The company
Founded in 1933 by Francesco Illy, the company produces and sells worldwide a single blend of premium quality espresso coffee made of nine varieties of pure Arabica. The unmistakable and invariable illy taste and aroma, enjoyed cup after cup anywhere, all over the world, are the results of a perfect balance of beans coming from South America, Central America, India, and Africa.
The illy blend is intended for the HoReCa (hotel, restaurant, café) channel, and is meant to be used at home and in the office; according to the different channels, it is available in cans (beans or ground coffee), capsules, and pods.
At present, the blend is marketed in 140 countries, all over the 5 continents, and is available in more than 50,000 outlets.
Aiming at providing an absolute and fully enjoyable espresso cup experience, illycaffè has created a line of systems and devices that contribute to the perfect fruition: from the outlets where it can be savored – the espressamente illy chain of franchised Italian-style coffee bars and the Artisti del Gusto network, devised by illy to celebrate and enhance the best professionals – to coffee preparation systems and coffee machines.
Great attention is given to the culture of coffee, for this reason the company has established the Università del Caffè, known everywhere as University of coffee. Its classes are arranged for different levels of study and are dedicated to the formation and training of coffee growers, experts and coffee admirers, managers, and the staff of retailers and outlets.
In 2008, illycaffé, which directly or indirectly manages more than eleven companies and provides work for over 780 people, attained a consolidated turnover of 280 million Euros and 8 million Euros of net profits. Exports now account for 53% of its total sales.
The Illy family: three generations of enthusiast quality seekers
The history of illycaffè is closely linked to the life of its founder’s family, Francesco Illy. Francesco, of Hungarian origin, arrived in Trieste during World War I as a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army. At the end of the war he decided to live in Trieste, which had just become part of the Italian Kingdom, and in 1933 he started up a business in the cocoa and coffee sectors, and later on decided to dedicate his entire life to the black beverage. That is how illycaffé was born.
A few years after the end of World War II, Ernesto Illy, the founder’s son, was entrusted with the leadership of the company. Ernesto set up a research laboratory, which has since become a melting pot of patents and innovations. Ernesto Illy’s passion for the science of coffee and its culture gained him the nicknames of “Papa Bean” and “Missionary of the espresso” given by the international media community. Ernesto Illy unfortunately died in February 2008, to the deep grief of all coffee insiders, leaving a great emotion among those who knew him and had worked with him. The Foundation created in February 2009 with the goal of developing and extending Ernesto Illy’s moral legacy – his ideas, activities and guidance – bears his name.
The Ernesto Illy Foundation’s mission is to foster and spread knowledge, ethics and sustainability as absolute values in the exercise of entrepreneurship, and research as the path to truth and human progress, according to Ernesto Illy’s teachings.
The Foundation’s initiatives are all hinged on the pursuit of ethics, sustainability, scientific research, coffee culture and a more widespread knowledge of Ernesto Illy’s character and work, through the development of cultural and scientific projects, the organization of events, specialty congresses and seminars and the production of print and multimedia materials, often in partnership with universities, institutions and agencies representing excellence.
Anna Illy, Ernesto’s wife, at present is Honorary President and President of the Board of members: she shares the passion for coffee with her sons and daughter Francesco, Riccardo, Anna, and Andrea. Andrea Illy, at present is the company chairman and CEO. He has guided the company into innovative processes, internationalization, culture, and quest for quality.
The illy Group
illycaffè S.p.A. belongs to the Illy family’s holding company – Gruppo illy S.p.A. – the purpose of which is to develop on the long term a pole of taste, where every company – strong of its character and competence – becomes the benchmark of high quality products.
More specifically, it has worked at the development of the colonial product sector (coffee, tea, and chocolate), the confectionery business and products that complement coffee. What we see today is a return to its origins, because the Illy family’s business in the 1930s was based on a similar range of products, later abandoned to focus on coffee alone. The strategy of the holding company is the promotion and the improvement of companies headed by a businessman whose passion and enthusiasm for the product have become the reference philosophies of the company expansion.
Besides illycaffè, the holding controls Domori (high quality chocolate producer - July 2006), Damman Frères (French tea brand – March 2007), and Mastroianni (wine farm of Montalcino – September 2008). It also has a share in Agrimontana (Leader Company in the business of top-of-the-line confectionery products, such as marron glacés and jams – December 2005). President of the illy Group is Riccardo Illy.
