Illy Press Kit 2015
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ILLYCAFFÈ PRESS KIT Passion, p. 2 The history, the Illy family, the company today Quality, p.6 One blend, 100% Arabica Sustainability, p. 7 Quality and sustainability, an indissoluble pair Science, p. 10 Science and innovation in the world of coffee Knowledge, p. 12 Università del Caffè and Ernesto Illy Foundation Experience, p. 14 The perfect cup of coffee, everywhere, with any preparation Art, p. 17 Kalogathia : excellence goes well with beauty 1 PASSION "Delighting people who love the quality of life thanks to the best coffee that nature can offer, enhanced even more by the most advanced technologies: this is Illycaffè mission, passion, and obsession. My family has been committed to this challenge for four generations: give a smile at each cup of coffee” says Andrea Illy. illycaffè is the reference for the excellence and culture of coffee. Thanks to the constant innovation and the quality of its products, it aims at growing and becoming high quality leader at global level, and at the same time at creating value for all its stakeholders. illycaffè most important values are its passion for excellence which means love for what is beautiful and well made, and for ethics, which means building long-term value through sustainability, transparence, and people enhancement. In its unrelenting quest for perfection, illy has built a world made of ethics, intelligence, experience, taste, science, and art, all focused on coffee. Every day, with illy a little action such as sipping a cup of coffee has become a moment of pure revelation, thanks to the harmony between the pleasure of the senses and the intellectual and aesthetic pleasure, tasting happiness sip after sip. It is a spark, an inspiration, an incentive to look for happiness in every day’s life. It’s an invitation to live each moment in an extraordinary way. This is what live happilly means. A bit of history A cup of illy coffee is only the final result of a long and well-constructed project, the fruit of the long fascination for excellence begun in 1933, when Francesco Illy, coming from Hungary, arrived in Trieste in the First World War as soldier of the Austro-Hungarian Army. He chose this city to establish its business in the cocoa and coffee industries, and at last he set his mind only on the latter. He had a very simple idea in his mind: to produce the best coffee in the world. And to market it worldwide. This is how illycaffè was born. Some years after the end of the Second World War, the reins of the company went to Ernesto Illy, the son of the founder, who created year after year a research lab which later on became the breeding ground of patents and innovations. Ernesto’s passion for quality coffee and its diffusion made the international media call him “Papa Bean” and “Herald of the espresso”. The death of Ernesto Illy, in February 2008, caused huge emotion worldwide in all those people who had met him, and in the coffee world. To remind him, in February 2009 the Ernesto Illy Foundation was established with the goal of developing and improving the heritage of ideas, activities, and programs that he has left as his moral legacy. 2 illycaffè today illycaffè is based in Trieste. In 2005, Andrea Illy is appointed Chairman and Managing Director of the company, whose internationalization he has successfully pursued by innovating its processes, its culture, and the search for quality. illycaffè produces and markets worldwide only one blend of high quality coffee, made of nine kinds of pure Arabica. The unmistakable taste and aroma of illy are born from the perfect balance of these ingredients coming from South America, Central America, India, Africa, and China. Taste and aroma are always the same in each cup of coffee sipped in any country of the planet. In order to increase each profile of its blend, in 2010 the company has created the Monoarabica line of products, and has started to sell three out of nine Arabicas: those from Brazil, Ethiopia, and Guatemala. Worldwide, more than 7 million coffee cups are enjoyed every day, made with the illy blend for HoReCa channels (hotels, restaurants, caffès), for home, the office and on the go. Depending on the channel, the illy blend is available in cans (of either beans or ground coffee), capsules, and pods. Illy coffee is sold in over 140 countries, in each of the five continents, and it is available in more than a hundred thousand bars. The company has direct and indirect control over eleven sister companies and gives work to almost 1084 people: in 2014 it has had a consolidated turnover of 391 million Euros. The exports have topped 62% of the global sales. Around illycaffè, the Illy family has built the holding Gruppo illy Spa, that gathers in a pole of taste some companies of excellence, such as Domori (high quality chocolate), Dammann