Marketing deliciousness

Being in the Piedmont is on its own reason enough to try some exquisite food and wine, nothing new in that. Studying at UNISG, on the other hand, adds up to it, allowing me to get in contact with some outstanding producers and listening to everything they have to say, from work routines to marketing issues, from seasonality to philosophy. Every aspect of ther businesses is entwined, following the link of work and family I wrote about on the first post. That doesn’t mean any lack of organisation or professionalism, though. It’s more about an unusual way of making business, for those of us who are used to a less than personal global market.

What we’ve been seeing in 99% of our visits is a consistent care about quality, making even high volumes of production display an artesanal character. When your brand is intimately connected to your |family’s| name and history, you naturally want it to translate excellence, working very hard to achieve that. Here, you’re far from million dollar ideas, fortunes made overnight, stock market bubbles and stuff like that. If the person you see appears to be succesfull, that began a long way back, and it’s very likely that the same elegant lady who welcomed you to her farm is perfectly capable of working the land and showing her employees exactly what needs to be done. As much as any business person, she wants to make profit, of course. The only difference is that she is not just trying to convince consumers to buy her product, neither advertising it as the world’s 8th wonder in order to raise it’s price: she actually believes that what comes from her farm is crème de la crème.

I’ve been describing this region as the place where everybody knows everybody, and most of what you see in the grocery store comes from one of the several farms in the surroundings. What happens, then, when such gems become apt to take large steps towards bigger markets? When mouth to mouth advertising is no longer enough and the target becomes consumers who never heard of your product before? That’s the question I’ve been posing to myself lately, specially after getting to know Baladin (see previous post) and Acquerello, the ultimate carnaroli, officially introduced to us on a sunny afternoon not long ago.

We were received at Colombara farm by Piero Rondolino and his wife, Maria Nava, who told us the story behind Acquerello rice, preferred by nine out of ten of the world’s top chefs. Speaking first and foremost of the grain, Maria Nava started by making clear to us that regarding one specific region and variety, it is impossible to differentiate rice from neighbouring producers - it’s basically all the same. Producers traditionally focus exclusively in growing, selling the harvest to industries where the grain is refined, packed and distributed.

Back in the 70´s, when Piero joined his father and brother in running Colombara, his ambition led him to search for a different path. After becoming the largest family owned rice producing farm in Italy, but still making only 2% of the invested capital, Colombara shifted direction by the hands of Piero, who started researching what kind of rice would be the best in terms of the end result (risotto, what else?). The winning contestant was carnaroli, by then little known due to the difficulties in its growing - the plant is higher, produces less grains and is more vulnerable to the weather. Not that this would stop Piero. Aiming to optimize the potential of his rice, the man came across a book in sanskrit, where among other things, he learned that the aging of the grains after the harvest makes the starch become more stable. Well, I guess we can say that’s what one would do when Google wasn’t around, right?

Departing from that information, Piero started to uniformly age his grains, saving September harvest to be milled only from November to March of the following two years. Next step was a solid investment in Colombara’s own milling plant, where the peculiarity was - and still is - the far from modern machinery. According to Maria Nava, old machines guarantee a gentle milling of the 7 layers existing around the rice grain. The whole process here consists of 25 steps, while the modern one usually comprises only 12. The purpose of the smoother milling is to better separate and preserve the rice germ, the tiny tip of the grain. After tasting its sweetness and learning how nutritionally rich the germ is, Piero found a way of keeping it attached to his rice. Acquerello now detains a technology by means of which the germ is melted after the milling, subsequently coating the grains of carnaroli. The result is the most nutritionally rich rice variety in the world, with a lesser starch release that makes it also the most suitable for cooking risotto.

Italy's most popular rice dish usually has a very specific cooking point, and usually it must be served as soon as that point is achieved, on the risk of becoming merely a base for arancini after a short while. Well, not when it comes to Acquerello, once it amazingly holds the cooking point for up to two days. Using Maria Nava's own expression, "radio casserole" managed to spread the news among chefs around the world, to a point that today you can ask Atala, Ducasse, Blumenthal, Marchesi... they'll all agree on what’s the best rice to use in their kitchens.

But the Rondolini want more. They're now aiming at the home cooks, the gourmets, people who would be willing to buy their product at the supermarket. And they're going through some serious brainstorming to find a way to reach that target.  

Piero asked our international group for opinions on how to enter the markets of each of our countries. He is so fond of Acquerello that in his opinion it would make total sense trying to convince Spanish people to use it in paella, or Brazilians  to serve it along black beans on daily lunch. I'm not so sure. A rice produced in such a fashion is obviously much more expensive than average. Trying to make a staple out of it sounds rather impossible. Messing with other countries' food traditions, on it’s turn, sounds extremely risky and unadvisable. It seems to me that there still isn't a well defined marketing strategy designed for high end food and beverage, excluding those which are proudly exclusive, such as caviar, truffles and specific wines. In I’m talking about producers who aim to make average consumers understand why what they're selling is worth higher prices, and how the investment pays off. Most of them are not interested in displaying an image of luxury, but in becoming an item of the average home cook's shoplist. Risking an analogy with the fashion world, I'd say that Michelin starred restaurants represent couture, whilst first range products play the role of the perfumes put on the market by glamorous maisons. I could definitely not afford a wardrobe packed with Prada, Dior and other such labels. Although I manage to have Donna Karan, Chanel and Dolce & Gabbana in my toilet cabinet. Question: is any of these necessary? Absolutely not. Despite the remarkable quality and undeniable superiority of this kind of product, you shouldn't trick consumers into believing that they can't live without it. If you're aiming at a well informed public, they may simply reject you for expecting them to be so naïve...

More and more people around the world are taking interest in cooking and learning more about food. If you're producing something outstanding, I would suggest you refrain from turning it into ordinary. Piero Rondolino has the advantage of producing the base for one of the world's most loved and well known dishes, so why trying to make something else of it? If he introduces Acquerello to people who care a bit more about eating well, he'll certainly find customers around the world. Eataly in New York is a good example of the great acceptance of Italian produce outside Italy, the place is constantly packed with crowds willing to pay more for excellent food to be cooked at home.

My background is far from communications, but I'm absolutely fascinated about the subject these days. Wether it is giving my amateur point of view regarding Acquerello rice, or admiring Teo Musso's initiative in creating a niche to his beloved beer with the world of Baladin, I feel that this matters have a long and absolutely not linear track on which to evolve. Would be thrilled to take part!

 Our arrival at Colombara

 Maria Nava teaching us that there's much more to rice than we could possibly imagine

 Piero Rondolino showing the first stage of the sowing

 Acquerello's milling plant

 The astonishing view of the alps preceded by the silver water surface inspired Acquerello's  original packing in silver tins.

  The family has turned the old construction into a museum. Years ago, several families used to live and work here, but with modern technologies that no longer is the case. In order to preserve the memory and history of Colombara, the buildings are furnished and decorated as if time had stopped. There is also a space for artists to display their work, inspired by the local atmosphere, as shown by the picture above.