Ottavio’s Ice Cream Bar, Edinburgh

Ottavio's Ice Cream Bar, on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, opened for business in March 2005. It was the brainchild of Ray Di Sotto and is managed by his son, Ottavio. The shop fitting was undertaken by RSS Hereford. You can read more about this in the Shop Fitting section of our site.

Two years on, the business is going from strength to strength, but Ray was confident there was still more he could do to increase custom so he decided to invest in a JOF One shock freezer from Techfrost.

So why did Ray choose to make this investment? He is candid about his love of new technology, which was one of the reasons behind the decision. But there were other reasons too. Firstly, it speeds up the hardening off process that all ice cream needs to undergo, saving the Di Sottos time.

But the shock freezer also means they can fluff the ice cream up above the top of the Napoli pan, giving it an attractive, homemade look. It gives their ice cream a distinctive appearance that can’t be replicated by mass-produced ice cream.

RSS Hereford worked with Ray to help him make the decision on which shock freezer would be right for his business. As part of this process, we installed a smaller, trial model of the JOF One at Ottavio’s so they could have a proper trial run before making the final decision. The purchase of the shock freezer is the continuation of the long relationship between our two family-run companies. “I’ll always choose to work with RSS,” says Ray, “they’re always on the phone, checking everything’s OK.”

Ottavio’s invested in the Techfrost shock freezer shortly before the end of the 2007 season, so it’s difficult to assess its real impact. But Ray is hoping that giving their ice cream such an eye-catching appearance will increase footfall, simply because shoppers walking past the parlour will be unable to resist the display. As Ray says, “Having the shock freezer means we’re doing something that no one else is doing.”