Three steps out of the car, I could spot the store at the corner of the block. On the green, white, and red canopy, a sign read the name, “Pesso’s Italian Ices,” and through the two big panels of glass that made up one walls of the store, a bright interior shone invitingly. Plastered on the back wall were signs that labelled various delicious treats like gelato, creamy ices, ices, and milkshakes. The array of vibrant colors of ice cream inside the freezers reflected the endless flavor options that the signs promised. To name a few, there was key lime pie, coffee brownie brittle, pistachio and the classics, vanilla and chocolate. The customers inside were leaning against the windows, laughing and talking casually while enjoying their choice of frozen treats.
Menus at Pesso’s
Upon entering the store, Kathy and I were greeted by a man behind the counter who happened to be the owner himself, Gidon Pesso. With glasses perched on his nose and a thick jacket on, Pesso agreed to have a conversation with us. He excitedly waved towards the table in a corner and as we sat down, began to unravel the history behind how the beloved italian ices store came to be in the Bayside, Queens neighborhood.
Gidon Pesso was born in America, but grew up in Israel. At age 25, he moved back to America and met his wife. For years he worked as a house painter, but the back pain his job was causing led him to decide that he wanted to adopt a new career. “I searched for something I would like to do in terms of career change,” Pesso said. “[I] kind of went back to my childhood and thought about what I’d love to do and ice cream always kept on coming back.” Twelve years ago, he translated that dream into reality when he bought the recipes and the store from a friend.
Gidon Pesso, the owner
Pesso’s Italian Ices started as and still is a family run business in Bayside, a neighborhood that Pesso describes as, “a cute little neighborhood [that] over the years has become a destination [and] a residential area.” The goods made at Pesso starts with mixes, fruit purees, sugar, and corn syrup. After mixing, the products are put together in a machine. However, for the flavors that have additives inside like cookies and nuts, Pesso and his family takes the ice cream out of the machines, adds the ingredients, and then mixes it by hand. Otherwise, the next step is the ice cream is taken out of the machine, poured into containers, and then freezed. After this labor intensive process, the products of ice cream, ices, gelato, and more are fresh and ready to be served to eager customers.
Ice cream selection
The store is not seasonal, so people can come in all year round to enjoy ice cream and ices. Pesso compares the business to a bar when he says “you come here to have ice cream to leave everything behind and just enjoy. That frivolous kind of a thing. What happens in Pesso’s stays in Pesso’s.” The customers that visit not only because they like ice cream, but because they crave a fun and cool atmosphere. People of different nationalities visit, including the dedicated regulars who go Pesso’s on a weekly basis since it first opened, and people who only stop by once. No matter how different the customer, Pesso knows that they all have one thing in common: they don’t come in because they have to, they come in because they want to.
Although there were no bad critiques about the neighborhood, Pesso mentioned that running a small business was a tough challenge. He says the cost of doing business is crazy for a small business because they have to take into account regular expenses and the New York State and City regulations and taxes. For example, he says raising minimum wage makes it difficult because a change from $9.00 to $10.50 overnight can cause almost a 14% hike in labor expenses for him. He explains that minimum wage was established not as a wage that could be lived off of, but as a wage that young people could be paid when they get a job to gain experience, thrive, and then move on. Customers may expect more people behind the counter for better service but it is difficult when the minimum wage increases and the cost of rent, water, and materials need to be paid for to0.
To fix this problem, Pesso encourages young people to educate themselves about the situation small business are facing in order to vote for the right people who can help and support them. However, Pesso is also tackling this problem in his own way:
“Every single year I made my product better, I made my store cleaner, I made it brighter, [and I] got the best people. A lot of business, when things get more difficult financially, put less cheese on their pizza [and] they water down their sauce. I did the opposite. I put more cookies in my cookie dough and got a better product. Got better freezers, more efficient. Made the store brighter, made it more welcoming.”
Another lesson Pesso learned along the way was to keep less inventory so that thousands of dollars weren’t sitting in storage. As a result, he will have money ready when an emergency occurs. Additionally, Pesso comments that to make a small business work, you have to reach out. They went on social media and they currently have 6,500 followers on Facebook, a vast increase from the 1,000 followers from last year. He has also paired with UberEats so that his treats can be ordered and delivered to locations up to 6 miles away, which helps the store with slow times.
Pesso says, “I spend 20% of my day searching for better products, better ways, more simple ways, and more affordable ways to run my business and efficiently.” He states that when running a small business you can never get too comfortable. With that, he ends the conversation with the following advice to always be smart and innovative.
After the interview, Kathy and I had to buy ices as our treat for the day. Although Kathy was a regular, I was not. I chose rainbow, my favorite flavor of ices that compromised the flavors of cherry, lemon, and blue raspberry in ices form. My spoon sunk smoothly into the bright red, white, and blue and the ice melted nicely in my mouth. The flavor was bold, fresh, and very tasty. As we exited the friendly atmosphere of the shop, I observed the winding roads, big houses, green grass, and tall trees that were around me. From that perspective, I could see how Pesso’s Italian Ices is a popular meeting spot for the residents of quiet, but bustling Bayside to enjoy something delicious and hang out.
Top: Cheesecake Bottom: Rainbow
