Category Archives: DESITA

DESITA and ECOFFEE at 2011 Meeting Rimini

DESITA and its ECOFFEE partner Serint Group Italia are pleased to announce the partnership reached with the Fondazione Meeting, the organizing committee of Meeting Rimini (Rimini, Italy 21-27 August 2011), event which is recognized as one of the most important festivals in Europe collecting great political personalities, managers, representatives of different religions and cultures, intellectuals and artists, athletes and protagonists of the world scene. It offers stories of men and women through conferences, exhibitions, shows, and sporting events.

The partnership signed among DESITA, Serint Group and Fondazione Meeting concerns the development and creation of a long-term and ambitious project, called “Il Parco del Meeting (The Meeting Park)” which will be disclosed to a large number of invited companies at the Rimini Meeting next Friday, August 26 during a day-long meeting together with the Fondazione Board of Directors. In the next following months, the project will be implemented involving companies, local authorities, institutions and schools belonging to the province of Rimini (Italy)

The project aims to gradually introduce sustainability in the MeetingRimini event, thus creating a tighter bond between the city of Rimini and the event and allowing the Parco del Meeting to become a place for dissemination of the best sustainable practices related to culture, products, technology , projects and services. The Parco del Meeting will become the park of the city of Rimini, a place of reference and aggregation active throughout the year, with restaurants designed according to our ECOFFEE guidelines, event areas and much more.

Other collateral projects are under development, including the design of sustainable exhibition areas of a pavillon of the RiminiMeeting offering to those exhibitors attentive to environmental issues the opportunity to participate actively in the Park project, as early as next year.

With this great news, we are going to take a little rest from a period of intense and successful work, wishing you a wonderful holiday time. We will be back on September or, if you are spending your holidays in Italy, we will be more than happy to meet you at the RiminiMeeting on Friday August 26th

For more information norman [at] ecoffee.it

PS. Have you already voted for the Green Sheikh, Ambassador ECOFFEE, who has been nominated as Best Green International Celebrity at next Best Green Awards? Do not hesitate to vote for him! Vote for Green Sheikh!

Fairtrade Italia and ECOFFEE: a sustainable partnership for a better future

I am very happy to announce that last Tuesday, July 19th DESITA and Fairtrade Italia have signed a bilateral agreement providing mutual support for the dissemination of the principles of environmental sustainability, fair trade and social responsibility on the entire Italian market  through a focus on in-store actions.

DESITA, thanks to its ECOFFEE project, will promote Fairtrade products and will support  Fairtrade licensees through its wide range of retail-oriented services and solutions: from architectural design, branding, process analysis, franchise creation. The Fairtrade certified products will also find a privileged placement among the products available at the ECOFFEE franchise cafés.

On the other hand, Fairtrade Italia has committed to share with its stakeholders- Retail business licensees, Association members and consumers – all the services offered by DESITA and   ECOFFEE.

“I am very happy to have reached this agreement,” states Paolo Pastore, Managing Director of Fairtrade Italia “This agreement is very different from the usual one and I am  sure that it will bring a much wider scope and visibility to Fairtrade certified products, the only Fair Trade certification that has deserved consumers’ trust all around the world. “

Being supported by such an important organization as Fairtrade Italia has once again confirmed that what I have created, the ECOFFEE service platform, is a requirement for a better future.This gives me the strength to keep on working in what is still an immature industry, that of sustainability in the Italian Retail and Horeca panorama. I am convinced that this partnership will actually contribute to the creation and dissemination of a more responsible consumption on the Italian market.

A new shop concept by DESITA and …ECOFFEE

I am glad to announce that DESITA is planning a shop concept for the new image of the Saadeddin pastry shops chain located in many states and cities of the Arabian peninsula, whose first restyling project has been planned for one of its Riyadh branches.

After having spent a couple of months briefing with the client in Italy and in Saudi Arabia and after having visited the shop location in Riyadh, we are now defining its layout following the client wishes and our already confirmed inputs about the sale process. The chain’s new brand image will be a young, fresh, trendy and European one.

