Ice cream is a retail therapy for Frenchman Frederic Mortier who is a connoisseur and creator of premium gelato.

Every day, Frenchman Frederic Mortier urges people to enjoy an indulgence, or as he describes it in his classically French way, "a small pleasure."

Mortier's hedonistic delight is ice cream and for him only the best will do.

The part-owner of Amorino premium gelato stores, Mortier researched the art of making ice cream in his kitchen in Lyon, France.

"I like cooking and I thought ice cream was something I could master," he says. "I bought an ice cream machine and read books and started to experiment. I had my whole family eating ice cream and I fed them ice cream to the point where they said 'stop'."

Amorino has three Shanghai stores in Carrefour outlets. The chain has outlets across Europe, including more than 20 stores in France.

It makes premium gelato, an Italian-style soft ice cream, on-site from fresh ingredients. Ice cream makers wear chef's hats and work in immaculate kitchens where customers can see them at work.

To hear Mortier talking about ice cream is to be reminded of a sommelier describing wine.

Each detail must be precisely right for the finished product to be perfect, and Mortier is exacting. Fruits are tasted for sweetness so they are ideal for his sorbets that contain 60 percent fruit.

Describing the process of making ice cream, he says it is at its best when it is freshly churned and before it is then frozen and stored.

To prove the point, he offers a delicious coconut gelato as it pours from the ice cream-making machine.

"Food is about your ingredients, passion and time, and getting to the culture of something, and trying to understand the process and the background of a food," he says when asked makes a good ice cream maker.

For Mortier, the son of a Lyon car salesman, retail runs in the blood.