An ice cream fit for royalty created by a Loughborough College student is proving to be a winner in Italy.
The brand new flavour, made by George Stone while on a College work experience trip to Sorrento, was crowned Prince George - and locals and tourists couldn’t get enough.
George was joined by 17 fellow students to spend a month in a range of leading tourist businesses in the historic Bay of Naples town, including restaurants and hotels, to boost workplace skills as part of Loughborough College’s Hospitality and Catering and Travel and Tourism courses.
The 16 year old Hospitality and Catering student worked at Gelato Bougainvillea and was given his big break in his second week of work at the ice cream shop and factory. “I told them my idea based on the traditional sticky toffee pudding and I was so excited when they said I could make it.
“I included caramel, cinnamon, plain cake, figs, and rum-soaked raisins and because I’d had to modify the recipe to work as an ice cream I was really hoping I wouldn’t be disappointed - but I was over the moon with the result.
“I had the biggest grin on my face when I tasted it – and then every time I saw how much the customers enjoyed it. We called it Prince George and it has been as popular with the locals as the with tourists.
“The whole work experience trip with Loughborough College was amazing. I was welcomed at the gelateria with open arms and loved it so much I would go into work more than an hour early in the mornings. They said they would like me to go back next summer.”
Leah Wright added that her time working at the Sorrento Tourist Board with fellow Travel and Tourism student Shreena Chohan, as well as helping organize many of the group’s excursions was “a fantastic opportunity.
“I helped with arrangements for Vesuvius, Herculaneum and the Amalfi coast and visited Capri as well as a local farm where we got to prepare and cook food we had picked and harvested. It was lovely to see many of the people I had advised at the Tourist Board and hear how grateful they were.
“I am so thankful to Loughborough College. I feel so much more confident and focused on where I want to go with my career now. I plan to carry on with the Italian lessons we had before we went and while we were there and go back as soon as I can.”
This is the seventh year Loughborough College students have been offered the chance to live and work in the southern Italian town, fully funded by the Leonardo da Vinci programme.
Simon Smith, Loughborough College Programme Leader for the Level 2 Diploma in Travel said: “There is an outstanding range of placements for our students in some of Sorrento’s top establishments.
“Some students have so impressed their employers in past years they have been offered a job.”
Picture shows George Stone with his Prince George ice cream at his work placement in Sorrento, Italy.