A 160 million euro strategic plan to accelerate the growth of the Turin-based company abroad. It is the one illustrated this morning in an interview by the CEO of Lavazza, Antonio Baravalle.
The first objective is to grow in the capsule segment which currently occupies 3% of the market, but is destined, according to the company plan, to quickly reach 20%. This is to be competitive in the coming years in view of a consolidation process which, like the beer sector, could also involve the coffee sector. “In the near future – announced Baravalle – what happened to beer will happen in the world of coffee: a gigantic process of aggregation. Sooner or later we will have to sit around a table with the other producers. We have to get there with broad shoulders in order to be able to negotiate from positions of strength”.
Lavazza, today in eighth place among roasters worldwide, with 54% of turnover achieved in Italy and 46% abroad, intends to achieve an Italy-abroad ratio of 30-70. However, the company excludes resorting to external financial resources, reiterating that it is precisely the fact of not being listed on the Stock Exchange that leaves the company the freedom of movement that distinguishes it.
The announced investments are dictated, according to Baravalle, by the desire to continue producing in the four Italian plants: Gattinara and Settimo Torinese in Piedmont, Verrès in Valle d'Aosta and Pozzilli in Molise, reopened last week just over a year after a accident that had completely destroyed the plant.
Gattinara is confirmed as Lavazza's top center due to its excellent relationship with the local area and with the trade unions: “We have a supplementary contract that guarantees flexibility in working hours and versatility in tasks. Our goal is to create factories capable of producing both capsules and ground coffee. Only in this way will we be able to respond quickly to market peaks by dividing the risk across several factories". A multifunctional production plant, to build which the company has planned an investment of 60 million euros. To these are added another 100 million, already announced by Lavazza some time ago, for the construction of the company's new headquarters in Turin.
Baravalle also judges positively the governance of Lavazza, a fourth-generation family business that has collaborated with external managers for the operational management of the group.