QUALITY AND SUSTAINABILITY: AN ESSENTIAL COMBINATION
Sustainability according to illycaffè: economic, social, and environmental
The company mission consists in obtaining the best coffee that nature can possibly offer, and is put into action through the principle that the production chain has to produce value for all the people involved. Everybody thus deserves satisfaction and benefits. Therefore the company’s goal consists in an economic, social, and environmental sustainability for consumers, clients, collaborators, suppliers, and communities interacting with the company. Last, but not least, the shareholders as well.
The virtuous circle of illycaffè sustainability begins for that reason with the cup of coffee and goes back to the countries that provide the beans, with the aim of pursuing the best quality cup of coffee as possible along with the customer’s satisfaction. It is a path along which the coffee technology and culture, the respect for humankind and the environment play leading roles.
Selecting the green coffee
Believing that in order to make a coffee of great quality it is essential to outperform at the very beginning of the production chain, already on the coffee tree, illycaffè has decided to work at the farmers’ side, in their countries, to look for the most valued Arabica and take good care of it.
The company supply policy rests on three main pillars: work at the side of the best Arabica producers; transfer the required know-how to them along with a great desire and training to seek quality products and guarantee the environment protection at the same time; compensate them for the achieved quality, by assuring their profit in any circumstance, in order to obtain a sustainable production. This vision dates back to the late Eighties, when illycaffè purchased 100% of its raw materials directly from the farmers, skipping the international markets of commodities.
The supplier selection is very strict and implemented through different policies that take into account the different realities of each country. In Brazil, for instance, in order to start an identification process of the best producers and thus increase the quality of their products, illycaffè in 1991 has launched a special award for coffee farmers: the Prêmio Brazil de Qualidade do Café Para Espresso, now renamed Prêmio Ernesto Illy de Qualidade do Cafè Para Espresso.
At the beginning of the Nineties, the Brazilian global production assured huge quantities of coffee, but of low quality. The award has changed everything and now some regions of this country such as Cerrado – wrongly considered unsuitable to coffee production – have had a chance to develop and be successful. Brazilian beans today are considered among the best in the world. Further to the successful operation in Brazil, which has spread and increased the quality of coffee nurtured in the South American country, the award has been extended also to other growers countries.
In other circumstances, on the contrary, bearing in mind the different local situation of Ethiopia – marked by thousands of small coffee growers and producers – it was possible to build with a local partner some washing units in order to obtain the product working homogeneousness of small quantities of coffee berries coming from many producers. In those stations, farmers can attend some training sessions as well in order to improve their production techniques.
This project has managed to develop the culture of business and coffee all over the nation, providing at the same time the small coffee growers with the support they needed in order to achieve quality. It is quality, in fact, to be acknowledged and rewarded by illycaffè. The company has joined forces directly with the government department in charge of the plantations and has identified a processing system that enables, with an extremely low investment, a considerable improvement in the quality of the harvest and, at the same time, an increase of the revenues for each producer.
After some years of pilot testing, the project has been approved by the International Coffee Organization and by the Common Fund for Commodities of the United Nations.
In addition, year after year, illycaffè contributes to the development of the local coffee producer community:
- In 2006, it financed the reconstruction of a road in the district of Kochere, near Sisota, where the main coffee-washing station is located;
- A three-year project financing is currently under way for the construction of two electric lines over a distance of 29 km (Yirgacheffe-Aricha-Edido 18 km and Chelelektu-Sisota 11 km), which will bring electricity to some 60,000 people.
The University of coffee and illycaffè agronomists are charged with the training programs aimed at coffee farmers: every year they dedicate more than 300 days to on-site training, directly visiting the producers in their plantations.
illycaffè’s supply chain provided the initial benchmark for certification leader Det Norske Veritas in developing the new sustainability certification standard.
This standard results from the integration of the illy model – based on three pillars: working directly with the producers, transferring the necessary know-how to produce excellent and environment-friendly coffee and paying them higher than market prices in recognition of the quality they produce and as an encouragement to continue to improve – with current and emerging guidelines in the area of sustainability and corporate responsibility, as well as the reference standards for certification and accreditation.
