Qualitaly_121

FEB. MAR. 2021 V streamline activities with lower added value, to respond more quickly to product recalls, to simplify the exchange of product information, such as allergens and nutritional information. “Our challenge,” concludes Cibien, “is to help the eating out food supply chain to be more efficient by encouraging digitisation and the sharing of product information. Every participant in the supply chain can gain important benefits from adopting GS1 standards.” ______________________________ AT PAGE 16 CLOSE UP Brave captains For restaurants, 2020 was a year of struggle and passion. Yet some have taken a gamble by opening new businesses. Their “guidelines” in the pandemic? Clear and creative ideas, flexibility, transparency and quality ingredients, innovation but also a return to the most authentic Italian tradition by Anna Muzio The restaurant reopens, then closes, or maybe not. Between lockdowns and traffic light zones, the restaurant industry has been through a year of anguish and uncertainty. Even in the absence of any real tracking of contagions (which failed before it even started), the numbers and the decrees have always penalised the usual: secondary schools, entertainment and culture, gyms and, of course, bars and restaurants. In contradictory ways, such as the possibility of opening until 6 p.m., excluding dinner. Dinner, which according to Fipe is worth 80% of turnover: does it make sense to open only for the least profitable meal, with the aggravating circumstance of half-deserted offices due to smart working? Many thought not. We have witnessed a fury towards the pleasures of life - the taste for the beautiful and the good - that has taken on Savonarola-like overtones. At the same time, there has been a lack of control, which has favoured the fraudsters, penalising those who have invested in bringing their premises up to standard and respecting the rules. After all, even the restaurant industry has its faults, from the disguised turnovers of past years to backroom dinners: practices that damage the entire sector. Notwithstanding the justified concern about a virus, Sars-Cov-2, which has brought the entire planet to its knees, after a year of management it is legitimate to ask whether the choices made were all dictated by the best and most scientific analysis. “What has not been understood about our work, especially the ballet of colour zones,” says Ciro Alberto Cuciniello of Carter Oblio (Rome), “is that the restaurant is not a shoe shop: it cannot open whenever. There is cleaning, orders to suppliers, management of perishable ingredients. It wasn’t easy to manage something new, but we needed clear rules for everyone.” Now we’re thinking about a new start, and there’s no shortage of ideas, such as including workers in the tourism sector among the priority categories for vaccination. But the question on everyone’s mind is: what will the eating out market be like in 2021? We asked those who, during this annus horribilis, have chosen to throw caution to the wind and open a new business. Despite everything and looking the “beast” (read pandemic and its consequences) straight in the eye. Here is what these “brave captains” told us and their thoughts on the restaurant of the future. From south to north, to overturn geography for once. And with some “buzzwords”. COLLABORATE Gerardo Urcioli, Tratturì - Gastronomic journey, Avellino, July 2020 Chef Gerardo Urcioli opened Tratturì restaurant in Avellino last summer. With a degree in economics of markets and institutions from Bologna, he developed his love for cooking in fair trade markets, which at Tratturì are closely linked to the territory and small producers, with a careful selection of ingredients and a focus on vegetables and organic produce. Irpinia is a very rich land, with a great biodiversity but still very few high- level establishments,” he says. “I’m convinced that one way out of the economic crisis after the pandemic will be to bring the local economy to life, trying to relate to it, weaving relationships, creating wealth in the area. Encouraging a circular economy around it that safeguards not only the environment, but also economic and social well-being. We go directly to fetch trout from the source of the WWF oasis in Senerchia, chestnuts, cheeses such as Carmasciano pecorino and Caciocavallo podolico, oil, wine and poultry. It’s a virtuous circle in which the customer also enters, and we invite them to visit and buy the ingredients used in our dishes directly from the producers. Ideas for the future? “Each establishment has its own story and will have to make considerations depending on where it is located. For example, delivery can work in Naples or Rome, but Avellino doesn’t have the catchment area to justify the costs of opening a kitchen. Rather, you could think of a take-away deli with ready or semi-prepared dishes not prepared in a restaurant but in a dark kitchen, presented under a different name. Vacuum-packed dishes in a controlled atmosphere to be offered at lunchtime to offices or companies as an alternative to canteens. Of course, we will have to see how the work situation evolves, but I think there will be room for an offer of quality ready meals, with contemporary processing”. DISTINGUISH Fabiola Scarselli, Distinto, Isernia, July 2020 “The restaurant? It’s a little dream my brother and I had,” says Fabiola Scarselli, maître and sommelier of the Distinto restaurant, which opened in Isernia on 14 July last with her brother Vincenzo, a chef who has had various experiences in London, where he worked for Jamie Oliver. A fusion restaurant in the square in Isernia is a challenge, but they believe in it and the name itself makes their special nature clear. “We work on smoking, spherification, foams, with ingredients from our mother’s garden”. Many ideas have been put into play right from the start, such as the counter where the pastries are assembled in full view, “to show that the processes are all