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DEC. JAN. 2021 III during the summer, is therefore a candidate in this second pandemic phase to represent a useful tool for business diversification. Sardinian Food Group Range Founded in 1968 in a small town in the province of Sassari as a distributor of cheeses typical of the region and beyond, the company has seen over the years a gradual growth in activity that has led it to become a leader on the island. Today its offers the entire range of products needed for restaurant kitchens and catering services, in addition to a selection of ready meals, fresh pasta, bread, pizzas and breadcrumbs. And without forgetting the beverage, meat, fish, cold cuts and cheese department. The food sector is flanked by a proposal of non-food references, also for the Horeca channel. Strong points The pride and joy of the Sardinian company is the ability to process and deliver orders within 24 hours, despite the road problems typical of the island, which has no motorway infrastructure. An objective is achieved thanks to an important fleet of temperature-controlled vehicles, capable of handling requests from nearby Corsica. Another cornerstone of the activity is the possibility to count on reliable and knowledgeable professionals. And this is both on the commercial front, where there is a team of well-trained sales agents, and on the logistics front, where there are capable and expert staff who deal with the preparation and delivery of goods, supported by new technologies. 2020 News and strategies The development plan intended for the near future is mainly based on three points. The first refers to the desire to include new product departments in the range. The second corresponds to a constant review and completion of all sectors and departments already active. The third, finally, aims to enhance and improve the service, so as to guarantee customers availability, precision and punctuality. AT PAGE 12 CLOSE UP The future for restaurants? A global view How has catering changed outside national borders in 2020? We caught up with three Italian chefs in Stockholm, Melbourne and New York, here’s how they faced the pandemic and how they think it will evolve by Anna Muzio It’s globalisation, baby. You know when you could decide on the spur of the moment on a night out at the disco in Berlin or lunch at the celebrity chef’s in New York or Paris? It’s a shame that after shortening times and distances and homologating styles and menus, world connections, low cost flights, the monstrous changes caused an unknown virus from Wuhan which spread throughout the planet in a few months. Instantly closing borders and subverting lifestyles that we took for granted. From the world at our feet we moved on to the neighbourhood in the blink of an eye. The future? More uncertain than ever. We hypothesize a load of quick tests to be taken outside schools, offices or restaurants to identify in a few minutes who can enter and who can’t, surveillance thermometers, seasonal slack and pull, with the closure of schools and the adoption of smart working in cold seasons, when contagion levels rise. Social distancing will be the new normal, hugs and handshakes only on request, please. The vaccines that are coming in will not provide full cover, even assuming they reach the majority of the population. The big rallies - festivals, concerts, fairs, fairs, cruises - will be replaced at least intermittently by the “shut-in economy”, the digital, the homemade. The tourist routes will become narrower. A dystopian future to which we will eventually get used, as was the case with anti-terrorism measures at airports. Hit at its heart, the catering world has had to face the same problems everywhere. We chatted with three Italian chefs who have been working abroad for years to understand how they experienced this annus horribilis and how they see the future. They told us about three very different approaches to managing the pandemic, but we found a common denominator in them: the passion for this job, which really must be the real (re)starting point. STOCKHOLM: ALWAYS OPEN, DIFFERENT FROM EVERYONE ELSE Claudio Mancini, an Abruzzese from Rome, arrived here for the love of a Swede (“we are still together after 45 years”) and opened “Mancini” in 1978. “We ate badly, olive oil was only sold in pharmacies as a laxative, I understood that there were great opportunities”. Today his is the best Italian restaurant in the capital, awarded again this year by Gambero Rosso as “Guardian of Tradition”. The pandemic: we never closed. In March we were always empty, people were afraid and wouldn’t come out. But we made it, when we reopened after the summer holidays (which we always do) we immediately filled up, now we are booked until December even if some cancellations for the