STUDIO CITY, Calif. – Katyna Mercenari and her husband, Alessandro Jacchia, own Fatamorgana Gelato shops in Studio City and Beverly Hills. She is the chef and has created more than 400 gelato recipes all of which are made by hand on the premises with fresh ingredients.

“Our gelato is special because we use real ingredients. Like the passion fruit. We do it with a real passion fruit. This is a mint flavor and you can see the leaves of the mint. We don't use any preservatives. We just use nature,” explained Mercenari. 

Recently, Mercernari and her daughters, Ariana and Allegra, have been donating cups of gelato to health care workers at the Valley Presbyterian Hospital.

But in the past two months, they've lost almost 100 percent of their wholesale business to restaurants and hotels, and only about 20 percent of their usual customers are coming into their locations. 

“We're all struggling a lot,” Mercenari said.

In addition to the huge loss of revenue, she is worried about a loss in access to farmers who provide some of the ingredients she uses to make her gelato. Most of them have shut down due to a lack of demand from the restaurants and schools that are the bulk of their clientele, and stopped delivering. 

“We are afraid that we wouldn't find herbs like vanilla, basil and mint. They are a little difficult. And some of the fruits,” Mercenari said.

The closure of food plants and supply chains around the country is also a concern since she gets her staple ingredients of milk from the local Altadena dairy distributor.

“Milk hasn't been difficult yet. But we don't know,” she said.

Despite the current challenges, Mercenari says she will use up every ounce of her current supplies and get creative with her gelato recipes.

“I feel very, very lucky because I can still be open and try to do my best for us, for my employees, for my family,” she said.