Healthy London-based artisan ice cream maker La Gelatiera, winner of two Golden Fork awards and four UK Top 50 Foods at Great Taste Awards, are expanding and offering the public an opportunity to invest through a crowdfunding campaign.

The company offers its own modern take on the age-old delicacy of ice cream making and combines the owners family heritage of artisanal gelato making with their slow food ethic, incorporating healthy seasonal ingredients into their creations. La Gelatiera was co-founded by Antonia Parisi and Stephene Leyvraz, who grew bored of working in the corporate world and set up the business instead. Parisi, whose grandfather made gelato in Italy, is carrying on a family tradition, and the shop’s original recipes were based on his grandfather’s creations. Freshness and healthiness are key factors in the creation of their product range; all ice creams are produced daily, with 100% natural ingredients, and the company exclusively uses un-homogenised organic Jersey Cow milk from dairies in Somerset. Additionally, they are very transparent about their supply chain and where their ingredients are procured from.

Following the success of the gelato shop, opened in 2011 in Covent Garden La Gelatiera are now planning to expand their operations to open up a second retail outlet. They are planning to raise the funds to open and launch the second shop by seeking a £40,000 revenue loan (with a 9.5% APR) on Crowd2Fund.com. The funds will be used to launch and market a second London based shop, increase the size of the kitchen, and help scale up the business to serve growing demand business customers.

The company is seeking financing through the crowd, as it provides an opportunity to reach and engage with their enthusiastic customer base. Parisi says, “Using Crowd2Fund is a great way to reach out to our existing brand ambassadors as well as new customers. The loan will go towards our expansion of the brand, by opening a new shop in the Olympic village in Stratford, as well as allowing us to grow revenues by selling to supermarkets and to businesses.”

For more information, visit their campaign page here.