NOLA, Naples, Italy – An excellent result. Yes, because the Polo del Caffè S.p.A. can already claim to have achieved the ambitious goals it had set itself at the time of its birth, in the winter of 2018. In less than two years, the well-known Neapolitan logistics service provider has consolidated its presence on the national scene, becoming quickly one of the main points of reference in the sector in terms of reliability and professionalism.
We asked Mr Rosario Carafa, CEO of the Polo del Caffè, and Mr Maurizio Zugna, General Manager Italy of the Vollers Group, what the implications of this operation are.
Mr Carafa, how has Il Polo del Caffè grown in these two years?
“The development strategy of Il Polo del Caffè has always been guided by the awareness of having to grow consciously and structurally to guarantee its customers the necessary synergy and support in a sector characterized by high levels of professionalism and continuous operational difficulties. Furthermore, we knew we had to make up for the time gap with our competitors who have been present on the market for years (the company started its activity in February 2018, editor’s note).
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Our organization has therefore aimed to excellence, seeking to increase the efficiency and quality of operating processes to offer the best service in the shortest possible time: confirmation of this attitude is the ISO 9001: 2015 certification issued in April 2020 by the prestigious body DNV Gl. We have also expanded the range of services offered, in order to meet all market needs: an example is the certification of organic operator issued in November 2019 by the company Agroqualità S.p.A. part of the Rina services S.p.A. group.
Today we are proud to say that Il Polo del Caffè is the first operator in the Campania region in the releases of D.C.E. (the EU Common Entry Document, editor’s note) and health clearance, documents related to the sanitary analysis preparatory to the import into the national territory of the goods destined for human consumption from non-European countries, such as raw coffee. ”
Truly impressive milestones. However, to be more precise, what are the numbers of Il Polo del Caffè?
“During the last financial year, Il Polo del Caffè has processed and arranged Custom clearance for more than 33 thousand tons of raw coffee, equal to 66% of the total imports recorded in the Campania region (ISTAT source), moving over 15 thousand tons in its warehouses and managing the supply chain for over 2 thousand direct containers. The average stock in stock was 4.6 thousand tons and we managed over one thousand files. The 2019 turnover was over 1.4 million euros.
I guess the Il Polo del Caffè can said to be satisfied
“Absolutely not, because we still have important goals. First of all, the web. In fact, our new institutional website ilpolodelcaffè.it will soon be online, from which it will be possible to access an interactive portal that will provide our customers with an immediate overview of their goods, entrusted to our logistics management a “virtual” interface that extends the connection with our essential “human” back office.
With regard to the anthropic aspect of the management of Il Polo del Caffè, we are studying and analyzing the implementation of the code of ethics according to the model envisaged by Legislative Decree 231/2001 which we believe to be the maximum expression of transparency, in addition to a tool capable of guarantee the correctness and professionalism of our entire team. We are also completing the design phase of the equipment that will allow us to carry out processing on raw coffee, the change of packaging from standard bags to big bags and vice versa, and we are evaluating the feasibility of creating a platform for unloading from bulk containers.
Last but not least, we are proud to announce that Vollers Group GmbH has become an integral part of the Coffee Polo by acquiring the share sold by Logship S.r.l. In this regard, I would like to publicly thank Doctor Lucio Punzo for all the support during the start-up phase and the work carried out within the board of directors of the Il Polo del Caffè. But to talk about the partnership between Il Polo del Caffè and Vollers Group, I would leave the word to my dear friend, Maurizio Zugna. ”
Mr Zugna, tell us about this cooperation
“Despite his venerable age (Berthold Vollers began his freight forwarding activity in 1932, the first embryo of what would later become Vollers Group GmbH in 2009, editor’s note), our company has always been attentive to market dynamics and the activities of other players present on European and Italian territory. It is well known that, traditionally, the main Italian ports with the highest volume of raw coffee imports have been Trieste and Genoa, where we have already been operating for several years with our staff and facilities, while the traffic destined for the Neapolitan port has always been rather limited, despite the large number of coffee roasters present.
The Neapolitan context, perhaps the only constantly growing Italian coffee hub, has attracted our attention for some time but we realized the objective difficulties of operating in such a complex scenario.
Above all, in our analysis of the stakeholders present, the existence of a very interesting reality emerged, Il Polo del Caffè. To be honest, we were “pleasantly” impressed by the evolution of a company so young yet so dynamic: I use quotation marks because using the term “pleasantly” for what could potentially have been our competitor is not exactly suitable, but it is a fact that the coffee center has definitely attracted our attention.
Then, during an informal chat, my friend Rosario Carafa, whom I had known for decades, anticipated that one of Il Polo del Caffè minority shareholders had shown his intention to leave the company to devote himself to other projects, he did not lose any precious time and we seized the opportunity of an investment, albeit minority, in such an interesting company. ”
So, Mr Zugna, what do you think will change at Il Polo del Caffè?
“We expect a perfect integration between the current strategic direction of the Polo del Caffè with the skills and know-how consolidated over the years by the Vollers Group. We believe that, while holding a minority stake, we will be able to give a strong boost to the international development of the coffee center. In fact, my entry into the Board of Directors as President reinforces this intention and Vollers’ total commitment to the project.
Above all, we are convinced that the synergy that will develop with the Neapolitan team, which has already demonstrated brilliant managerial and great organizational skills, will come as a tsunami in the coffee market. We will bring technical and technological innovations that have already made Vollers Group great in the world and that I am sure will integrate perfectly with what are the already high standards of the Il Polo del Caffè. In addition to this, we are currently among the leaders in Europe in the handling and management of “specialty” coffees characterized by very high product values, specific needs in the storage and preparation of micro batches for shipment to the final receiver. ”
At this point, I ask you, what do you expect from the future?
“In unison we can say, without a shadow of contradiction, that this strategic partnership will allow Il Polo del Caffè to achieve in a very short time those objectives of technological development that were cornerstones already at the time of its establishment. In a nutshell, we have always had the conviction that logistics should not represent a “necessary evil” for the coffee supply chain but a real opportunity. And we will prove it once again with the facts!
Ad maiora semper
