Marzocco, the coffee machine as a cult object
Up until a few years Starbucks only used their machines to serve its coffees and cappuccinos around the world. In America it has always been considered a cult brand, on a par with design objects and Italian fashion. So much so that not a few Hollywood actors and NBA stars have one at home for moments of relaxation. La Marzocco is now synonymous with high-end coffee machines. An excellence that from Florence has conquered the United States, Australia and China. Betting everything on innovation and an intuition. That of specialty coffees, or single-origin coffees, the varieties that come from a particular production area, combined with their machines.
La Marzocco sensed the change before its competitors, in 2002. Back then it was little more than a mechanical workshop, which invoiced 3.4 million with its coffee machines. Twenty years later the turnover has reached 270 million, there are 12 branches in the world and the ebitda travels around 65 million. “We managed to enter a channel that then had a remarkable development – confesses the CEO Guido Bernardinelli -. We immediately noticed that that terrain was still not covered by machine manufacturing companies and for which we could have been pioneers”.
The prize
Last year, Marzocco was awarded second place as Best Workplaces for Blue Collar 2022, awarded “for the care and attention to the well-being of its people and for the constant work aimed at creating a strong sense of internal community and spirit team”. In Scarperia, in the province of Florence, where it is based, the town of the Mugello racetrack, created the first smart factory, making the concept of craftsman 4.0 the basis of technological innovation its own. Through a digital support system, every operator here can map the processes to optimize the activities of the production cycle.
But the choice that perhaps most of all is rewarding the growth of this company is to have become one of the ambassadors of coffee culture in the world. Creating, again in Scarperia, the Espresso Academy. A sort of crossroads of knowledge and expertise on the black gold industry. Where the machine becomes only part of the experience and where the future of the company is planned.
The future
A future that also includes new products, including accessories and coffee grinders. And with a look at sustainability starting with the plantations. As with the Songwa Estates project, in the southwestern part of Tanzania: the hectares planted with coffee correspond to the same number of lands left to forest, streams and shrubs to give the plantation ecological balance. And the local community is supported with an ethical approach to production. A way to combine the quality of the machine with excellent productions. “Our goal for the next few years now – adds Bernardinelli – is to maintain the corporate culture that we have created through growth, continuing to create value and reinforcing our work team”.