By comparison, a two-litre tub of generic brand supermarket vanilla ice cream can be bought for $2.75, or $1.38 per litre.

And yet it's not unusual to see queues out the door of the gelateria on Sale Street as locals and travellers wait patiently for their scoops and tubs of the hand-crafted goodies.

Co-owner Andrew Hamilton said business at Spilt Milk was up 30 percent compared to pre-COVID.

He reckoned that in difficult times people sought comfort.

And for those with a sweet tooth there is little more comforting that laying waste to a scoop or three of dense pistachio, Nutella or honeycomb gelato.

Asked for the secret to the popular pistachio flavour, Mr Hamilton said: "There is no secret. I've been doing food for 30 years and it's about using high quality ingredients.

"We use real pistachios from Victoria, which are ground and roasted; it takes longer to make and it's the most expensive gelato to make."

Mr Hamilton said the business invested early in an app and branded delivery vehicles, meaning he was not reliant on third party delivery services that can leave customers waiting and charge up to $9 for delivery.

He said delivery customers were often at the mercy of the restaurant in terms of waiting times, as drivers gave preference to restaurants that had orders ready to collect opposed to those where they had to wait.

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