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The owner of an ice cream parlor on Sydney’s northern beaches has laughed off claims he “copied” trendy menu items from a rival cafe.
Matteo Dominici, co-owner of Mr Gelato by Matteo in Freshwater, was accused by nearby business Blessed Bowls of stealing its açaí bowl menu.
A sign taped to the window of Blessed Bowls went viral on Thursday for claiming their carefully curated menu had been ripped off.
‘Dear Blessed Bowls customers. “We have been very disappointed to see a local company take our entire menu, all items, names and prices, and identically copy what we have spent three years carefully crafting,” the notice said.
‘The company has directly copied and pasted our entire menu without modifications. It is very sad to see this in such a large community.
‘There’s nothing wrong with serving açaí bowls; However, it is very disappointing to see what a company has uniquely created. “We have no association with Mr Gelato and ask that our loyal customers continue to support us.”
Matteo Dominici, co-owner of an ice cream parlor on Sydney’s northern beaches, has laughed off claims he “copied” trendy menu items from a rival cafe.
A sign taped to the window of Blessed Bowls (pictured) went viral on Thursday for claiming its carefully curated menu had been ripped off by Mr Gelato by Matteo.
“They have no right to say I copied them because everyone makes them (acaí bowls) very similar,” Dominici told Daily Mail Australia.
“There are a lot of places on the Strip that offer açaí bowls, but for some reason they’re against us, and I don’t know why.”
The sign has been up for more than a month, Dominici said, causing tongues wagging in the quiet coastal enclave for several weeks..
“I’m a local, I know everyone around here, so word spread quickly when the sign came up.” he added she.
‘They are a great franchise; We are a small family business. I run this one and my sister runs the store in Collaroy.
‘If we are copying them, why have they opened another store near us in Collaroy?’
Mr Gelato’s açaí bowl menu offers several of the items that are also for sale at Blessed Bowls, with some of the ingredients listed verbatim, including the Biscoff açaí Bowl, Brownie açaí, and Snickers açaí.
“We offer a much larger selection of açaí bowls and they are named after the main ingredient, not because we copied (Blessed Bowls),” Dominici said of the similarities.
Blessed Bowls has seven franchises in Sydney
Mr Gelato’s açaí bowl menu can be seen here
Blessed Bowl’s açaí menu seen here
Dominici says many businesses on the Strip serve similar açaí bowls
Açaí bowls are essentially thick smoothie bowls loaded with different toppings.
They are made from pulped and flash frozen açaí berries and pureed with other frozen fruits, then served in a bowl and topped with a variety of fresh fruits, granola, seeds, nuts or peanut butter.
According to Dominici, he decided to add the red fruit dessert to his menu three months ago after his young customers always asked him if it would work for them.
‘Açaí is fashionable and combines with ice cream. Of course I’m going to offer it to my clients,” she stated.
“There are businesses on the Strip for everyone, so let’s give our customers what they want.”