L'Italo-Americano

w h i c h i s b e c o m i n g t h e number one flour here. We have the Neapolitan pizza flour, which is the traditio- nal one and it is amazing. W e h a v e a f l o u r c a l l e d Superiore, perfect to make Roman style pizza. You also started pro- ducing a special flour f o r p e o p l e a t h o m e b e c a u s e o f t h e l o c k - down. Can you tell us more about this? W e n o t i c e d o u r 1 k g bags (around 2 lbs) were selling a lot. More people were staying home, they d i d n ' t g o o u t t o d i n n e r , a n d t h e y w e r e b u y i n g pasta machines and small pizza ovens. So we came out with this one kilo bag called 4H: you just add water, and it's ready to be b a k e d i n f o u r h o u r s . Thanks to our Instagram and Facebook pages, we're s t a r t i n g t o s e e p e o p l e making things like bread and croissants. A friend of mine down in Mexico is actually making Mexican style donuts with it. It's amazing how people beco- m e c r e a t i v e a n d t h a t ' s what we want. W h a t w a s y o u r approach to conquer the American buyers? W e ' r e c o n n e c t e d w i t h several large distributors b u t w e a l s o w o r k w i t h what I call "mom and pop d i s t r i b u t o r s , " f a m i l y - owned businesses. If you make a mistake and you go with a big distributor and they decide to drop you, you have zero; I belie- v e i n h a v i n g a m i x o f d i s t r i b u t o r s , l a r g e , medium and small. I find t h a t m e d i u m t o s m a l l d i s t r i b u t o r s h a v e m o r e p a s s i o n , t h e y k n o c k o n doors and push the pro- ducts harder because they understand the market -- the Italian food market, the Italian specialties. It's a v e r y d i f f i c u l t m a r k e t b e c a u s e t h e r e ' s a l o t o f g u y s k n o c k i n g o n y o u r door. So we try to educate our distributors by going out on the field with their s a l e s r e p s a n d t o t h e i r customers. We go in and we say, "Here's the reason w h y y o u w a n t t h i s . I t ' s h e a l t h i e r , i t ' s c l e a n e r . There's no pesticides." We have had a 95% success by doing that. What is your goal? The company's goal for the future is to grow and become the number one in the United States, while a l w a y s k e e p i n g i n m i n d that you have to take care of your customers. And if you want to stay on top, you have to make sure you h a v e t e c h n i c a l s u p p o r t , quality control, and that your customers are loyal to you. W h a t ' s t h e m a i n challenge in this busi- ness? The problem with a lot o f b u s i n e s s e s i s t h e r e ' s v e r y l i t t l e l o y a l t y . Someone will walk in and s a y , " I ' l l g i v e y o u s o m e t h i n g f o r 5 0 c e n t s less." Everybody wants to save but in my opinion you can change tomatoes and cheese, but you can't chan- ge your flour: once people have that crunch and fla- vor, they remember it, so it's difficult to change your flour once people are used to that. And we've had that situation, where people c h a n g e d o u r f l o u r f o r a cheaper one. All we could say to them was "congra- tulations, but we are not going to lower our price to compete with a lower qua- lity product." We usually get a call back within three months. Can you share with o u r r e a d e r s a r e c i p e that you like? I love my fig pizza reci- pe, where I take fig jam, use it instead of sauce, and I put gorgonzola cheese, a n d t h e n s o m e t i m e s I ' l l s a u t é s o m e o n i o n s a n d throw them on top. I also love my breakfast pizza, i t ' s m a d e w i t h e g g s a n d bacon. What's your winning philosophy in the busi- ness? M y p h i l o s o p h y i s " b e number two," because it a l w a y s m a k e s y o u w o r k harder to reach the top. The Neapolitan pizza flour (Photo: Lorenzo Guidi) THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 30 L'Italo-Americano "America is very fast paced and people expect results quickly. Italians are about quality and they put passion and love in anything they do" Continued from page 28 LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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