IT'S ALL HOMEMADE — PEF retiree Fran Nolles and Kathy Forbes, co-owners of A Cone of Our Own, take out a freshly made batch of vanilla gelato on the first day of summer. The Albany cafe features dozens of flavors. Photo by Deborah A. Miles

Retirees scoop up profits with Italian-style ice cream

By DEBORAH A. MILES
It is almost impossible to choose.
In a well arranged bin at A Cone of Our Own — a gelateria and café in Albany — nearly two-dozen flavors of homemade gelato make your mouth water and head spin from trying to decide what flavor to try.

There are caramel, stracciatela (chocolate chip), hazelnut, tiramisu, lemon, mint chocolate, peanut butter cup, zabaglione (wine custard), peach, raspberry, pineapple, strawberry, mango and more.

Gelato has a low butterfat content, almost no air and lots of sugar. To say it is a treat for your taste buds is an understatement. It is one of those sinfully delicious foods.

Fran Nolles, co-owner of the shop and a PEF retiree, smiles as streams of city and state workers eye the selection of this special Italian-style ice cream.

Nolles and Kathy Forbes, both former employees at the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in the licensing and permit division, hatched a dream 16 years ago — to open an ice cream shop when they retired.

After both women put in their 36 years of state service last January, they quickly moved forward on their dream.

What changed their minds from ice cream to gelato was a conversation with their former boss at DEC headquarters,

Gene Pezdek, who raved about gelato after returning from a trip to Italy. (Pezdek is also a retired PEF member.)
The ladies were sold and ended up spending two days at the Gelato & Pastry Institute of America on Long Island.
To get the gelateria off the ground, Nolles and Forbes attended an intense eight-week training course on how to prepare a business proposal that was available through the Albany Business Improvement District office, and won $1,000 for coming up with the best plan.

Last October, they even sat outside on a cold day and did a clicker count of foot traffic to determine if 26 Maiden Lane would draw customers. It was part of their proposal and Nolles remembers 2,658 people passed that location.

They had a soft opening in May and a grand opening on June 8 after they gutted and designed their European-style shop, with the help of their husbands and friends.

“Everything just seemed to fall into place, so we decided to open earlier than planned,“ Nolles said.

“I’ve never had a job where I have not been busy. At our state job, there was more mental stress. At A Cone of Our Own there is more physical work, like fixing the soft-serve ice cream machines,” Nolles said, laughing.

“We’re working harder than ever here, but it is refreshing. We meet nice people, and we love to see the expressions on their faces when they taste our gelato,” she said. “It’s good to put a smile on people’s faces every day.”

The Communicator July/Aug. '06

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