Italian wine, confectionery and food specialist Food Accademia has extended its portfolio, underlining its commitment to travel retail.
Newcomers include Flamigni, Cà dei Frati, Amedei, Casa Gheller, DiVò and Acetaia Fiorini, which are set to be highlighted by Food Academia at this year’s TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in Cannes in October.
| Operating since 2016, Food Accademia was founded to “discover, select and introduce the most outstanding Italian food and beverage producers” to the world of travel retail.
The company’s ambition is simple: “to offer a unique portfolio of brands”, to create opportunities and offer customised solutions to both brands and retailers. |
Food Accademia CEO Fabrizio Canal said his company’s brand line-up can help retailers satisfy customer demand at the same time as promoting and enhancing Sense of Place.
“The quality of the brands can mark out an individual airport as being part of the destination country experience,” he said.
“The trend towards fine dining and drinking is not confined to restaurants but is influencing the retail offer with travellers buying sophisticated F&B produce to take home as a souvenir or as a gift.”
Canal believes Italian food “has the opportunity to produce a new identity in travel retail”.
“The market has changed by consolidating new habits. It will be increasingly necessary to adopt strategies to recognise brands and enhance products. Retailers are approaching negotiations with an increased interest for new-to-market brands and products in order to provide a real journey experience to always more conscious and demanding travellers.
“In this direction, we have developed a new assortment, with a greater presence of local products to underline Sense of Place, in line with the evolution of the passenger profile,” he said.
Thanks to technology, Canal said that potential customers are more aware of offers and featured brands. “And I’m not just talking about millennials, but about people in general. We need products that have an intrinsic added value to the purchase and offer a perceived quality; new products, certainly more recognisable by brand, expressed value, sensations and emotions.”
Canal said that Food Accademia’s DiVò ‘prêt-à-porter’ wine – which includes semi-sparkling Rosè and Dry, Chardonnay and Cabernet and is presented in eye-catching 375ml aluminium bottles – is a strong option for retailers in the channel.
“The brand’s innovative bottle is easy to open, always ready to use and you can close it and take it with you,” he said. It is eco-friendly, unbreakable, light and recyclable and, compared to glass, cools five times faster and protects wine from UV rays.
The Cà dei Frati label highlights two wines: Lugana, white with a recommended retail price of €16, and Amarone, a red from Verona. The Cà dei Frati portfolio is exclusive to global travel retail.
Food Accademia’s wine offer also includes five Proseccos from Casa Gheller. Ready to hit the Cannes spotlight are Casa Gheller Brut, with floral and fruity notes, and Prosecco Rosé.
Canal believes new additions to the company’s fine food options “represent Italy at its best”, with Flamigni, the well-known Italian Panettone, leading the line-up. Three new three mixology flavours include: Spritz Panettone, Gin Tonic Panettone and Martini Cocktail Panettone.
Flamigni’s Aperitivo Italiano offers a selection of eight salty fine biscuits, in a “sensorial journey from north to south of Italy”.
Other highlights include Amedei travel retail boxes which are produced for Food Accademia and are exclusive to travel retail. Included are chocolate, bars, pralines and dragée, along with ‘cremini’ and ‘gianduiotti’ chocolates.
Fiorini Balsamic Vinegar 25 years, which is aged in oak, chestnut, cherry, juniper and mulberry vinegar barrels without any additives, is also featured to target gifting. The vinegar is presented in numbered blown-glass bottles.
“Italy has a global reputation for food, oil, wines, and Food Accademia brings the very best that the country has to offer to global travel retail,” Canal said.
“The company’s ambition has been to present travel retail buyers with a portfolio that is unique to the sector.”
He underlined Food Accademia’s aim to offer a diverse range of products, with a focus on sustainability and the millennial market.
“Our portfolio is constantly evolving and testifies to our commitment to developing even more environmentally friendly products that are socially fair and, at the same time, economically effective for our customers.
“The perception of healthiness, in addition to taste and price, is the most important predictive factor in choosing food and we are continuously searching new goods for demanding people,” Canal concluded.
Food Accademia will exhibit at TFWA World Exhibition at Blue Village A1.
