Drafted on 8 January and updated on 20 June 2021.
I recently had a dialogue on Twitter and ‘revealed’ (something known to insiders) that we were inspired by Valè in Forte dei Marmi for the Esselunga scones.
Who is the inventor of the Esselunga scones? (which are in fact a private-label product of the Limito-based company). The answer is Mr Marino Fineschi, then Sales Director, who was one of the inspirers of Esselunga‘s localism.
The other architects of this marketing policy (localism), apart from myself, were Silvano Cis and Giovanni Maggioni.
From Tuscany, where I lived and worked, came the ‘revolutionary’ project, at the time, of giving customers, from every region where Esselunga was established, what they wanted.
It sounds banal but in fact it was not at all.
To learn more about Esselunga ‘s ‘revolution in food’ you can read this article.
I then discovered, through this article in La Nazione of 7 November 2021, that La focacceria Valè, which I have known all my life, has been taken over by the Egidio Bedogni ham factory, which was our supplier in the years when I joined the company.
I was well acquainted with the owner, who had introduced me to Mr Luigi Guaitamacchi (pictured below with me at the time).
Their ham was of superior quality and, quite ‘old-fashioned’, they supplied it to us without there being a written contract between your company and ours!
Unfortunately, they didn’t make enough to serve all theEsselunga shops and, little by little, we had to include other suppliers in our delicatessens.
I no longer have anything to do with Esselunga and Mr Egidio Bedogni and Mr Luigi Guaitamacchi have passed away, but this remains a beautiful memory.
