From Savignano sul Panaro, the history of a company as sweet as its
people. An Emilian heart and a global market for this company boasting a
turnover of €23 million and employing 90 people: 57% destined to the foreign
market, with the US market coming right after the European one. For FARE
INSIEME, Giampaolo Colletti interviewed Massimo Toschi, President of Toschi
Vignola
di Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
“I want to
do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.” So wrote Pablo Neruda. But
what if that spring lasted the whole year round? And what if the pleasant
season managed to capture its essence, even in alcohol, also for the long
winter months too? This is what Toschi managed, an excellent company which has
now reached its third generation. An icon of “Made in Italy”, known everywhere
for fruit processing and famous all over the world for Toschi sour cherries,
cherries and fruit in alcohol, but also for typical local syrups and liqueurs
such as Nocino and sweet liqueurs. A quality that is linked with craftsmanship
that also goes hand in hand with territoriality. “We have an unbreakable
connection with our territory. In addition to cherries, we make Nocino, a
typical Modena product. Then there are sour cherries. And strawberries from the
Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. We process local fruit,” explains Massimo Toschi,
president of Toschi Vignola. The
headquarters and production facility covering thirty-five thousand square
metres is in Savignano sul Panaro, but there are also two branches abroad in
the US and Britain. An Emilian heart and a global market for this company
boasting a turnover of €23 million and employing 90 people: 57% destined to the
foreign market, with the US market coming right after the European one.
A
story of a new beginning. Everything started in 1945, the watershed year
between the war and a new beginning, what could be defined as another spring of
the soul. We are in Vignola, an Emilian town inhabited by twenty-five thousand
people with international fame. We are at the foothills of the first part of
the Modena Apennines, at the entrance to the Panaro river valley twenty-five km
from Modena and almost thirty from Bologna. A name that brings to mind the
reference to land. Because Vignola comes from the Latin vineola, i.e. small vineyard,
like those planted in Roman times on the alluvial land of Panaro. The farming
tradition has remained intact and switched to cherry trees. This is where the
world-renowned cherries are grown. It is precisely while admiring these very
special cherries - the local queen is Mora di Vignola - that Giancarlo and
Lanfranco Toschi had a stroke of genius that would change their lives forever:
put cherries in alcohol to enjoy them all year round. “My father has lived through
lots of things. He experience the war in
Russia, he managed to get back on the last train, then went to southern Italy
and came back north after the armistice. Looking at the trees laden with
rotting fruit, he thought of setting up a distillery. Then, in the autumn of
1945, he resigned from his job and decided to act on his idea. So he distilled
in winter and made syrup in the spring,” reminisces Toschi. From Vignola, he immediately aimed at exporting. “He
already attended fairs in the 1950s. My father spoke German and it helped as
Germany was opening up, so we focused on internationalisation before others
did,”
says Toschi. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. The company
is now run by Massimo Toschi's sons, who have gained experience abroad and have
come back to lead the company into the future. CEO Stefano was born in 1979.
CEO Francesco was born in 1981. And Susanna, a member of the board of
directors, was born in 1986.
In the name of research. Over time, the company has widened its range of products enormously, to
now include fruit in alcohol and liqueurs: Fragolì, Mirtillì, Nocino di Modena
Toschi, Nocello, Lemoncello. Then there are also syrups and semi-processed
products for the patisserie industry. There is also the ice-cream section with
candied sour cherries in syrup, toppings, ice-cream bases and Aceto Balsamico
di Modena IGP. The objective,
however, has remained the same over the decades: to bring to the market
high-quality products that respect tradition and the territory. One should
never rest on their laurels, or on their cherries, one could say. Because the
company wants to keep experimenting, trying to follow new paths that can
satisfy the senses. Therefore, in 2020, it invested on a start-up to produce
all-natural semi-processed products for Ice-cream parlours. Then there is
research, which aims at understanding new market needs. Toschi Vignola
developed a new line of Zero+ sugar-free syrup: in addition to being gluten
free, with organic fruit juice and free from artificial aromas, these products
are also certified Vegan Ok. New paths that are still niches, but which need to
be experimented on. Because you can be a guardian of the past while at the same
time interpreting contemporaneity. “We are a historical company, but we need to look to
the market to meet new consumer trends. Today particular attention is being
paid to organic and sugar-free products and, over the past two years, we have
been the company that registered the best growth on the market in the category
Syrups with no added sugar. You need to be able to read this complexity,” stresses
Toschi. The most rewarding moment? When the company, which had been sold
in 1986, was repurchased in 1993 and the entry into the company of my children,
who ensure the continuity of the family business. After all, time is a gentleman that fixes
things. As the Japanese painter and poet Koayashi Issa wrote: “Cherry trees
blossoming as evening approaches. This day too has become yesterday.”
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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