Melegatti’s Pandoro and Easter cakes could be saved by coffee. The future of the historic confectionery company based in San Giovanni Lupatoto (Verona) could soon coincide with full production. Indeed, Italian coffee Group Hausbrandt Trieste 1892 is willing to restart production for Easter cakes and, most important, to acquire Melegatti’s brand. It would really be a well-awaited happy ending for the Veronese company where Pandoro was invented, which for months now has been facing a financial crisis entirely independent from production or sales
A difficult path
Two months ago, the Maltese fund Abalone and the employees’ abnegation led to a successful Pandoro and Panettone Christmas production campaign. A success also due to the social media campaign triggered by the workers of Melegatti, whose salary is almost missing since last summer. Even when the situation seemed completely compromised, someone took care to keep alive the culture yeast of the dough – which has never been replaced since the birth of the company in 1894.The Easter cakes campaign is, if possible, even more important than the Christmas Panettone and Pandoro one. In fact it would be a decisive step towards a ‘whole year production’, that can really guarantee a secure business continuity together with a certain future for the workers and for the brand.
Hausbrandt getting ready
Italian coffee brand Hausbrandt Trieste 1892 operates in the coffee, beer, wine, and fine pastries sectors. it can count on 500 employees, and it achieved a 98 million euros turnover in 2017. We are not able to start production immediately, but we can start preparing ourselves says Fabrizio Zanetti, 35 years old, Hausbrandt Group Managing Director since 2004. The Court’s green light is indeed necessary, as Melegatti is currently under arrangement with creditors. We have secured a million euros for the Easter campaign. Let me be clear: we are not here for a season, our goal is to give Melegatti brand a stable future says Mr. Zanetti.
The goal
We want to buy the company and we have the resources to do it Zanetti confirms. There is time until March 7 for a debt restructuring proposal. Hope is that the Court will unblock the situation as soon as possible so that the production of Easter cakes can start. The sooner we start, the better. There still seem to be some things to be clarified about the management of the Christmas campaign. Everything should be clear soon, adds Zanetti. Hausbrandt already distributes its coffee with pastries produced by other companies. The two businesses therefore integrate perfectly. It is essential that the company still has an efficient sales network and all its employees concludes Mr. Zanetti.
