Inside the Harrods Food Halls, lavishly decorated for Christmas, the Pasta Evangelists counter offers an inviting variety of fresh ravioli: those with cotechino di Modena, or those stuffed with peas and scallions: they cost a pound and a half each. In the restaurant area, I am also served by the plate: a portion of sedanini with shrimp sauce is on the menu for 32 pounds. Eating quality Italian has its price. On the other hand, in the “Saloni del Cibo” of the most famous department stores in the world, where it is said that even the Queen goes shopping, one does not go to save money and the windows offer only the best of world gastronomy. Pasta Evangelists is one of the freshmen of the Food Halls: born from the young Italian idea Alessandro Savelli born as an App that delivers home-made pasta with everything you need to cook it yourself at home (from bucatini with pesto to turkey cannelloni), the start-up has now moved from the digital world directly to a corner inside Harrods, where it is the only fresh pasta shop.
A story born in 1929
Tasted inside the world temple of shopping, or simply cooked at home, fresh pasta is the new market phenomenon in the United Kingdom. So much so that the “Pasta Wars” has broken out among the Italians, to the sound of cappellacci and tortelloni: across the Channel, all the biggest Italian names compete for a market with fat margins, from Barilla to Rana; and the many small producers of private labels and “white” brands. Then there are outsiders, such as Napolina, an English brand from Manchester that produces in Italy; or Dell’Ugo, another only English brand with distant Italian origins: it is the first British fresh pasta in history, born in 1929, and in terms of sales.
Fresh pasta is the new Eldorado of the food sector in the UK. The British, also thanks to the increase in immigrants and expats in recent years, have become a people of big pasta eaters: last year the country imported pasta from Italy alone for a value of 89 million pounds, according to data from the ICE-ITA of London, the commercial arm of the Farnesina led by Giovanni Sacchi. Of this mountain of spaghetti and fusilli, fresh pasta today accounts for 13%, against 40% of traditional dry pasta: it is a niche with high margins. And which is now becoming a booming market. Pasta Evangelists exceeded 10 million in revenues in the year of Covid, helped by people locked up at home: Savelli himself, however, remembers that when he launched his App and had a turnover of just 70 thousand pounds, he went on TV at Dragon’s Den , BBC reality show where in 3 minutes some start-ups have to convince Scrooge to invest in capital. Savelli was looking for £ 75,000 in exchange for a 2.5% stake: he was discarded. The recipe formula at home has instead attracted the attention of Italy, so much so that at the beginning of 2021 Barilla, the largest pasta producer in the world, bought the majority of Pasta Evangelists. For the Parma multinational it was also a way to relaunch itself on the British market where at the beginning of 2020, the 4 thousand Tesco supermarkets, the largest chain in the country, had reduced the references of Barilla products on the shelf from 18 to 5. Today, comment from Parma, “Barilla is the brand that grows the most in the country”: Mulino Bianco biscuits, jars of ready-made sauce and pasta can be found everywhere in London, even in small tobacconists inside the subway and with the thrust on Pasta Evangelists has placed a strategic pawn in the new food phenomenon. The hunger for pasta was not satisfied: up to the first week of December 2021, the British bought 150 million packs of pasta for a value of 95 million pounds (according to the IRI database). Inside Borough Market, the radical chic local market under the bridges of the London Bridge railway, two fresh pasta restaurant-shops have opened: La Tua Pasta and Padella. But since New Year’s Day, Brexit has made it more difficult to import fresh pasta, which has a shelf life of a few weeks and risks rotting at the reintroduced customs between the EU and the UK. Here then some have decided to equip themselves: to produce in the country without having to import. The Italian food group Ticco Foods, owned by Francesco Vanoli, Giuseppe Pollara and Marco Oriolo, took over a factory in crisis and started producing fresh pasta that supplies hotels and supermarkets, as well as the mini-chain of gourmet shops “La Piccola Deli” (among whose shareholders there is also the Egyptian investor Nabil Mankarious, owner of the Franco Manca pizzerias). And now, in the wake of Barilla, Ticco Foods is preparing to land in Tesco supermarkets with its own brand “Trafila” fresh pasta: many suppliers are moving further downstream in the chain, going directly to the shelf with their product.
Son of art, his father was Michele Ferrero’s right hand man before going to direct Parmalat under the Lactalis management, Vanoli explains the phenomenon as follows: “The boom in fresh pasta depends on two factors: it is quick to cook, yes it cooks in a few minutes compared to 15 for a Gragnano pasta and time is a variable that makes the difference for consumers in big cities “. Stuffed pasta, then, “is a complete meal, perceived as healthy and balanced”. For months, the advertising of Pasta Evangelists’ home-delivery dishes has been on the underground carriages in Londa. Rana’s has also recently joined: now the number one in Italy for filled pasta, which also dominates in all English supermarkets, offers its “kit” for cooking tagliatelle alla bolognese or gnocchi alla sorrentina at home. The Pasta Evangelists model is leading the way, also helped by the structure of the country: the United Kingdom is a highly digitized country: everything is ordered online. Having a “kit” sent home to make home-made pasta would make even a Milanese smile, emblem of the person who does not cook, but in the United Kingdom it was a huge success. In reality, the Italian giant Giovanni Rana has been the king of the “Tube” long before: he landed in the UK in 2005. And he is a dean of underground advertising. During the lockdown, with the advertisements blocked, the billboards with the Rana ravioli remained posted for months and months, free of charge. Unexpected (pleasant) pandemic events.