Qualitaly_124

AUG. SEP. 2021 I AT PAGE 1 And a kick and start again... “How beautiful is happiness”, is one of the phrases of the catchphrase by Gianni Morandi and Jovanotti that kept us company during the summer of 2021 (from which I also steal the title for my speech). And it is from this phrase that I start writing my editorial for September. We decided to take a little time before closing this issue, which on the cover is presented as August/ September, to send it to press immediately after the infamous Italian holidays. Why this choice? We wanted - and hoped - to present you with a scenario quite different from the one we have had to live with in recent months due to the restrictions linked to the pandemic. And so it was, fortunately. The last few months, in fact, with the easing of restrictions, have led to a significant increase in hospitality and catering revenues. After the various reopenings, a system has been set in motion again, also with the Green Pass, which altogether involves 70 thousand food industries and 740 thousand companies along the supply chain committed to guaranteeing supplies for a total of 3.6 million jobs. This positive balance is also linked to the substantial level of tourism during the 2021 summer season, which in Italy in many cases reached those of the summer of 2019, the last before the pandemic. In short, we’re back on track, there are still a few overseas tourists missing, but the forecasts are more than comforting. There is even talk of an increase in GDP in the second quarter of 2021 with increases of 2.7% in economic terms and 17.3% in terms of trend. The Government’s direction towards compulsory vaccination and the increase in the vaccinated population gives us hope that we can avoid falling back into the abyss. We really are in the process of restarting. My thoughts go out to all those tourist activities located in the mountains that must necessarily be given the opportunity to take back their businesses. Remember that, unlike the consumer points located at the coast or in the cities of art, the mountain regions are the ones that have the highest price in terms of lost revenue because they completely missed the 20/21 winter season. My best wishes are addressed firstly to them but also to everyone else, and to us distributors who in the last 2 years have had to reinvent ourselves by adapting to everyday life and to choices that are sometimes not entirely shared. But that’s how it is and, keeping on a musical theme, we’re ‘still here’! Enjoy your read! By Lorenzo Morelli AT PAGE 3 Let’s start again stronger than before! When I was contacted to write my ‘first’ editorial for the Qualitaly magazine, I was momentarily ‘lost’. What do I want to convey to my colleagues at CIC and to the customers who have been following us for years and reading ‘our’ magazine with interest? Eating out is a complex sector, even if few people realise it. On the other hand, when a customer arrives at a restaurant, he finds an optimal situation: a nice table set, waiters ready to listen to the needs of everyone and, in no time at all (with rare exceptions), steaming dishes that delight the palate of even the most demanding. A perfect situation, seemingly almost ‘banal’ at times. What is hard to grasp is the hard work that the entire supply chain must necessarily do to achieve this result. The proof was the ‘scarce’ attention of the Institutions for our sector during the Covid emergency (which we hope to have partly left behind). Beyond the aid, more or less effective for Ho .re.ca. points of sale and the operators who work there, what was not taken into consideration was everything that revolves around the eating out sector: from food & beverage suppliers to all the MAGAZINE Traduzione a cura di Christopher Farley