Food that Changes Italy EATALY Founder , Oscar Farinetti

In the last century, Italy after the 80s, due to political and economical reasons, was considered that there will be no more new high-end brands rising. However, the name Oscar Farinetti changed the perception of that. Now, the Italian high-end supermarket brand Eataly already owns 27 stores worldwide.

Oscar Farinetti was born in Alba, Italy, his father, Paolo Farinetti, was deputy mayor of Alba, his family for generations run handmade pasta workshop. In the 1970s, Oscar Farinetti started studying in Turin, but in 1976 he dropped out of college and joined his father’s business. As early as 1976, Paolo Farinetti founded a small supermarket named UniEuro, a small appliance and food retail store. After a few years, Oscar Farinetti gradually went into managing the supermarket. In the year of 1978, Oscar Farinetti became a board member of the supermarket, then CEO and Chairman of UniEuro until 2003. Same year, he sold UniEuro to Dixons Retail for 2.3 billion Euros. The following year, he founded the high-end Italian supermarket Eataly.

Oscar Farinetti wakes up earlier than most luxury goods brands leaders, as a Libra, he likes to measure up things to the best. In 2003 he started to consider setting up a supermarket with sustainability, responsibility and sharing as goals. This idea immediately got the support of Italy’s Slow Food, the movement with many years of experience, which guided Eataly, and made Eataly’s management culture. The first Eataly opened its doors in 2007 and immediately aroused sensational effect beyond imagination.

Eataly’s name comes from a combination of “eat” and “Italy”. It’s a food market and a museum under one roof with a collection of procurement, taste and learning. People can buy pizza, cheese, pasta, and other pure Italian food ingredients and products, in addition, there are cooking classes, teaching methods and techniques of cooking, it’s a platform to experience Italian Slow Food culture. Eataly’s ingredients all come from local farms, fully consistent with Slow Food’s traditional food production movement, to promote local agriculture development and support ecology protection.

At Eataly, you can enjoy diverse shopping scenes, simple and clear shelves, orderly placed goods, you not only can see every products brand stories and cooking methods, but even experience street style shopping environment, with a food court and a resting area with TV. In the red meat department you’ll find a red wine shelf, in the fish and white meat department there is a white wine shelf, as simple as a table. You can let the chef cook for you right at the scene, or you can ask the chefs about the ingredients of the meal, everything can be found at Eataly.

Some people say Eataly is heaven for food lovers, and others say it’s a boutique supermarket for bourgeoisie. There is no doubt that when Eataly gained business success , the better food is promoted , the better life concept is to a certain extent ,as an enterprise it reached a combination of an ideal and reality. Oscar Farinetti, like most Italians, is proud of his countries eating culture; he thinks that Italian food is not only the best in the world, but also easiest to transport. In the end, Eataly is a whole-foods-style supermarket, but it shows development of vision and mission, beyond small business patterns, a successful play from the production to the table process, and with an indispensable role: to support small scale producers, at the same time satisfaction, creation of customer demand, co-creation of a various circles of production and sales. In a few short years gaining tremendous success around the world is evidence to that commercial and ideals don’t conflict.

Can you describe what Eataly is?

Oscar Farinetti: At first, I hoped Eataly would be an Italian kitchen. Italian cuisine is born in mother’s kitchen, but now to eat same tasty food as before is challenging. But here we can provide the ingredients and courses of Italian food. I hope Eataly is an entry to a combination of shopping, restaurant, and education. It is ecological and delicious, practices Slow Food’s quality, clean and a fair place for the three concepts.

Angelina: What is Eataly’s marketing core?

Oscar Farinetti: Eataly’s marketing core is an education of diet, only through education you can create new customers. Instead of paying large amounts of advertising fees, it’s better to spread more information and shape a new purchasing model to improve consumer perception.

Angelina: What are the special characteristics of Eataly?

Oscar Farinetti: The special feature here is that each department has a food court, customers can pick the ingredients and enjoy them right away or take them home. In addition to vegetables, seafood, meat, pasta, you can buy freshly baked yeast bread. The whole supermarket is diffused with the aromas of brewed coffee, and different types of desserts and snacks to choose from. The guests, who like wine, can order by glass, conveniently picking favorite flavors and brands. Besides supplying comprehensive merchandise, Eataly also provides visitors with a chance to get to know each other and communicate, as well as learn about food experience.

Angelina : What is Eataly’s marketing core?

Oscar Farinetti: Eataly’s marketing core is an education of diet, only through education you can create new customers. Instead of paying large amounts of advertising fees, it’s better to spread more information and shape a new purchasing model to improve consumer perception.

Angelina : What are the special characteristics of Eataly?

Oscar Farinetti: The special feature here is that each department has a food court, customers can pick the ingredients and enjoy them right away or take them home. In addition to vegetables, seafood, meat, pasta, you can buy freshly baked yeast bread. The whole supermarket is diffused with the aromas of brewed coffee, and different types of desserts and snacks to choose from. The guests, who like wine, can order by glass, conveniently picking favorite flavors and brands. Besides supplying comprehensive merchandise, Eataly also provides visitors with a chance to get to know each other and communicate, as well as learn about food experience.

Angelina: From a home appliance store to a whole-foods-style supermarket, what pushed you to such a change?

Oscar Farinetti: My goal is to make everyone buy high quality Italian food at a reasonable price, and provide customers with a comfortable shopping atmosphere, and to enjoy and learn. That’s why we use a lot of space to create a gathering place for people, in order to better understand the needs of our customers. I believe food can bring us closer, and a round table of delicious food can make us happy. Eataly’s Turin shop cooperates with elementary schools to add diet education in the curriculum. Through a one week course to let the children understand the history of local food, specialties and cooking methods, as well as to let them built a healthy nutrition pyramid, and eat more organic desserts. Children courses will make them and parents prepare together natural desserts or pizza in a warm atmosphere.

Angelina: In comparison with other supermarket, cheap prices are not the mean point, why is that?

Oscar Farinetti: People always invest more in clothing, but spend too little on food. But there is a saying in Italy: You are what you eat. I encourage people to spend a little more on food - there will always be good food.

Originally published in the September 2015 issue of Lifestyle magazine. Written by Angelina Saiyi Li.