A fair profit for growers
illycaffè calculates the lowest price for the coffee it buys on the basis of a complex set of variables, developed in many years of experience and of close collaboration with farmers. Among these variables, there are the country of origin, the type of market, the quality of the product and its costs of production. The lowest price is calculated on the standard of the international stock market (NYC), the costs of production, the product quality, and the guarantee of a fair margin of profit. This margin repays the farmers for the great care they took while growing coffee, and guarantee them a profit even when the price of green coffee on the international market is low.
illycaffè for the environment
For illycaffè the protection of the environment is a crucial part of its research into sustainable excellence, and goes way beyond the direct impact of the company on the ecosystem. The company contribution to sustainable development is implemented through the ability to activate processes of support and promotion of the right values and behaviors from an environmental point of view, from the plantations where coffee grows to the production plants.
In the countries of origin, the company promotes innovative agronomic techniques having a low environmental impact, which include the adoption of processes compatible with the protection of the environment and the food security, and the lowest use as possible of synthesis products.
illycaffè environmental policy has won the company important recognitions: in 2003, it was awarded the ISO 14001 certification that guarantees the right application of the environmental management system. In 2004 the company has adopted by its own the EMAS set of rules, with respect to the definition of a system of eco-management and audit with the goal of improving the environmental policy of the company.
Science and innovation in the world of coffee
Over the last one hundred years three of the main eight revolutionary innovations that have changed forever the way of thinking of coffee and tasting it are illycaffè’s. Two were ideas of the very founder, Francesco Illy: the “Illetta”, the pioneer of modern espresso coffee makers, invented in 1935, and the pressurization process, a conservation system that is still in practice today and consists in replacing the air in cans with inert gases under pressure. This system allows to “catch” the aromas of the roasted coffee and to slow down their natural exit from the bean. Therefore the aromas are concentrated in the coffee oils, and give them their smoothness, sweetness and texture, enhancing its taste and keeping its fragrance unaltered in time. The pressurization process made it possible to export coffee outside the areas of production, starting point of the company’s international vocation.
The third innovation dates back to the Seventies, and was launched on the market in the Eighties: the first and ground-breaking pod of portioned coffee, created with the idea of exporting espresso in every country, even those that were short of professional barmen, the key and much-needed variable in order to make an excellent cup of coffee.
These innovations were later followed by other recent innovations: the hyper-espresso technology, Metodo Iperespresso, an innovative system that allows an ideal extraction of every coffee flavor and results into a delicious, rich, smooth and long-lasting cream. This is due to a special capsule inside which coffee is extracted in two steps, hyper-infusion and emulsion, a very different technique with respect to traditional coffee machines that work by percolation.
The company’s initiative to join science and coffee was born from the complexity of this unique beverage made of 1,500 chemical substances (800 of which are volatile), that have to be harmonically blended to improve its aroma, and of more than 13 chemical/physical variables that influence a correct preparation. For this reason, study and research applied to coffee and its production processes – from bean selection to preparation – are strategic levers to the company from the time of its very beginning. With a multidisciplinary approach that engages many subjects, illycaffè is dedicated to the scientific research in order to achieve the quality excellence. The Research and Innovation Department of illycaffè – acknowledged at international level as an excellence centre in the studies focused on coffee - is made of two research centers, one in Trieste and one in São Paulo in Brazil, and four laboratories: Aromalab, SensoryLab, Biolab, and TechLab.
According to an independent global study on the coffee industry, illycaffè ranks third by number of patents (source: European Patent Office, February 2010).
The production process
Roughly fifty beans of coffee are needed to make an excellent espresso cup, although only one flawed bean can damage and mess up everything. For this reason illycaffè has implemented a quality control system for the whole production process: from the supply phase during which it selects just the best lots, to the working phase at the plant, each bean has to pass 125 checks before being packaged. Among those controls the electronic selection of coffee beans allows to get rid of the flawed ones by inspecting 200 beans every second and least but not last there is the most sophisticated device of all: the palate of its liquorers and “coffee sommeliers”, charged to taste the lots of products chosen to be blended in illycaffé. Before being awarded the illycaffé brand, each lot of coffee is subject to eight sensorial tastings.
The processes used for roasting, which takes place after blending; cooling, which is achieved using fresh air, and the pressurized packaging, allow the product to reach an intense aroma and balanced taste, which maintains its fragrance unaltered over time.
Thanks to the caring attention reserved to its production processes, illycaffè has been the first agricultural and food company in the world to obtain two quality certifications: in 1992 a product conformity certification in accordance with the regulations agreed by Qualité France, and in 1996 the ISO 9001 (from 2002 ISO 9001:2000).
