of several offered during the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce’s Big Connect at the Toyota Oakdale Theater, which featured more than 100 business vendors from throughout the region and is billed as one of the state’s largest business-to-business events.
The expo featured back-to-back programs on such topics as the opioid crisis and its effect on businesses, attracting foreign investors, social media marketing and women in leadership.
“Every one of these sessions is geared toward educating business owners,” said chamber President Tony Rescigno, who expected the day’s attendance to reach 1,500. “It’s an opportunity for business people to come together in one day and meet lots and lots of folks they would not normally meet.”
At the entrepreneurship event, about 50 people gathered to hear advice and pose questions to some of the region’s leading entrepreneurs.
Tariq Farid, founder and CEO of global fruit bouquet giant Edible Arrangements, based in Wallingford, said with rapidly advancing technologies and the rise of millennials as a major market force, businesses today need to respond to changes more quickly than ever.
“A lot of people will ignore something coming,” he told the group. “They’re like, ‘I don’t do Snapchat.’ Well, you better figure out Snapchat because your customers are doing Snapchat.”
He said Edible Arrangements always encourages its franchisees to be the “latest and greatest” and to “keep looking around the corner so they always see what’s coming.”
“You don’t have to bring things in right away, but you have to understand them,” he said. “You have to understand how a consumer is thinking.”
He also stressed the importance of having good mentors — not just to motivate, but to “smack you over the head” if you do something wrong and keep you from getting “too googly-eyed” when times are good.
“It’s always good to have an advisory board,” agreed panelist Roberta Hoskie, president and CEO of Outreach Realty Services in New Haven. “You need that person who will say, ‘I don’t think this is a good idea.’”
Natalie Missakian can be reached at news@newhavenbiz.com