The pastry shop project will be developed over an area of about 350 square meters and will include an innovative sale formula, for the Saudi habits, which we are sure will generate great interest and attention not limited to the Arab area only.

Thanks also to our fortnightly experience in the foodservice business, to our knowledge of the Arab culture and customer behavior and to the unlimited trust from our Client, we will merge the local traditions and habits into a new shop concept, designing innovative interiors and also a new way to intend the coffee shop area along the “single” (reserved to men only) and the “family” rooms areas.

It is in fact required in Saudi Arabia that food shops with catering facilities have specifically reserved entrances, men-only sitting rooms and other ones for women and families.

Furthermore, in agreement with the client, the concept is going to be developed following, where possible, the ECOFFEE guidelines as per the use of materials, equipment, products and sustainable solutions.

This important client has been collaborating with us for many years and his trust has always been rewarded allowing his company to be a trendsetter one in his area of business. His willingness to embrace sustainability in this new sales formula will grant him a sure competitive advantage. It is a honor for us to collaborate with such of farsighted and open minded client.

The combination of the new business formula and of the ECOFFEE guidelines applied to this first pastry shop will be next used in all the other chain branches, so that to make it a point of reference for the sustainability trend in a geographical area more and more sensitive to this issue.

Another great goal achieved: FCSI membership

After fifteen years of international experience in the foodservice business, I have achieved the status of consultant member of the FCSI – FoodService Consultants Society International. It is a great honor to me to be able to connect and interact with all other FCSI professionals all over the world.

Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI) is the premier association promoting professionalism in foodservice and hospitality consulting. With over 1300 members in over 46 countries, FCSI members offer a wide range of consulting services including concept development, feasibility studies, food safety, design, marketing, operations and training. Membership requirements are stringent and FCSI members are recognized as industry experts. We Share, We Support, We Inspire!

Generally speaking, a foodservice consultant is an independent professional advisor who, for a defined scope of work and related fee, works as an advocate for their client in achieving their goals through the design and implementation of foodservice facilities and/or operations/management systems. Consultants provide expertise, knowledge and experience to provide assistance that does not exist in-house, or by providing resources not available at the time. As independent professionals their primary focus is the welfare of the client organization that they serve.

When considering a foodservice project, a FCSI consultant should be your first choice. FCSI is the only such consulting society that operates on a worldwide basis. FCSI maintains a global focus with members in over 45 countries dedicated to providing the highest quality of service. FCSI consultant members must abide by a strict Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. They work efficiently to achieve total client satisfaction and always maintain independence from the supply side of the industry.

For further information: http://www.fcsi.org/ – http://www.fcsi-italia.org/

What we do care about

As designers & consultants who are in stores every day, we see the good, the bad, and the ugly in this business. We see what works and what doesn’t. We admire those who take the time to share with us new ideas to build beautiful stores, who really establish solid connections with us, who agree with us that it’s imperative to have a winning concept in today market.

This might be true for many generic consultants around the world. But one of the things that we’ve noticed, is that we provide one other thing that is perhaps one of our greatest values. It’s that our customers can talk to us about their business, freely and openly, and get the help they need.  

Many Retailers certainly seek out advice from a number of sources, and most commonly from vendors.  Vendors certainly have a great view of the marketplace, and they too see a lot of what goes on in the Retail space. 

But at the end, the vendor’s solution to a Retailer’s problems will be to buy their product.  It’s a little like that old saying, “To a carpenter, everything is solved with a hammer.”

For us as designers & consultants, the only thing we honestly care about is whether or not that Retailer has made money, and if they are happy doing so.  In terms of product or vendor solution, we don’t have any “hammer” in the pocket.  Yes, we can suggest but a the very end, it doesn’t matter to us which vendor the Retailer buys, as long as it contributes positively to realize our design store, collaborating and to make the Retailer money. 

