Paolo Cafolla’s family has a long history in the ice-cream business, and now, as the summer weather begins to kick off, his new venture on Dun Laoghaire pier hopes to build on that legacy.
"Cafolla's ice cream originally started in 1912 or 1913, from my great grandfather. He opened up a little shop on Capel Street when he came over from Italy, " Mr Cafolla said.
“And it wasn’t called Cafolla ’s initially, but then they moved to O’Connell Street in the early ’20s, and that was called Cafolla’s Ice Cream Parlour and it remained there until the late ’70s.”
He says he has since met people who have told him “fantastic stories about them going on their first date there”, including couples now married 50 years.
During the pandemic, Mr Cafolla got back into the world of hospitality, and that is when the “daydream” to restart the brand began.Cafolla’s On The Pier opened up last month, serving coffee, juice sandwiches and soft-serve ice cream to passers by.
Mr Cafolla said they don’t yet have their own gelato on offer because they’re operating from a mobile catering unit.
“The plan would be to have two more locations in the rest of this year, and hopefully in the next location we will have the space and the ability to start the gelato ice cream again.”
Forecast
The reception has been warm in the first few weeks of opening, he said, and luckily for Mr Cafolla it would appear that summer weather will be making an appearance this weekend, with highest temperatures of up to 21 degrees possible.
According to Emer Flood, forecaster with Met Éireann, Thursday will be cloudy, with a few showers, but the weather will improve in the subsequent days.
“There will be few showers over the weekend, decent sunshine, but probably not completely blue skies for everyone,” she said.
“Highest temperatures are forecast to be between 17 and 19 degrees. On Sunday, it will probably reach 20 degrees in some places, particularly in the South east, and there is a chance of it reaching 21 degrees, but that depends on the level of cloud cover, which could cap the temperature.”
Ms Flood said temperatures are around two degrees higher than average for this time of year, but it was not unusual to experience this sort of fluctuation coming into the summer.
“It will be more unsettled next week. People should get out and enjoy the sun while they can,” she said.
