The owner of a gelato store on Sydney’s northern beaches has laughed off claims he ‘copied’ trendy menu items from a rival café.
Matteo Dominici, who co-owns Mr Gelato by Matteo in Freshwater, was accused by nearby business Blessed Bowls of stealing its açaí bowl menu.
A sign pinned to the window of Blessed Bowls went viral on Thursday for claiming its lovingly curated menu had been ripped off.
‘Dear Blessed Bowls customers. We have been very disappointed to see a local business take our whole menu, all items, names and pricing and identically copy what we have spent three years carefully crafting,’ the notice read.
‘The business has directly copied and pasted our entire menu with no alterations. This is very sad to see in such a great community.
‘There is no harm in serving açaí bowls; however, taking what a company has uniquely crafted is very disappointing to see. We have no association with Mr Gelato and we ask that our loyal customers continue to support us.’
Matteo Dominici, the co-owner of a gelato store on Sydney’s northern beaches, has laughed off claims he ‘copied’ trendy menu items from a rival café
A sign pinned to the window of Blessed Bowls (pictured) went viral on Thursday for claiming its lovingly curated menu had been ripped off by Mr Gelato by Matteo
‘The don’t have the right to say I have copied them because everyone makes them [açaí bowls] so similar,’ Mr Dominici told Daily Mail Australia.
‘There are a lot of places on the strip [that] offer açaí bowls, but for some reason they are against us – and I don’t know why.’
The sign has been up for more than a month, Mr Dominici said, setting tongues wagging in the quiet coastal enclave for several weeks.
‘I’m a local, I know everyone around here, so word travelled quickly when the sign went up.’ he added.
‘They are a big franchise; we are a small family business. I run this one and my sister runs the shop in Collaroy.
‘If we are copying them, then why have they opened another store near us in Collaroy?’
The açaí bowl menu at Mr Gelato offers a number of the items also on sale at Blessed Bowls, with some of the ingredients listed word for word- including the Biscoff Bowl açaí, 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],’ Mr Dominici said of the similarities.
Blessed Bowls has seven franchises across Sydney
Mr Gelato’s açaí bowl menu is seen here
Blessed Bowl’s açaí menu is seen here
Mr Dominici says plenty of businesses on the strip serve similar açaí bowls
Açaí bowls are essentially thick smoothie bowls loaded with different toppings.
They are made of pulped and flash-frozen açaí berries and pureed with other frozen fruit then served in a bowl and topped with a variety of fresh fruit, granola, seeds, nuts or peanut butter.
According to Mr Dominici, he decided to add the berry dessert to his menu three months ago after his young customers were always asking if he served them.
‘Açaí is the trend and it matches with gelato. Of course I’m going to offer it to my customers,’ he said.
‘There is business on the strip for everyone so let’s give our customers what they want.’
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