RECIPIENTS OF THE INITIATIVE, IDENTIFIED BY THE MUNICIPALITY OF FLORENCE AMONG THE NEWLY FRAGILE, WILL BE ABLE TO ENJOY MEALS ON SITE, AT THE RESTAURANT ITSELF OR REQUEST HOME DELIVERY, ALL IN STRICT COMPLIANCE WITH CURRENT ANTI COVID REGULATIONS.
“It was a dramatic year from a social point of view and very complicated from a business point of view.” – declares Mario Piccini, the company’s CEO-. “the Ho.Re.Ca. channel suffered significant losses, but we were able to reorganize quickly by boosting sales growth in large-scale retail and direct e-commerce, which now accounts for 1% of company sales. The diversification strategy, the rapid reorganization of distribution, and the collective commitment of all the company’s employees contributed to the achievement of +6.5% in sales over 2019 in this difficult year. However, the market remains extremely volatile and inevitably linked to developments in the Covid situation with related impacts of the pandemic on household purchasing power.”, the CEO concludes.
In terms of volumes, Tenute Piccini expects to reach the end of the year with an increase of 3% in Italy, 9% abroad and about 300% in the e-commerce channel. This growth has so far ensured the continuity of full-time employment of all employees, as well as the inclusion of new professionals within the company’s workforce.
A year of transition, 2020, which began with the inauguration of the new production facility in Casole d’Elsa-a 13 million euro investment in production and logistics-and continued with a reorganization and improvement of internal production processes in terms of quality efficiency and sustainability.
“The cancellation of events and travel has allowed us to spend more time and turn our focus in-house,” Mario Piccini continues, “we have undertaken a certification process for social, environmental and economic sustainability, which is also accompanied by an increase in the offer of our organic wines. This is for an increasing attention to the needs of the final consumer, to whom we wanted to show our closeness even during the toughest time of the lockdown, with investments in communication also through institutional TV commercials and with the strengthening of the e-commerce channel to allow the purchase of premium labels normally distributed only by restaurants.”
Also deserving of mention is the evolution of the historical reality Agricoltori del Geografico, under the leadership of the Piccini family since 2018, which in this year has been the protagonist not only of a notable increase in the quality of the new vintages, but also of the launch of new excellences, the result of the supply chain project under way with the contributing winegrowers, whose growth in numbers has led to the vinification of as many as 40,000 quintals of grapes.