From a small production facility of artisanal liqueurs and spirits to a
brand exporting all over the world. The recipe for being historic yet
contemporary comes from Finale Emilia near Modena. Giampaolo Colletti
interviews Paolo Molinari, CEO at Casoni, for FARE INSIEME
di Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Over two centuries of history yet feeling
very young - but, after all, the recipe for this elixir of life is found in a
mix of ingredients. There's research which has never stopped. There’s the
community which has always rooted for this company. There’s the ambition that
enabled it to conquer the markets. So, a small production facility of artisanal
liqueurs and spirits specializing in aniseed liqueur, has managed to maintain
its history unaltered while innovating at the same time. “Let’s start from the
fact that ours is a long-standing family business set up by two brothers in
1814 in a small space in the centre of Finale Emilia and which has now reached
its seventh generation. What we carry along within us is our family’s passion
for our work and the strong connection with the territory. Then there is a
whole journey of development, a path of innovation that intertwines with the
change of preferences and trends under way in the various markets,” reports Paolo
Molinari, CEO of Casoni, among the oldest
distilleries and liqueur factories in Italy.
Historic yet contemporary, in a perfectly balanced. “Since we started, the
production process evolved positively with certifications of quality and
special attention to the production chain and supplies,” stresses Molinari. But
payback can also be read between the lines of this long history, as the company
was bought back by the family in 2016 after ten years in the hands of a
multinational. “For us, it was like resuming a journey interrupted in 2007,
when my uncle sold the company. Many things have happened since then and now
it’s payback time since we have regained possession of this gem and, this year,
we will end with +16% on the previous year with an expected turnover of around
€39 million, therefore with an extremely positive trend,” stresses Molinari.
But let’s focus on the figures. Today, Casoni has sixty employees working in
the Finale Emilia facility, while another thirty people work in the Slovakian
subsidiary, which has been running for twenty-five years. Let's go back to
Finale Emilia, a town of 15 thousand people east of Modena. “In such a small and
close-knit town, people are very passionate about the local companies. This
recovery is the sign of the lively passion of a community,” says Molinari.
From
Finale Emilia to the rest of the world. A company
that runs at a fast pace. Mario Casoni was born in 1939 and was a pilot that
left his mark on fifty years of Italian motoring history, but he also
represented a point of reference for Italian entrepreneurship as he was the one
who turned the family-run distillery into an international success. It was the
turning point - his great intuition of converting a company while maintaining
its artisanal spirit yet steering towards an industrial model, starting to work
with big retail chains as well as, over time, with the international markets.
“A true forerunner - around the mid-1980s, during a phase when there was little
talk of internationalization and the new forms of business scalability, we
launched a joint venture in Russia and China,” reports Molinari. We were
improvising at the time, but we realised we could grow. Those pioneering
intuitions of opening up to the foreign markets where considerable outlets
could be found left their mark. Today, Germany is the market of reference for
Casoni as Italian solutions are particularly appreciated over there, especially
those made by this distillery. “After all, we are liqueur makers, but we create
Italian products with our own signature. Everything we sell has been revisited
- amaretto, sambuca and limoncello,
all successfully exported to the US, England, Thailand and even the
Philippines. Recently, we have also started exporting to New Zealand, as well
as Bolivia and the Horn of Africa. Historical products include anicione Casoni,
the symbol of our distillery. It's the liqueur of Finale Emilia. After all, we
are indeed located in the heart of European liqueur-making: when we started
out, there were 17 distilleries and anicione
was the most popular spirit. Once upon a time, over a hundred years ago, people
used to have breakfast with a glass of anicione
and a slice of Torta degli Ebrei to
give you energy,” reminisces Molinari.
Between past and future. Then there is research linked with the personalization of the offer.
“It’s a journey of discovery we started together with the great alchemists and
experts of the sector, also of international fame. I’m thinking about renowned
bartenders such as Marian Beke and Daniele Dalla Pola, or the innovator of
Italian liqueur Baldo Baldinini. We always base our new paths on our territory,
with its excellencies, flavours and culture. For example, we experimented with
products using balsamic vinegar combined with other elements such as fruits of
the forest or figs. A reinterpretation of the undergrowth,” explains Molinari.
Research also looks at contemporary issues linked to sustainability. Casoni was
given an award at the Credit Suisse Sustainability Award, as it had the highest
score in the Environmental category: among candidates with a turnover below
€250 million, Casoni excelled when it came to environmental
sustainability.
It is not by chance that, at Casoni,
recycling almost reaches 98%. Looking at future challenges, while treasuring
the precious experiences of the past. After all, this is the recipe for
excellence.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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