Made from scratch. Crafted with love. Scooped by hand.

We know that it takes a community to make small-batch gelato by hand, and we strive to build relationships with farmers, producers, supplier, and customers that enable us to create something special.We believe the quality is higher when we know the people providing our ingredients, so we buy direct and happily use Straus Family Creamery’s certified organic milk and cream from Petaluma, California.

Our belief in relationship extends to the rest of the business; when you drop by the scoop shop you’ll likely find one of our family members or close friends behind the counter. Making gelato this way requires more work and skill than traditional ice creams (made with flavorings and colorings), but we think it’s worth it.

It’s not just business. It’s family.

The idea for Sanders & Sons gelato was born out of a family Thanksgiving visit to New York in 2015 which was unexpectedly extended by a week.  What are ice cream fanatics to do with plenty of time on our hands?  Ice Cream Crawl!

Hitting four or five artisanal ice cream shops a day,  we were impressed by the creativity and fun being scooped in Manhattan and Brooklyn. We tried everything we could get our hands on, often ordering everything on the menu.  After the ice cream crawl, we decided to bring this passion for quality and fun to our Ojai community

We make our gelato from scratch at our micro dairy in Ojai, using organic cream, milk and eggs, fresh fruit from locally owned farms, focusing on local, seasonal flavors.

Sanders & Sons founder Sanders Marvin is a food entrepreneur and gelato maker working to become a certified ‘master gelatiere’ with Carpigiani’s Gelato University in Bologna Italy.  He has studied frozen dessert making at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Agricultural Sciences and with Maria Coassin of Seattle's famous Gelatiamo restaurant at Pike Place.  He earned an MBA from the University of Minnesota and studied at the Harvard Business School’s Executive Education program.