By Antonella Ciancio
Oscar Farinetti remembers he was in his office in Italy, leading his former electronics retail group UniEuro, when the 9/11 attacks happened, destroying the World Trade Center in New York and the world’s sense of security. Fifteen years later, the visionary entrepreneur is participating in the rebirth of the bustling financial district by opening Eataly Downtown, the second NY store of the food retail group Farinetti founded and developed few years after 2001.
In the next months, the group now led by Andrea Guerra as executive president and Farinetti’s son Nicola as US CEO will open stores also in Boston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and, in 2017, in Toronto, Canada. As it expands globally, the company is also planning its stock market listing within the next 18 months, the company’s partners told ItalianFood.net
“9/11 is a date everybody remembers. I was in my office selling electronic goods. My father came in, he told me to turn on the TV. The final of the story is that we are today in this new place, 15 years later. The fact that the most important Italian exporter of high-quality products has been called to be in the most important place in the world makes us very proud,” saidFarinetti at the crowded preview of Eataly Downtown, which officially opens on August 11, at midday.
A PLACE TO GET LOST – Occupying around 4,000 square meters on the third floor of 4 World Trade Center, the new Eataly overlooks the city’s bustling financial district and the 9/11 Memorial. Eataly Downtown is an “anarchic” place, says Farinetti. The location, which required an investment of around 38 million dollars and is a different “brother” to the successful Flatiron store in uptown New York, is designed to get people pleasantly lost among restaurants, live cooking classes and shelves of excellent regional specialties on elegant display.
“Eataly is not a chain, it’s a big family. Every Eataly has its character, although they share common values. This is an anarchic Eataly, where you don’t know where to go. It’s an Eataly where you get lost,” said Farinetti.
The new “character” of Eataly Downtown include the casual restaurant “Orto e Mare”, the upscale restaurant Osteria della Pace, the Lavazza coffee corner, a Rossopomodoro pizzeria , and also a “piadina” stand which promises to bring to the United States the traditional flatbread made to order.
Cooking classes will be held in the public spaces of the store, for free, without reservation, he said.
US & ITALY: DOMESTIC MARKETS – North America is the largest market for the food retailer, together with Italy, said Guerra, formerly the chief executive of premium eyewear maker Luxottica, and ex-senior adviser to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. “We are building our domestic markets, therefore we are building well in Italy, and in the United States. These two markets must have for us very deep roots,” Guerra said. “This year we close with something above 400 million euros (of revenues). The US currently accounts for 25% of sales. The US and Italy together will represent 75% of revenues by the end of the next year,” Guerra said. Next openings include Trieste and Verona in Italy. Asia remains a more remote destination, as there is no rush to open there.
“The big challenge for Eataly will be India, China, and it will be the next future,” said restaurateur and food critic Joe Bastianich, one Eataly partners with restaurateurs-chefs Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali, and brothers Adam and Alex Saper. The partners behind the US expansion are now getting involved into the group’s global activity, Bastianich and Farinetti said.
MILAN IPO AS EARLY AS 2017 – The next big step for Eataly is going to be into the stock maket. Farinetti and Guerra confirmed the intention to go public, possibly on the Milan stock exchange, by end 2017-early 2018.
“The idea is to list in Milan. Eataly is a unique Italian global company in the world and it makes sense that it also belongs to the Italians. We care about our country,” Eataly’s founder said. “It’s going to be next year or the next, but we won’t go farther than that,” he said.
Guerra confirmed the plan, with Milan as the preferred location. “About listing on the stock market, there’s no doubt we are going there,” the executive chairman said, indicating one and a half year as a possible timeframe.
