Our Story
Humble beginnings
Every morning since 1907, in a tradition continued to this day, the ice cream at Morelli's is made fresh in every store. It began in Scotland when Giuseppe and his young son Mario, recently arrived from Southern Italy, set off on their bicycles every morning to sell their ice cream – not returning home until every last scoop was sold out.
As their signature gelato grew in popularity, soon the bicycle was replaced with a van and the business grew from strength to strength.
The first parlour
The first Morelli's Ice Cream Parlour in the UK was opened by Mario on the Broadstairs seafront above the picturesque Viking Bay in Kent in 1932. Mario’s son Joe was the first to serve 8 flavours of ice cream following the Parlour upgrade and expansion in 1959, followed by Mario who introduced the first 24 flavour display.
Broadstairs
Morelli’s in Broadstairs has, under the guidance of the Morelli family become a Mecca for gelato in the UK - set off by it’s iconic 1950’s flying canopy, Soda Fountain, original Lloyd Loom chairs and pink leatherette parlour seating.
Bibi has taken the brand on from its roots in the UK with a vision to change the way that the world viewed gelato.
Bibi Morelli has taken the mantle of Morelli’s Gelato and expanded to the Middle East, the America’s, West Africa and Asia. The uniqueness of Morelli’s - our history, the quality and freshness of our product and the creativity of our offer - has been introduced and is well loved by a global clientele; the energy of the business is always to bring gelato - the very best of it - to the world.