In times of Coronavirus and short commutes, food and drink street vendors become essential. There are about 34 scattered throughout the national territory and they represent an important point of reference for consumers and agricultural producers linked to the territory. The stalls - underlines Coldiretti - are important for supplying the pantries of Italians with fruit, vegetables, cured meats, cheeses, meat and fish. And while we're talking about street food, how can we fail to underline the important function that street food performs, which has seen a real explosion in recent years.
According to a Coldiretti/Ixè survey, in the last summer seven out of ten Italians (69%) chose to consume street food with a demand that reconciles practicality with low cost and represents a particularly appreciated form of sale. Among those who eat street food, 74% clearly prefer traditional local food ranging from piadina to arrosticini to arancini, while 16% choose international food such as hot dogs and only 10% ethnic foods such as the kebab, in sharp decline compared to the past. To support the process of qualifying the food offer in this sector there are over a thousand farmers' markets that have spread to many large and small cities thanks to the Campagna Amica Foundation which has created the largest direct sales network worldwide.
But even these sectors have to deal with Phase 2 rules and constraints for daily trade as well as for the holding of festivals and fairs which come back to life in Spring and represent a breath of fresh air for the small artisanal agri-food production linked to the territory.
I food markets – they argue to FIVA, the Italian Federation of Street Vendors, they can be safer than long queues in front of supermarkets and allow citizens to do their shopping at home, without useless travel and at prices that are often more advantageous than large-scale distribution. However, the situation is slow to be unblocked.
“We have diligently followed the provisions of the government, local institutions and health and scientific authorities – declares the president of Fiva-Confcommercio Giacomo Errico – but now we are exasperated. We are not invisible and we want to go back to work, but local administrations must safeguard the activities of operators in public areas as much as possible. We urgently need to clear the taxes for the occupation of public land and for the waste tax. It's a paradox: we are closed and we pay taxes”. “Let politics and the government listen to us – adds Errico – we don't need one-off indemnities but we ask for concrete measures, to be implemented immediately and without bureaucracy, for credit support and for obtaining liquidity, even partially non-repayable. And above all certain rules for reopening and therefore clarity in the chaos of the Ateco codes because it is truly incomprehensible that among the permitted retail trade activities the sales sector in public areas is not contemplated ".
Also 'National Streetfood Association has launched an appeal to the Government: to safeguard the work of street vendors, the historical memory of a cuisine of the past.
“Unprotected employees, companies that forgive events and money invested in raw materials the day after the start of the working season. The "Cura Italia" DL seems to have forgotten about this category, complains Massimiliano Ricciarini, president of Streetfood: "The food vendors are not protected in this dramatic moment, the income is below zero given that the expenses continue".
We wrote a letter of requests to the Conte government – explains Ricciarini – but for now no response. Street traders and event organization are forgotten by the institutions starting from the Government up to the trade associations” adds Ricciarini recalling the many successful events organized since 2010 touring Italy and filling hotels and increasing related industries, and the millions of euros paid to treasury every year from the many VAT numbers of itinerant trade.
In fact, we are talking about a sector worth 19 million in Italy, of which over 3 million in Campania and Emilia Romagna, over 2 million in Lazio, Sicily and Lombardy.
«We have been at a standstill since October and the prospects for restarting are not yet there», says for his part, Alfredo Orofino, entrepreneur, creator and organizer of the International Street Food Festival, “king” of this category.
«In 2020 the festival calendar included 100 events in as many squares in Italy that were blocked by the pandemic – says Orofino -. The nature of our work then has many positive aspects, such as working outside and being able to easily keep distance, but also limits that should certainly be reviewed. For this reason I have written and sent precise requests to national, regional and municipal institutions, developing an operational and organizational plan that allows operators to work, respecting all safety measures. The responses were, verbally, even positive, but operations are still a long way off».
In the last five years, one day yes and one day no, a street-food company has been born, an itinerant restaurant that is always gaining new supporters. The photograph of the itinerant catering sector was taken by Unioncamere – InfoCamere, on the basis of official data from the Business Register between 2013 and 2018. The army of mobile catering, in fact, went from 1.717 activities in 2013 to 2.729 current, with an increase in absolute terms of over a thousand units.
Finally, the high contribution that entrepreneurs under 35 are making to the sector should be underlined. Their 600 companies now represent 22% of the more than 2.700 street restaurant businesses.
