Qualitaly_110

APR. MAY. 2019 IX teacher of the Polytechnic, “this is the most difficult sector, because you have to buy ingredients and transform them, anyone who sells jeans invests in the brand and sells that, but in catering you have to buy quality products, know how to store, cook, choose bread, serve in the restaurant having trained friendly and prepared waiters.” And that’s not all, because ironically, “If you burn a hamburger, you’ve ruined everything. If the restaurateur has been working in the sector for years, 99% of them have a familiar approach, and so very often the home logic is brought into work. Let’s not forget that these places invoice like a small-medium Italian company, it’s the fabric that keeps the country on its feet (the old- fashioned factories), but often the perception is that the family business can go ahead with traditional logic, but today it’s all more complex, you need entrepreneurial attention to costs, especially if you want to replicate your business model; b) if you’re a new entrepreneur, who has always done something else previously, and you approach food as an enthusiast - as happens with many young people - maybe you open a pastry shop because you have a passion for chocolate. That’s not enough: because you’ve only ever eaten it, but instead you have to know that selling it is something else!” Finally, one last mistake for the M&T CEO: “Believing that social networks solve problems, sometimes you skip the design of the restaurant because you have a good social reputation.” This is not enough for Meo: “Today those who are successful work at the level of food design, go into the details of the glassware, of the cutlery on the table, take care of choosing the tiles in the toilet, take care of the website, even the dress code of the waiters. On a general level, Meo reflects: “We live in a period of excess of products and suppliers, I can find good chicken or Chianina beef everywhere. The theme is that you don’t just have to make hamburgers - if you don’t even have a brand - to decree success today is how much you are able to withstand the price of the competition.” And there is another negative aspect, recurrent in Italy: “It is thought that you always have to eat at the lowest price, so on average today what you eat in Italy has a lower price (30-40%) than the equivalent that you eat in London, Paris, New York.” The point for Meo instead is to know how to differentiate the price of the products, to be able to communicate the price difference to the customer. “It is not written anywhere that coffee should cost one euro, it could cost up to 1.20 if, however, you make the product “different”, that is, enriched by an added value that the customer sees and knows how to interpret.” Not everything has to cost more, explains the M&T CEO: “There are experiences from 5 euros, others from 10, then 15, the point is to give a balance between experience and price.” “The administration sector moves a lot of liquidity, even in times of crisis many premises are able to stay afloat. But according to the latest FIPE data, every day 30 restaurants in Italy close (source: Rapporto Ristorazione 2017 dedicated to Gualtiero Marchesi Ed .)”, catering has become: “An area similar to culture and entertainment, where the customer has a lot on offer and chooses on the basis of what interests him at that time, there is a big turn over, however. In short, probably today those who choose to invest in this sector must know that the choice is not for life - 20 years ago if you inherited a bar you kept it forever - today we live in a fluid world”, where the Dorian Gray effect applies: “New places, lots of start-ups.” Food has become entertainment, after all, Meo closes: “Design week is also food week, with more and more events where the idea of eating is increasingly central.” MATTEO BERTI, ALMA DIDACTIC DIRECTOR AND CHEF “Today the first mistake made in catering is to approach the sector in a casual way”, says Matteo Berti, for three years didactic director of ALMA International School of Italian Cuisine ( www.alma.scuolacucina . it ): “You need to personalize the place, not as if it were your home, but relying on professionals who are able to establish which colour is the most representative for your idea of restaurant, what should be the layout of the dining room, even architects of sound and light are needed.” Another typical mistake concerns the food cost: “If you read the menu of a restaurant, a spaghetti with tomato sauce cannot cost as much as ravioli,” Berti has been a chef for 27 years. “The material you use is different, plus you need to know what makes you earn and what makes you lose, how much product you throw away, how much you sell in a month.”