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June July 2015 V
oils to preserves, seasonings and pasta,
ending with sweets.
The decision not to treat the fresh
depends on market considerations,
linked to a thorough analysis of
competition. “Elba island is a difficult
market - argues - as markedly seasonal.
It goes from 30,000 in the year to
200,000 tourists in summer. The
activities that we serve are obviously
very related to tourism, so our work is
intense in high season and much less
in other months. But some costs are
fixed. Besides a few years some national
distribution operators have started cash
& carry, where, thanks to their size and
the fact that the island is only a small
proportion of turnover, can contain
much costs and we are not able to
compete with them in fresh. We tried,
just entered in the CIC, but we soon
realized that it would be better to stay
focused on our core business.”
The area in which Elba Bevande is
unbeatable is the customer service: with
more than 20 vehicles business is able to
serve all the customers on a daily basis.
Indeed, it may organize the service
on board the yacht, in all ports of the
island, even in high season.
Supplies? They are not a problem
Despite being an island, Elba does not
suffer from the problems of supply
of other, similar enterprises in Italy.
“The connection with the mainland is
great - says Angelo Cortesi - every hour
3 ferries capable of carrying vehicles
and goods dock. That’s why there is no
problem to supply us.”
Elba Bevande
Loc. Tanning of Land, 57037,
Portoferraio (LI)
Tel. 0565 915058
Email:
Web:
Turnover: 8 million euro
Employees: 14 fixed, 50 seasonal
Area served: Elba
At page 15
On service of
Salento’s tourism
Thanks to its proximity to the
customer and the logistics well
structured Hielo contributes with its
supplies to offer a quality service to
tourists visiting the region
Hielo is a small company of Taviano
(Le), specialized in the distribution and
wholesale of frozen products. Over the
past decade we have seen an increase
in their volume of sales with rates from
10 to 20% per year. To date, invoice
mainly in the food sector and to a lesser
extent in the non-food sector. Precisely
because of the need to have to support
this continued growth, and at the same
time to ensure a high level of service to
its distribution network, and deeming
the area a strategic logistics, Hielo was
equipped with resources of organization
and technology to ‘ avant-garde, for the
respect of the cold chain.
Founded in 2001, by the desire of
Gatto brothers, Francesco and Silvio,
to invest in Retail Logistics for catering
and marketing of frozen, given the
wide experience gained in sales at
companies such as Algida or Latte
Perla, today Hielo Srl It is able to cover
so widespread throughout the Salento,
from Lecce to Santa Maria di Leuca,
through a daily service delivery and
customer support.
Its service is the strong point of
Gatto brothers, from the beginning,
have decided to invest. “The great
advantage of our small and medium-
sized businesses that we deal with
local distribution, the last branches of
supply chain - says Francesco Gatto
- is to be close to the customer, to be
more flexible and fast in response to
various needs, to have means adequate
performance of the service. All this
obviously has a greater burden in terms
of price for the customer, than large
companies that operate on a regional or
national level, but it’s worth it, because
the area or tourism, the dynamics
are not easily predictable, so have an
“emergency” room is irreplaceable. If
you had to find a strong point of our
company I would say definitely that
is the presence on the territory, that
allows us to beat the competition on the
timeliness and quality of response to
customer requirements.”
The context in which the company is
placed is a territory with a strong tourist
vocation, in which also agriculture and
fishing have become intertwined issues
in the world of the farm and of fish
tourism, as Silvio Gatto says: “Puglia and
in particular Salento have experienced
in recent years a strong increase in
attendance, for the ample opportunity to
holiday in the surrounding area and the
charisma of the people who inhabit it. I
think Salento has really understood the
growth potential offered by the tourism
in these last ten years. As a company,
we have only the merit of having gone
along and support this awareness,
conducting services at 360°, not only to
deliver the goods, but also consulting
and training of staff working within the
structures.”
The importance of networking
Hielo Srl stands out for its attention
to customer service that also involves
training and retraining of personnel, the
chef, the management, always involved
in initiatives of high professional quality,
explains Francesco Gatto. “Cooperativa