Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Liliana Biondo.
Maria Liliana Biondo (@theBatcher) was born in Caracas Venezuela to Mediterranean Immigrants. Her Sicilian dad, also a gelato chef taught her everything since she was a little girl. She was happy and lucky to be able to play in his gelato lab without knowing that the art of the frozen desserts would become later a lifetime passion.
In 2014, after succeeding in the retail business in Caracas with over 5 gelato shops, she moves to the States and in 2016, decides to start the gelato adventure in Miami, co-founding with her husband: uGOgelato, a gelato shop that mainly uses Sicilian ingredients/recipes and proudly follows the traditional Sicilian methods of gelato crafting.
In September 2018, Maria Liliana decides to compete in the Gelato Festival, the most authoritative event in the world dedicated to Italian artisan gelato. It is a traveling festival crossing Italy, Europe, the United States, and Japan in large food trucks in search of the best gelato in the world.
https://gelatofestival.com/it/
Among the participating cities, Maria Liliana chooses Washington due to its Nation’s Capital condition. Trinacrium, the flavor specially designed for the competition, as voted by the Jury and the Public as the best gelato and crowned as the Winner of the competition and awarded the Gold Medal. In addition, Trinacrium wins the most selling gelato of the stage setting a new tour record. This victory allows Maria Liliana to compete in the Gelato Festival American Finals celebrated in Miami in mid-March 2019.
In Miami, Trinacrium the flavor-packed with the best from Sicily, a layered gelato made out of Pistachio, almonds, and oranges was awarded the Bronze Medal at the American Finals and the Title of Third Best Gelato in America. Today, Maria Liliana without counting the points scored in the American Finals is ranked number 19 in the Gelato Chefs World Ranking. (https://gelatofestival.com/it/world-ranking/)
Today, uGOgelato is moving from 7th Street and it’s currently looking for a new space in the Brickell area.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Obstacles: Migration/Language
Migration would be the hardest thing. Been separated from family and friends is always a hard and difficult obstacle and even more when you arrive in a foreign country with a different language.
The first city in the States for Maria Liliana was Pittsburgh, PA where she attended intensive English classes. Then, after 1 year she and her husband move down to Miami.
Challenge: Entrepreneurship
As an entrepreneur, there is nothing more exciting than starting your own business from scratch and even more challenging to do it in a different country, on an unknown field with different rules, different market and different customers. Once was an obstacle, now becomes a challenge. And that is exactly what keeps Maria Liliana moving forward. She is happy and proud to be responsible for creating a brand, from naming and logo identity, until building permits and certificate of occupancy.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
Maria Liliana specializes in creating experiences. In transporting palates to the Mediterranean through gelato flavors. Maria Liliana specializes in the crafting of all-natural artisan gelato through traditional methods and genuine recipes. She specializes in bringing the experience of the original gelato to today XXI Century customers.
None of this would be possible without passion. A simple word but infinite meaning. Maria Liliana puts love and passion in every batch. Each gelato batch relates to her dad, to what she learned from him and establish an invisible dialog between her and her Sicilian roots. Is the -passion- the intangible element that makes Maria Liliana different. Trinacrium for example, the Award-winning gelato flavor, was designed as “a tribute to immigrants, to Sicilian immigrants” and is crafted using the three main, most representative ingredients from the Volcanic Island.
Tell us about your childhood, what were you like growing up?
Maria Liliana is curious and an explorer. Explorer for: people, places, and flavors.
Maria Liliana holds a bachelor in Psychology from the Universidad Central de Venezuela and is taking the last semester of her Master in Psychology at the Albizu University (Doral, FL).
She likes to run, trail run, mountain camping and outdoor activities in general. She likes meeting new people and travels to new places to discover the cultures and their culinary heritage.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.uGOgelato.com
- Phone: +1 305 713 3444
- Email: mlbiondo@uGOgelato.com
- Instagram: @theBatcher
- Facebook: @uGOgelatoUS
- Twitter: @uGOgelato
Image Credit:
Hugo Biondo
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