Qualitaly_122

APR. MAY. 2021 I AT PAGE 1 Time to take stock and say goodbye This is my last editorial as President. As many of you know, this wonderful adventure that has involved me for two terms of office will end at the end of May with the election of my successor. And like all experiences that come to an end, it is good to take stock of this long journey of seven years. I joined the Board of Directors of the Cooperative back in 1999. I was Vice President for 3 years and President since 2015. How has CIC changed in these 6 years? First of all, it has grown, matured and become a solid environment (we have secured credit from all members) and with a more ambitious vision. And, above all, it has become younger. We wanted to change the ‘old’ board of directors by trying to lower the age limit in order to have a more realistic vision reflecting our sector. We have divided up the roles by competence, changed the method of purchasing raw materials by shortening the supply chain and going directly to the producer, and focused a lot on our branded products. The results are evident. In recent years, the balance sheets have always been very positive, and we have been able to give significant refunds to members. What I am leaving today is a ‘healthy’ cooperative, an important entity in the professional catering sector. To whoever ‘succeeds’ me, I just want to leave my vision of how I have managed the Cooperative: I felt it was important to be a bit ‘strict’ from a technical/administrative point of view, to be more democratic and more transparent towards the members. And then a piece of advice: we are all entrepreneurs beyond CIC, we have companies to manage and problems to solve. However, if you take on the responsibility of running this group, you have to realise that it is essential to have the courage to expose yourself. It’s true that sometimes I too have had to choose whether to battle on despite the fact that we don’t all agree. I could have given up, of course, but I lived my role with a great sense of responsibility and I never wanted to back down. It’s not always easy, but at the end of the day it’s nice to get a good result by sticking to your convictions but sharing them with everyone. Finally, there is the restart to manage. All CIC members, myself included, have invested this time in making our companies more technological, capable of keeping up with the times. We have created new systems for doing business with a view to offering the customer the best possible service. The pandemic has probably made us even stronger in the eyes of our business partners. I believe in the strength of each individual partner. And it is with this conviction that I greet you, certain that Cooperativa Italiana Catering is AT PAGE 3 Let’s look beyond the horizon! This is it! And this time it’s for real. On 26 April, the restrictions that prevented bars and restaurants from opening their doors to customers were relaxed, albeit partially. Today, as I write this editorial, the situation is as follows: bars and restaurants (in the yellow zone) can go back to working with the public, but drinks can only be served on the premises (lunch/dinner until the 10 pm curfew) if they have an outside area/dehor available where normal table service can be carried out. You know what? That’s fine. We need to rediscover our daily routine, we need normality and, although not yet complete, this first hint is ‘breathing deeply’. Those who know me know that I always tend to see the glass as half full. So I invite you to do this exercise with me. Let’s ask ourselves some questions. Has this Covid brought only negative things? In my opinion, if we take a close look at our ‘new’ situation, we might pick up on signs that we may not have paid attention to (bearing in mind that we have experienced, and are still experiencing, an unprecedented MAGAZINE Traduzione a cura di Christopher Farley