11/16/2007 | Testimonial: Michael Crispen, co-owner, Diaggio’s Gelato & Pizzeria, Holland, Ohio

My wife and I have been coming to NAPICS for two years now to see what’s new in the pizza and ice cream worlds. Since we sell both gelato and pizza, we’re always looking for new trends. My wife is just a nut about gelato, so any knowledge she can suck out of anyone on that subject, she’s there.

We’ve been to the pre-event seminars both years. The first time we both went to the pizza one, and last year she went to the ice cream one. The gelato seminar was tremendous, and we really learned a lot.

Big Dave Ostrander and Tom Lehmann (The Dough Doctor) were great (in the pizza workshops), and my wife really learned a lot from Marco Cassol, who led the gelato seminar. After meeting (Cassol’s Pregel team a year ago), we started buying their products. We first came across their products at NAPICS.

I’d recommend NAPICS to other ice cream operators, and I’d definitely tell them to do the seminars. They’re very in-depth, the people leading them are so knowledgeable and they can teach you more than you could imagine. And since we sell pizza and gelato, I’d say the same for a pizza operator, too: do the seminar. We’ve only been in business two years now, so this all has been a big help to us.