‘Cheer me up’: Caffè Paradiso bets on takeout gelato

After decades in business, 70-year-old Adriana De Stefano learnt a lesson: Sales slowdown can be fixed the moment the first summer air whiffs enter the doors of Caffè Paradiso, thanks to customers gathering around her gelato stand. This year, she’s aware that her Italian coffee house in Boston’s North End will need something more than the usual summer spike in sales to emerge from the revenue hole created by the pandemic.