THE PERFECT CUP OF COFFEE
The company mission to offer its customers the best coffee as possible results not only in excellence in the area of production, but also in the extension of this challenge to include the achievement of a perfect cup of coffee, whatever technique is used to prepare it and wherever it is enjoyed. To achieve this, illycaffè has worked and set three strategic projects:
a) The culture of coffee, meant as the thoughtful know-how underlying the product, to be achieved through the Università del caffè;
b) The places in which the coffee cup is enjoyed: the espressamente illy retail chain and the Artisti del Gusto project;
c) The instruments that give a special contribution to the preparation of a perfect cup of coffee: the illy systems.
a) Coffee culture: Università del caffè
With the aim of contributing to the increase and dissemination of the coffee culture at international level, illycaffè has founded the Università del caffè, a training school that offers a complete theoretical and practical training on all subjects connected to coffee. The courses are structured according to the public they address: producers and coffee growers; businessmen and bar staff, restaurants and hotels; consumers and connoisseurs, keen on quality and interested in extending further their knowledge of the world of coffee.
Università del caffè has its main quarters in Trieste, but is also present abroad in 18 premises: Brazil (São Paulo), China (Shanghai), Colombia (Bogotá), Croatia (Opatja), Czech Republic (Prague), Egypt (Cairo), France (Paris), Germany (Monaco), Great Britain (London), Greece (Athens), India (Bangalore), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Mexico (Mexico City), The Netherlands (Rotterdam), South Korea (Seoul), Turkey (Istanbul) and United States of America (New York), South Africa (Johannesbourg).
Every year Università del Caffè worldwide trains more than ten thousand people.
b) Places: espressamente illy, the chain of “Italian-style” coffee bars
espressamente illy is the network of franchised “Italian-style” coffee shops whose business philosophy is based on seeking the culture of true Italian coffee. The architectural patterns of espressamente have the important role of translating and interpreting the place according to the true Italian style, appreciated worldwide. This project was announced in 2003: since then over 240 coffee shops have been opened in over 30 countries. In order to reinforce the Horeca development strategy, the Artisti del Gusto program was launched in 2007. The program created an international network which illycaffè dedicated to the best coffee shops to expand and enhance their professional competences, partnering with them to assist their development and help maintain their quality levels over time.
To date, the project has involved over 1000 coffee shops all over the world.
c) Instruments: the illy preparation systems
The illy taste, anytime and anywhere
- METODO IPERESPRESSO, THE ESPRESSO REVOLUTION
After the production of the first portioned pods of coffee at the beginning of the 1980s, illycaffè has worked on a new system designed for the house and the restaurants. Introduced in 2007, it provides a totally innovative way to prepare an espresso cup of coffee thanks to the capsule with extraction chamber. Unlike traditional systems in which the espresso coffee is produced in a single phase through percolation, in the new capsule the coffee undergoes two steps: hyper-infusion and emulsion. The double step process allows an ideal extraction of every coffee flavour and brings into being a delicious, rich, smooth and creamy aroma that remarkably lasts unchanged for more than 15 minutes.
- EASY SERVING ESPRESSO (ESE)
E.S.E. (which stands for Easy Serving Espresso) is the technology being used to simplify the preparation of a good espresso using just a few simple operations, thanks to the adoption of “servings” (individual pre-packed doses containing 7 grams of ground coffee that has been pressed and hermetically sealed between two fine layers of filter paper). This international industrial standard (the only “open” system available for espresso coffee prepared with paper pods) is indeed based on the use of espresso machines and servings, of various brands and models, which are compatible with one another and available in a number of price ranges.
- THE NEW-GENERATION OF MOKA COFFEE POT DERIVED FROM AN ILLY INNOVATION
illycaffè has transferred the research and knowledge acquired in the field of espresso coffee to the coffee prepared by a steam pressure moka coffee pot. The possibility of obtaining a beverage with great body and flawless has been helped by defining and controlling the entire extraction process and removing the final phase, the “tail end of the brew”, which produces the negative aromas of coffee made with the moka pot. From this discovery, and thanks to the collaboration with Bialetti Industrie, “Cuor di moka” was born, the first of the new generation of moka coffee pots.