Please meet us soon at:

– Euroshop in Dusseldorf on the 26th and 27th of February

– Gulfood in Dubai on the 1st and 2nd of March

The 2011 trends in the Middle East Hospitality Business

DESITA, Fresh Worldwide Press, middle east countries, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

With my company DESITA I have always payed great attention to what is happening in the Middle East countries, whose retail and hospitality business are becoming very interesting because of their many nuances and the possibility they offer.  Karafirin project by DESITA

Accordingly to what recently published by the HotelierMiddleEast website, the 2011 hospitality scenario in Middle East is going to experience three different trends: back to the origins and to healthy food, casual F&B concepts and the raise of social media marketing.

Many of the expert interviewed stressed that the economic crisis has hit those country too and that consumers have become more cost and health conscious. This automatically translates to a return to the traditional, local food and beverages which are less expensive, healthier and – last but not least – more sustainable.

Green Marketing 3.0: what is it about?

DESITA, ECOFFEE, fashion retail, food retail, Fresh Worldwide Press, retail, retail fashion, retail food, sustainability, , , , , ,

Marketing, as you all know, is what enables product to be seen and purchased by consumers. For those who are in the retail business, marketing is a science to master in order to reach success and profit – I add: for more than a year!

Something I always read to those retailers that are entering the world of “green”, is a very interesting article about Green Marketing written by Jeff Dubin a couple of months ago. For those who are interested in reading the full version, you can find it at Jacquie Ottman’s Greenmarketing.com blog. Here a few key sentences by Jacquie: “To really succeed on a wide scale in America, green products either need to establish their superiority on conventional, non-green product features such as effectiveness or price, or make green more relevant to people’s everyday lives….

If green marketers can build the case for how their products are healthier for baby and Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and.., then the greenness of a product becomes a primary benefit rather than a secondary one and the higher hanging fruit now becomes more attainable. That’s Green Marketing 3.0.”

I do agree with that, and you?

Gelati stores do not suffer from economic crisis

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'Ice cream stores do not suffer from crisis, rather they are growing and reCourtesy of savethedate.itpresent a major job opportunity, especially for young generations'. This was stated at Sigep by Ferdinando Buonocore, the president of the Comitato Nazionale per la difesa e la diffusione del gelato artigianalethe (Italian National Committee for the defense of the artisanal ice cream industry). 'In the world – he added – there are 60 000 gelati store, of which only 32 000 in Italy'.
On March 9th there will be the third Ice Cream Day at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (ANSA)

The Ecoacquisti Trentino brand has finally born

DESITA, ECOFFEE, ecology, Fresh Worldwide Press, packaging, retail food, sustainability, , , , , , , ,

The Ecoacquisti Trentino project aims to the reduction of the waste produced in Retail Stores and raises awareness on a more environmental friendly purchase in more than 100 outlets in the city of Trento area (Italy)

But what does it mean in practice "eco shopping?" Means that in the stores that have received this certification you can find canvas bags or other reusable materials, empty cartons to bring your purchases at home, rechargeable batteries, cold cuts and cheese in a ply-separable paper, fruits and vegetables packaged in compostable bags, bottles of water, wine or milk can be purchased in re-fillable containers.You can alsobuy food with special discounts in last-minute market or donate them to charitable organizations.

The project aims to the reduction of the amount of waste, the promotion of recycling practises, requires a constant audit of the POS and sustains educational projects through school and extracurricular activities. (Courtesy of Alternativa Sostenibile)

SHOWFOOD presents SMEG CW500 dishwasher: sustainability, design and efficiency

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This year in SHOWFOOD‘s product catalogue our customers will find many new products which are both efficient and sustainable. The first one to be introduced is SMEG CW500 dishwasher with Heat recovery.

Smeg CWC500

 The special Drain Heat Recovery (D.H.R.) unit, 2 patent pending,

transfers heat from the water outlet to the inlet, thus raising the initial temperature of the water supply by around 20°C with a consequent energy saving of over 25% compared to the standard model. It also help saving water (11 litres against 30 consumed by traditional machines) and thanks to its Standby function saves up to 70% of energy in respect to traditional machines. The total running cost saving: up to 44%, a great result for a great product! (Please visit SHOWFOOD for further information about this product)