Frères (French tea maker), and Mastrojanni (wine farm of Montalcino). Besides, it has a share in Agrimontana (confectioner of high quality products, among which marrons glacés and jams), and in Grom (extra-high quality ice-cream maker). Riccardo Illy is Chairman of Gruppo illy. The world in a cup of coffee Everything in illy begins with the quality of coffee. The company purchases directly its coffee from the farmers, in an economic, social, and environmental sustainability process that goes all the way down the supply chain, from the bean to the cup. Thanks to this process, illycaffè has been the first company in the world to obtain in 2011 from DNV Business Assurance the certification of “ Responsible Supply Chain Process ”, that states its approach to sustainability in every activity, with a special attention to the supply chain. The focuses of this innovative standard are the quality of the produced coffee and the creation of value for all its stakeholders. In order to produce and to market the best coffee that nature can offer, illycaffè pays the greatest attention and focuses on science and to researches applied to the raw materials and to all the producing processes, from selection to preparation, so that many innovations that have marked the history of coffee in the past eighty years were created by illy. The company is committed to this through its Research and Innovation Division , with the Ernesto Illy Foundation, and what's more with many agreements with academies, scientific institutions, and universities. 3 In order to improve and to spread the knowledge and culture of coffee, in 2000 illycaffè has created Università del Caffè, that spreads its heritage of competences to coffee producers and growers, coffee bar businessmen and baristas, restaurants and hotels, and to consumers and connoisseurs as well. In 14 years of business, it has trained more than 158 thousand people worldwide. In order for the consumers to always experience an exclusive and extraordinary cup of illy coffee – at the bar, at home, or at the office – illycaffè has created many products and projects for each place, situation, and preparation. The program Artisti del Gusto distinguishes the most excellent coffee bars at international level; the Espressamente illy chain with 230 stores in over 30 countries; and the Gambero Rosso Guide to the Italian Coffee Bars. Among the home dedicated products and systems there is Iperespresso , that allows to make an espresso of fresh features, such as smoothness, full-body, and aromas, with a rich, persistent and velvety cream. Coffee makers and systems have been developed for the office by Mitaca, a company born by a joint-venture of illycaffè (which owns 50% of its shares). And, last but not least, illy issimo , the “ ready to drink ” coffee available worldwide, allows everybody to enjoy coffee anywhere, thanks to a joint-venture between illycaffè (50%) and The Coca Cola Company. Its aim to perfection, its passion for beauty and what is well made have spurred illy to enhance the pleasure of the senses given by coffee to involve the sight and the brain as well, mainly through art , in a synesthesian experience in which all senses mix and blend with the intellectual pleasure. This is how in 1992 the illy Art Collections were born, the famous cups designed by artists. On the surface of the icon- coffee cup more than 70 famous representatives of the international contemporary art have expressed themselves, from Michelangelo Pistoletto to Marina Abramović, from Anish Kapoor to Daniel Buren, from Robert Rauschenberg to Jeff Koons, from Jan Fabre to James Rosenquist, from Jannis Kounellis to Julian Schnabel, from Louise Bourgeois to William Kentridge. The icon-cup of coffee was designed by the architect and designer Matteo Thun. illy has been actively helping to enhance and promote contemporary art for more than twenty years now, by working side by side with famous and emerging artists, by creating its own projects (such as Galleria illy), by sponsoring great events and international exhibitions – such as the Biennial of Venice and the most significant art fairs (among which Artissima, ARCO Madrid, Frieze Art Fair, Armory Show, SP-Arte) - , and by offering visibility to the art and the artists of the emerging countries, with its project illySustainArt . Expo 2015 illycaffè is the official partner of Expo 2015, it will be in charge of the creation and management of contents, exhibitions and events associated with coffee in the Coffee Cluster common area. Besides, Expo 2015 will be part of the promotional and development program of ICO (International Coffee Organization) market, the reference for the coffee industry. The Universal Exposition of Milan – “Feeding the planet. Energy for life” - will give special visibility to traditions, creativity, and innovation in the food industry.