- FOR THE OFFICE COFFEE SERVICE
A further solution for the offices sector – undergoing a big expansion in recent years – has been achieved thanks to an agreement with the Itaca Espresso System company, whose 50% has been bought by illycaffè in December 2008. The system is based on an espresso coffee maker working with capsules of ground espresso coffee packed one by one in a protective environment. The uniqueness of the new patented system is at the base of the capsule: it is completely closed and therefore enables a perfect infusion of the coffee.
ILLY, ART AND LITERATURE
Coffee is closely linked to culture and art worlds: in fact, as we all remember, it was the official drink of the enlightment and some of the most important artistic and cultural movements were born in the first coffee bars. This is why coffee is the perfect companion to culture and illycaffè for over twenty years has been choosing art, literature, and creativity as a whole to express its own values and its philosophy. The company has therefore decided to make an active commitment to the circulation of contemporary art, by sponsoring major international exhibitions and working side by side with both established artists and emerging talents. For several editions now, illy has partnered with the Biennale di Arti Visive in Venice, and has contributed to the most important and influential international art fairs and exhibitions, such as the Armory Show (New York), Frieze (London), Arco (Madrid), Artissima (Turin), Art Brussels (Brussels), Art Rotterdam (Rotterdam), and Art Forum (Berlin).
In conjunction with key international art events, illy has actively promoted emerging talents of the art and contemporary design scene through a system of Awards, granted to young artists. Also, the company actively brings art and experimentation to the public, and supports the most authoritative players in this sector, i.e. the Italian Studio Program of P.S.1, the Central St. Martin’s College of London and the Fondazione Pistoletto.
illy Art Collection
The Art Collection of coffee cups designed by contemporary artists and created since 1992 is one of the nicest and most tangible expressions of the close link existing between illycaffè and contemporary art. Some of the most renowned, leading and appreciated international and emerging artists have thus transformed an everyday object such as the coffee cup – in this case reinvented by the architect and designer Matteo Thun - into a must- have and cult object: Michelangelo Pistoletto and Marina Abramovic, Jeff Koons and Bob Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist and Julian Schnabel are only a few of the prominent maestros who have contributed to this project. Rosenquist himself designed the company’s present logo in 1996, and ten years later decorated a limited edition of the coffee can with the image of his work titled “Coffee Flavours Ideas”.
In Principio, by Sebastião Salgado
In order to publicize the important contribution made by coffee farmers, in 2003, illycaffè launched the project “In Principio”, a wonderful photo reportage by famous photographer Sebastião Salgado. Every year he visits and photographs a different coffee-growing country. His most recent exhibition – which combined the five milestones of his reportage (Brazil, India, Ethiopia, Guatemala and Colombia) – was held in Berlin, in September 2008 at C/O.
illy SustainArt
Started in 2007, the illy SustainArt project aims at developing the company’s action in contemporary art. Its purpose is to promote to the international artistic community the company’s approach to a sustainable growth, and provide all the emerging artists coming from developing countries - with special interest and focus on the countries where the coffee bought by illycaffè comes from - with new visibility opportunities and chances to challenge the market. In 2008 at Artissima and Arco fairs some projects have been presented, and the observatory www.illysustainArt.org has been launched with the purpose of becoming a real instrument of visibility and meeting with the international market. This has been accomplished through the Web - and more specifically the wide offers of social media – which allows to create links and connections, and to share the contents beyond distances and geographic borders.
Literature
With respect to literature, illycaffè participates to Festivaletteratura of Mantova, where is responsible for the project Scrittura Giovani, open to the emerging writers coming from four European countries.
Enriching the illy world are also the words that create an ideal place for conversation, an exchange of ideas and experiences. illywords is the magazine through which the company maintains a constant dialogue with the world of art and culture. Each issue explores a different subject, to which writers, artists, designers, and entrepreneurs contribute with their own point of view and experience. The graphic design and images of the magazine are created specifically for each issue by students of international design schools. A blog version has become available online in 2010 – www.illywords.com – to discuss with the Web people.
For further information:
www.illy.com
Anna Adriani/Christine Pascolo, illycaffè Trieste - Tel. +39 040 3890111
Susanna Picucci/Giorgia Meretti, Cohn & Wolfe Milano - Tel. +39 02 20239.386/375
susanna.picucci@cohnwolfe.com; giorgia.meretti.ce@cohnwolfe.com