Tuesday 22nd November, Philip Mancini on 100 years of Ice Cream Making

Ayr Rotary Club welcomed the venerable Ayrshire business man Philip Mancini as their speaker on Tuesday evening. He gave his interested audience a thoroughly entertaining account of the ice cream business. For 99 years four generations of the Mancini family have been making and selling the finest, award winning ice-cream from the Royal Cafe in Ayr.

Antonio Mancini arrived in London in the very late part of 19th Century from Italy. After a number of years in London he then moved to Glasgow and then in 1910 on down the Clyde coast to the town of Ayr. The Mancini family started making ice cream in 1913 at King Street where the family stayed and in 1917 Michael Mancini was born

In 1925 the family moved their business to 11 New Road, Ayr where today the company is still being run from. It started as many Italians did in those days with an Ice Cream parlour and Fish & Chip shop. Michael worked in the business from an early age and took the reigns of the company in 1940 and held them until October 1991 when he finally retired.

In the thirties to the fifties Mancini made ice cream for many outlets in Ayr and serviced the Ayr Promenade with their high quality ice cream. The company is 96 years old and is still under the Mancini family and three generations later are still producing high quality products. The company is being run today by Philip Mancini.

president-harry-with-philip-mancini

President Harry with Philip Mancini

Philip with 35 years experience in ice cream manufacturing spent eight years on the national Executive Committee of the Ice Cream Alliance Ltd and had the great honour of being National President of the association in the year of 1993/94. Philip is in charge of all production of Mancini’s Ice Cream on a daily basis which is now being wholesaled through the West of Scotland delivered by our own vehicles.

For a small company, Mancini’s have a big name for ice cream in Scotland, we have many awards from national competitions and are highly recommended in “SCOTLAND…The Best Guide 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2004 BEST MAGAZINE (Aug 1996)” and many other national press publications.

The company today produce high quality products ranging from dairy and non-dairy ice cream, fresh fruit sorbets and Italian high quality frozen desserts. The company can produce over 200 different flavours of ice cream. The company is still based at 11 New Road, Ayr which is also where the Mancini family still operate.

Jim McVie gave a worthy vote of thanks

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