ivrea
The frozen food accounts are heated and in times of pandemic Bofrost, a leading company in the sector, records a turnover of 313 million in 2020-21, and therefore with a good 31.9%
The company from San Vito al Tagliamento (Pordenone), the national leader in the home sales of igloo-temperature delicacies, closed the business year in February with record growth. + 700% for online sales.
First lockdown, 12 months ago, citizens barricaded at home, fear of reaching supermarkets and a network of restaurants and hypermarkets displaced by the situation: delivery (home deliveries) had to be organized.
For them. But not for Bofrost that she has brought home delicacies for a lifetime. Like the German competitor Eissman, who, however, is decidedly more sparing in her statements and “cold” in her relations with journalists, answering questions only in writing.
“The emergency that began in March 2020 saw us committed to providing families with an essential service, which we guaranteed continuously and in complete safety, even in the most difficult moments, thanks to an unprecedented effort that involved every single employee and collaborator. »Declares the managing director of Bofrost Italia Gianluca Tesolin. Since the summer, the company has also hired 180 new employees and 200 collaborators to strengthen its sales network throughout Italy.
And for those who hire there are also those who, with courage, hold firm because while working in the same sector, catering, has seen turnover collapse because between the product and the consumer there was an intermediary: the restaurant, the pizzeria, the shop. Closed those, the problem explodes.
“Our staff, made up of eleven agents, four drivers and a warehouse worker, has remained so even though we are serving 25% of our customers, no one has been placed on layoffs” says the director of Magogelo, Gianluca Bruno from Canavese who adds ” the blackout however served us for a severe reorganization pending reopening ».
Meanwhile, the extraordinary situation of recent months has led Bofrost to face difficulties of an unprecedented scale linked to the supply chain (management of the distribution chain) and logistics.
“At the end of March we saw the pieces sold reach 225 thousand per day, against 150 thousand on an ordinary day – explains Tesolin -. Having solved the initial critical issues, the choice was to invest in the long term to equip ourselves with a structure suitable for responding to a demand for home shopping that has now become firmly in the habits of Italians ».
For this reason, Bofrost, for example, is adapting its vehicle fleet and branches (about fifty throughout the country, two in Canavese, in Lessolo and Leinì) to deliver, in addition to frozen food, also fresh products at room temperature, which will always be more present in the company’s catalog.
Bofrost’s strategies – which from this point of view is an example of an entrepreneurial response to an exceptional situation, the pandemic – focus on research and development of new products, always offering new services to customers (including payments and electronic meal vouchers, blockchain for tracking the supply chain, app for mobile devices) and continuous expansion of the product catalog, with particular attention to proposals that enhance Italian suppliers and the food excellence of our country.
The recognition for Bofrost’s 2020-21 results goes mainly to the workers, continues the CEO: «The engine of our success is the people. To support our staff, called this year to work in difficult conditions, we have paid out more than 6 million euros in performance bonuses, bonuses and corporate welfare measures ».
Solutions have also been applied to make the work of all staff increasingly agile and paperless (without paper, ed), in particular tools dedicated to the sales force for digital order management. Finally, Bofrost is committed to bringing concrete help to the communities where it is present. «We have done and will always do our part in supporting those in difficulty – underlines Tesolin -. Between April and May we collected 350 thousand euros in donations for hospitals throughout Italy and donated 1.5 million euros in discount vouchers for healthcare personnel. We have also renewed our commitment to scientific research in the health sector with a donation of 310 thousand euros in favor of the Telethon Foundation ». –