There are some food businesses whose success feels personal to celebrate, and for us at Dorset Food & Drink, Baboo Gelato is certainly one of them.
We’ve watched Annie and Sam Hanbury grow Baboo from a small Dorset gelato business into one of the country’s most respected artisan ice cream producers. From those early days selling ice cream by the coast to supplying hundreds of customers across the Southwest and beyond, they’ve always stayed true to their values: making exceptional gelato by hand using real ingredients, plenty of care, and a healthy dose of Dorset determination.
Now, they have achieved something truly remarkable.
Baboo Gelato has become the first ice cream and gelato producer believed to have won a Great Taste 3-Star Award in three consecutive years, after its Hazelnut Gelato received the highest accolade possible in the 2026 awards.
For anyone unfamiliar with Great Taste, these awards are often described as the ‘Oscars’ of the food world. Products are judged completely blind by panels of chefs, food writers, retailers and industry experts, with only around 2% of entries receiving the coveted 3-star rating each year.
Even winning a single 3-star award is an extraordinary achievement. Winning one in three consecutive years is something only a handful of food and drink businesses across the entire Great Taste scheme have managed.
Hazelnut Gelato follows a run of previous 3-star successes for Baboo, including:
• Double Chocolate Gelato (2024)
• Mint Choc Chip Gelato (2025)
• Crystallised Ginger Gelato (2025)
That means Baboo has achieved at least one 3-star award in 2024, 2025 and 2026, placing the Dorset business in exceptionally rare company.
As co-founder Annie Hanbury put it:
“It’s really nice to know that it’s not just me that loves this flavour. It’s the young and old, and now apparently the judges of the Great Taste Awards.”
The judges were certainly impressed, praising the gelato’s “nutty punch”, “velvety smooth” texture and “luxurious, rich, authentic and perfectly balanced” flavour.
Like all Baboo products, the award-winning gelato starts with carefully sourced ingredients. The hazelnuts come from a specialist producer in Italy’s renowned Piedmont region, an area famous for producing some of the world’s finest hazelnuts. Annie and Sam reportedly tasted more than twenty different hazelnut pastes before selecting the one they use today, demonstrating the attention to detail that has become synonymous with the Baboo brand.
The 3-star award wasn’t the only success for the Dorset team this year. Baboo also picked up:
• A 2-star Great Taste Award for Pistachio Gelato
• A 1-star Great Taste Award for Hot Cross Bun Gelato
• A 1-star Great Taste Award for Raspberry Baboo Bonbon
Together, they underline what many of us in Dorset already know: Baboo continues to innovate while maintaining the craftsmanship and quality that first won customers over.
Today, Baboo supplies more than 500 cafés, restaurants, farm shops and delis across the South West and beyond, alongside its Dorset kiosks and nationwide home delivery service. Yet despite its growth, it remains firmly rooted in Dorset, with every batch of gelato and sorbet still handmade at the company’s production lab in Rampisham.
For Dorset Food & Drink, it’s always a pleasure to see local producers gaining national recognition, particularly businesses like Baboo that have helped put Dorset food and drink on the map.
Congratulations to Annie, Sam and the whole Baboo team on an achievement that is not only fantastic for the business, but also another proud moment for Dorset’s thriving food and drink sector.
Rooted in Dorset and crafted with care, Baboo Gelato continues to showcase the innovation, flavour and craftsmanship of the county’s food landscape.
Discover more about this award-winning Dorset business and its range of handmade gelato and sorbet here.
