Alfiero Fucelli, an entrepreneur with extensive experience in the food industry and speaker for the evening, founded Dispensa Emilia in 2004 with the idea of combining the pleasure of dining with the quality of Emilian products and the innovation of fast-service dining.
He was right, because this new approach to quality fast food is now an established reality with 31 active locations across Emilia, Piedmont, Tuscany, and Lombardy in shopping centers, railway stations, and city centers, with over 600 employees. Orders are placed at the counter, and customers are served at their tables with dishes prepared fresh. And so Tigelle, Gnocco Fritto, Tagliatelle al Ragù Bolognese, along with other dishes, become “a little magic as if cooked by grandmother.” In 2018, he took a step back and sold the majority stake to Investindustrial, a fund heavily focused on the food sector (which recently also acquired 52% of Eataly), and handed over the reins to an external manager, Alessandro Medi, who has previous experience in multinational companies, with the aim of developing a three-year investment plan and the goal of reaching 60 locations with a mixed format—the new CEO Medi tells us—between fast food and casual dining, where the customer is an NPS (Net Promoter Score, in simple terms, a customer who recommends a company to a friend or colleague) aged between 25 and 50. This plan includes opening a location in Casnate in 2023. Personally, I fear I may be outside the age range, but I hope to be accepted nonetheless. Through questions from those present, discussion covered the particularly demanding logistics organization, the company’s welfare policies, the possibility (not yet pursued) of franchising, and staff training. In any case, the Tigelle are worth a visit!!
LF
