History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families Local History

Caprotti family Easter egg hunt, 1964

For us, children with transalpine blood and habits, hunting for Easter eggs among the meadows and trees has always been a habit. With our mothers and cousins we would scatter around the countryside, well dressed and the girls in their hats; the customary photo would follow, like this one, full of the tenderness of memories, perfect for wishing everyone a peaceful Easter.

Food and Retail History History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Negotiations: Coca-Cola and Barilla

I made peace with Barilla after more than ten years of quarrelling. In the end in 1999 we gained, and a lot. An exceptional turnaround (plus 458 per cent in two years), in a very short time . Coca-Cola, in the late 1990s, came to Esselunga with absolutely unacceptable commercial conditions. In the end, the Antitrust Authority agreed and the American company was condemned to pay a fine of 15 million euros

History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

‘Supper Market of style’: Kean Etro’s men’s fashion show on the shelves of the Esselunga in Via Washington, 2001

In 2001, Kean Etro ‘wandered around [in the Esselunga on Washington Street] presenting his collection of plant-dyed cotton sweaters among the very first organic product counters. ‘They took us for fools. Then the organic line is still there’ “. In 2014, Chanel also paraded its models among the shelves of a supermarket at the Grand Palais in Paris. Only the supermarket was fake.

Food and Retail History History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

‘ESSELUNGA AT HOME’: the first large-scale retail e-commerce in Italy

We saw at Delhaize in Belgium a system that allows customers to do their shopping either via the web or via fax and have it delivered to their home. Bernardo, although not convinced, gives his approval. … we started with e- commerce in Monza in March 2001, using the warehouse of the supermarket in Via San Fruttuoso, which we adapted as a dark store

Food and Retail History History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

Chicago 1987, before superstores

Charles Fitzmorris, Esselunga’s IT service provider, convinces my father to let me go to America to gain experience. He puts me in touch with the family of one of his clients, Dominick Di Matteo, who has a chain of supermarkets in Chicago. During my two-year stay, during which I worked my way up through the ranks internally, starting as a general worker, I learned the basics, and then in Milan I was able to put to good use what would become the great change, the quantum leap that would make Esselunga’s fortune.

Food and Retail History History of Esselunga Local History

The Caprotti family and the Esselunga supermarkets: the Aprilia egg, 1950s

Nelson Rockefeller did not only ownEsselunga in Italy. He also owned a company, in Aprilia, that produced eggs…. In 1961, when by then all four of the planned Milanese shops had been opened, the balance sheet figures for the previous year – $200,000 net revenue – showed that not only the idea, but his way of realising it had been successful. Efficient logistics had been created, from the central warehouse to the purchase of large quantities of goods at favourable prices, but also a production chain of its own: IBEC took over a large poultry farm in Aprilia, the ‘Chicken City’, and turned it into a laying hen farm with an egg processing plant.

Food and Retail History History of Esselunga

The Caprotti family and the Esselunga supermarkets: the Americans’ pasta factory, c. 1950s.

With regard to the supply of certain fresh products, the problem was the lack of adequately prepared and controlled goods. This is why Esselunga decided to start producing on its own as early as 1959, setting up a bakery, an ice-cream parlour that sold its products even in winter, a coffee roasting plant, a cold cuts warehouse, a poultry farm to supply fresh eggs, but above all a large pasta factory for ravioli, tortellini and gnocchi, the success of which even excited the Americans, who were able to sell one of their favourite products, pasta, to Italians at excellent quality and 50% savings.

Food and Retail History History of Esselunga

The Caprotti family and supermarkets: the first Esselunga advertisements, 1957

In the context of the ‘cold war’ that divided the two great continental blocs of the United States (with their part of Europe) and the Soviet Union (with the other part of Europe), supermarket advertising was designed not only to lure customers with abundant goods, unknown delicacies and competitive prices, but also to emphasise, with slogans such as Shopping is equal for all, that private enterprise can also bring benefits to all levels of the social classes (and not only the public, notably communist).

Food and Retail History History of Esselunga

The Caprotti family and Esselunga: the first customers, 1957

The opening of the first supermarket was a remarkable success both in terms of public interest and in terms of prices, which were generally well below the average level by a good 15 to 20% depending on the products. Which all went generally well, except for self-service meat, which was initially a flop. It was only after many months of effort that the supermarket managed to persuade the Italian housewife to adapt to the do-it-yourself approach in this field as well.

History of Esselunga History of the Caprotti and Venosta families

The Caprotti family and the supermarket: Ferdinando Schiavoni, Mario Crespi and Bernardo Caprotti at the inauguration of the first shop in Milan, Viale Regina Giovanna, 1957

At the inauguration of Milan’s and Italy’s first supermarket, the Viale Regina Giovanna shop, one photograph among many shows two of the key figures who made it possible: Ferdinando Schiavoni, one of the not many English-speaking people in Italy, a link between IBEC managers and the Caprotti family, an early manager of what would later become Esselunga, and Mario Crespi, who with his brother Vittorio, Marco Brunelli and brothers Bernardo and Guido Caprotti was one of the Americans’ main minority shareholders in what was the start of a great adventure.

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The Caprotti family and the supermarkets: Marco Brunelli, Bernardo Caprotti and Giorgina Venosta at the “Cervo d’Oro” in Cortina, February 1958

From the very beginning, Marco Brunelli struggled to get along with Bernardo Caprotti. The first disagreements began to manifest themselves blatantly in early 1960. In May, Brunelli and my uncle Guido founded a chain of supermarkets together with the aim of focusing on Rome, the city that IBEC’s men had discarded…