After being founded in Lansing and spreading to Ann Arbor, Iorio’s Gelateria and Caffe opened a new location this week located right next to MSU’s campus on the corner of Trowbridge Road and Harrison Road.
Created by siblings Nick and Mary Lemmer, the family-owned business serves gelato, or traditionally made Italian ice cream, which they make fresh in the store every day.
“There are three main differences (between gelato and ice cream),” Nick Lemmer, head gelato chef and owner of Iorio’s, said. “Gelato is made with a majority milk rather than majority cream, so you’re going to get a third of the fat.”
Nick Lemmer said gelato is made in smaller batches and churned slower than ice cream, making it dense and more flavorful. Gelato is also sold at a warmer temperature.
“When ice cream or something cold hits your tongue and it’s below a certain temperature, you’re actually paralyzing your taste buds, and thus inhibiting you from tasting the full flavor of the desert,” Nick Lemmer said. “I’m a little biased, but it’s a lot better for you and it tastes better.”
Iorio’s, pronounced ee-or-ee-ohs, and named for the Lemmers’ grandmother’s maiden name, began in 2004 with an Italian food cart started by Mary while in high school. Now, with Nick fresh out of college, they’ve opened their third location.
“(My advice for) students, especially... (just) do it,” Nick Lemmer said. “Ideas are a dime a dozen, the greatest idea is only as good as its execution. If you can’t go out and find a way to do it, it’s only an idea... take the risks you want to take and try to live the life you want to live, without worrying about what might happen next.”
Nick Lemmer, a 2014 University of Michigan alumnus and Lansing native, said he is enthusiastic about his future relationship with the MSU community.
“Even the building owner’s told me that ‘you’re going to have to learn to accept green a little,’” he said. “I’ve never come out on record saying (I’ll do that), but I can definitely handle being in East Lansing.”
Nick Lemmer said he’s constantly learning and trying to find ways to improve his business.
“When it comes down to it, we don’t say that we sell gelato,” he said. “I mean, we do, but we’re really selling and providing an experience. That starts with people that work there, to the way the store’s designed, everything that happens when you walk in the store — you’re feeling welcome.”
