Creating Delicious Memories

1932

Pietro Rossi, a distant cousin of Anna Rossi, moved to Southend with his family from Consett County Durham. Pietro went into partnership with Gus and Anna Rossi, opening a parlour at 1 Marine Parade.

1938

The partnership dissolved with Pietro continuing with the 1 Marine Parade parlour and opened a kiosk along Westcliff seafront. Pietro’s eldest daughters, Gemma and Maria, helped in the business whilst his youngest daughter Lolanda and only son Tony attended Sacred Heart and St. Bernard’s Schools.

When war broke out Tony was sent to a boarding school in Italy.

1939

World War II began and the Rossi family had to vacate their premises due to the seafront area being used for military purposes. Luisa and her two youngest children spent the war years in Italy, whilst Pietro and Maria remained in England.

Pietro Rossi was interned as an ‘enemy alien’ on the Isle of Wight and Maria worked as a waitress to support her father. (Enemy Alien - an ‘alien’ residing in a country at war with the one of which they are a citizen).

1946

The end of the war meant the Rossi family were re-united. They resumed their business interests in Southend, selling ice cream from Marine Parade and the two sites along Western Esplanade.

1950's – 1960's

The business flourished throughout this period with Luisa and Pietro’s children taking over the reins. To cope with demand, an ice cream factory was built in Lucy Road, Southend in 1967. Luisa died in 1957 and Pietro died in 1968 respectively.

1969

Rossi Ice Cream acquired a kiosk at the top of Southend High Street, which proved to be a very busy site in the summer months. Demand was always high for our traditional vanilla ice cream. It was served from stainless steel barrels and required a scoop to serve on cones.

1983

Maria Rossi, by then Maria Fantauzzi, was invited onto The Generation Game in 1983 to demonstrate the method of serving an ice cream on a cone with a spatula.

2006

Following the deaths of Maria, Lolanda and Tony, the factory on Lucy Road and Westcliff Kiosk were sold and 1 Marine Parade was leased out. The business continued under new ownership manufacturing ice cream from Lucy Road based on the same traditional recipe, with the addition of up to date administration and food manufacturing practices to operate more effectively within modern food manufacturing guidelines.

2010

Achieved accreditation with SALSA. (SALSA is a food-safety standard written by experienced food safety experts to reflect both the legal requirements of producers and the enhanced expectations of 'best practice' of professional food buyers. SALSA certification is only granted to suppliers who are able to demonstrate to an auditor that they are able to produce safe and legal food and are committed to continually meeting the requirements of the SALSA standard).

2012

Rossi Ice Cream celebrated its 80th Anniversary.

The business introduced personalised branded ice cream tubs. The first year saw tubs going as far as the South of France, in Monaco, for a Sportfive event.

2015

Summer 2015 saw a brand refresh for Rossi, which introduced the company’s first ever printed containers in over 80 years. Together with our updated logo enabling our products to sit proudly on retailer’s shelves, reflecting the premium ice cream we produce.

2016

In July 2016 we believe Rossi became the first known manufacture in the UK to produce black ice cream! This created HUGE interest within the press, which included both national and international media coverage.

2017

Rossi celebrates 85th Anniversary

Rossi moved from its original Lucy Road factory, where it was situated since 1967, to new premises at Temple Farm Industrial Estate, Southend. The biggest move for Rossi Ice Cream in 50 years.

2021

Under new ownership Rossi under goes an exciting brand refresh to bring it more inline with it's long lasting heritage.

During this period Rossi also started supplying numerous leisure and farm parks with it's fabulous ice cream. Seeing a window of opportunity Rossi also began to branch out into supplying slush & sweets with plans to start producing it's own coffee, bread and pastries in 2022.