Award-winning Kettering gelato specialist now offering hot street food 'better than in Italy'

An award-winning Kettering gelateria is branching out by selling hot street food to bring a taste of Italy to the town.

Family-run Rockys in Sheep Street will offer slices of fresh ready-to-go pizza and arancini alongside their award-winning ice cream and Yellow Bourbon coffee roasted in Sywell.

Building on their ‘Britalian’ brand, they’re proud of their locally-sourced ingredients and low food miles.

A collaboration with other local producers began after their gelato scooped a gold award in the artisan local product of the year category at the Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2022/23.

Founder Ian Rock said: “When we won the award, we realised that there were loads of other producers locally that we could collaborate with on out ‘farm to finger’ Italian food. We try to keep it as local as possible.

"We grow all our own herbs. The nduja comes from free-range pigs in Crick. We want local producers to get in touch to collaborate.”

Mr Rock says that the reason they can offer premium quality food at street food prices is by ‘cutting out the middleman’.

He said: “Most of the pizzas offered [elsewhere] are American-based. The pizzas are not very Italian. These are authentic. Everybody who has tasted them love them and people have said they are even better than the ones they have had in Italy.”

The pizzas are being sold alongside their gelatos which are made with milk from cows farmed at Newlands Farm in Hannington, between Kettering and Northampton.