Federico Traverso, the commercial relations manager of Romani & C. S.p.a., historical company engaged in the management of colonial products in Italy with high specialization in raw coffee, activities carried out through the headquarters in Genoa-Pozzolo Formigaro and Trieste, talks about the Triestespresso event for the year 2022 and his targets for the future in our interview.
“We have always responded presently to the Trieste appointment, with enthusiasm and empathy, for the highly professional – albeit informal – atmosphere that reigns, which makes it a pleasant and interesting event to participate in. The company has been rooted in that port for over half a century and the presence, both at the fair and in the area, of other professionals who embrace the sector’s supply chain, makes it an appointment to be noted on the agenda.
Finally, after too long due to the right precautions induced by the pandemic, we have all begun to savor the pleasure of meeting in person; We will therefore gladly have the opportunity to see many customers and suppliers again, but let me also tell you many friends, with whom to return as a habit in these cases to chat about our beloved coffee sector, which is evolving so rapidly.
From the meetings, I am sure, the different points of view will emerge that will allow us to draw a plausible picture of what the future holds. As far as we are concerned, we plan to present ourselves in the best possible guise by showing the developments of our company in terms of structures, initiatives and perspectives.”
And what can you tell us about the current year?
“I think I am not mistaken by saying that it has been and still is a particularly complex year, marked by the aftermath of the pandemic, by logistical congestion, by a war that is as unexpected as it is painful. The complications that are negatively affecting our activities but also on the daily routine of our life are well known; just think of the expensive energy and how much a widespread increase in costs has been a driving force for general.
For our part we have tried to parry the blows but I believe we should, at the level of the economic sector, pursue a rebalancing of the accounts, avoiding speculation but – as the Civil Code states in several steps – using the “diligence of a good family man” – to ensure that our companies continue, in a sustainable way, to provide services or products of adequate quality to the demands of the reference markets.
Reliability, which for our business is an essential element, also passes through the solidity of the company which must certainly have an eye on the past and the present but projected towards the future by trying to anticipate the needs and trends of its customers.
Look, I’ll tell you something: I attended my first SIC (international coffee fair) in Bologna in the seventies, don’t get me wrong I was little more than a baby but it was there that for the first time I heard the word “frozen” … that ‘year the price of coffee reached incredibly high values, there were shocks and – from the stories that I have almost made of my own lived memories – it seemed the end of an era. Then, after the buriana, the sector was able to flourish again, laying the foundations for the following twenty years.”
What cut will you give to this edition of Triestespresso?
“Of course, welcome, hospitality and openness to dialogue, which we believe are the strong points of anyone attending an event and which, we are told, are distinctive features of our commercial and management approach, will be the basis of our participation; it will also be an opportunity to bring the younger members of our staff together with their usual interlocutors, who have not yet had the opportunity to meet personally.
We will be able to tell and tell ourselves by showing the growing attention to the environment and therefore the growing sensitivity towards corporate sustainability on which we have, for some time now, turned the bow.
We will try to convey our passion for coffee by showing the most recent investments both in upgrading the Pozzolo Formigaro facility and in updating the Trieste branch. See you in Trieste, you will find us in hall 28 stand 20.”
