Excellence in the. Companies Expertise. Éditions du Signe. Nicolas Dache

Transcription

1 Excellence in the Barbara Merle, Jean de Miscault, Virginie Perrenot, Frédéric Rolland, Maud Sarano Nicolas Dache Companies Expertise Éditions du Signe

2 Sole Mio Pizza opens up the highway Montélier in Take a young pizza maker of Italian origin with a spirit of enterprise... Add a good dose of hard work, a soupçon of self-denial and a pinch of creativity... Allow to rise for nearly 40 years... The result is Sole Mio, a family business that has become the number 1 manufacturer of frozen pizza baked in a wood-fired oven. A recipe that has what it takes to attract numerous players in the French pizza market, second in the world following the United States, with an annual consumption of 10 kilos per person! And yet, Francesco Magno has hardly sacrificed anything of the original knowhow he learned from his mother. Arriving in France at the age of 6, the young Italian quickly acquired a passion for making artisanal pizzas baked in wood-fired ovens. From the age of 23, despite his passion for cars, he agreed to sell his Renault Alpine so that he could buy a van and travel to markets. After 6 months on the road, he unearthed premises in the Guilherand- Granges shopping mall. From 1978 to 1980, the Chez Francesco bar-pizzeria attracted the masses and assured his reputation. This was enough to convince Francesco and his wife, Geneviève, to set up a small workshop making wood-oven-baked frozen pizzas. I d been thinking for a long time of producing artisanal products in industrial quantities. The business started off in a little building in Montélier. In those days it was very difficult to get into mass distribution because of the fierce competition in the pizza market. Despite lots of refusals, the determined young entrepreneur persuaded his father to lend him the money to invest in a freezer van. Then he took on a delivery driver sales rep with the remit of going directly into shops to show his products, deliver them, and even set them out on shelves. This added value contributed to the company taking off, and gradually we ve reached the point where we have 4 vans on the road, covering an area of 150 to 200 kilometres around Valence. Then we progressed from delivering to shops to delivering to sales centres. But that was the fruit of a long-term undertaking and I had to learn the methods of mass distribution on the ground, with no stopping. 2

3 I still say I m in charge of a big pizzeria! > Adding toppings by hand > Real pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven > Painstaking selection of ingredients: taste above all! > flattening the piece of dough after resting In 1987, to confront the growth of Sole Mio, which by then had around 20 employees, the manager fitted out a new 3,000 square metres warehouse, still situated in the commune of Montélier. 8 years later, as the factory was not suitable for the new European standards, and as applications to enlarge their chosen premises were turned down, Sole Mio moved a few kilometres away to the Malissard area. The acquisition of a 3 hectares site enabled the Magno family to build a first stage in 1995, which would be completed over the years up to the latest addition of 3,000 square metres in 2017, bringing the total building surface to almost 15,000 square metres under cover. The sunshine pizza All Sole Mio pizzas are stamped Made by Francesco for the simple reason that the director has always made it a point of honour to respect the artisanal knowhow of the pizzaiolo. I still say I m in charge of a big pizzeria! jokes the managing director, backed up by his daughter Alexandrine for 8 years now, and by his son Enzo for 2 years. The pizzas are put into and taken out of linear ovens that I developed myself 6 years ago. Cooking with a wood fire beech and ash enables you to distribute the heat gently and harmoniously. The flavours of the food are multiplied by ten; the dishes look and taste different, rustic, real. The dough ensures a unique crispness. Other special features of Sole Mio include manual kneading of the dough, made from French wheat flour, and no pastrycutters, as the workers work with pieces of dough which they flatten gently before letting them rest and shaping them to the right size. Adding the toppings is also done manually. In this quest for authenticity, the noble and natural ingredients are painstakingly selected according to a specification and cooked using recipes developed by Francesco and his family. The 2,500 tonnes of tomatoes used each year all come from Tarascon; the button mushrooms come raw in punnets and are rinsed in natural water and chopped directly onto the pizzas; the prime ham we use is free of phosphates; and finally, the cheeses are 100% natural and enhanced with Herbes de Provence. The final product has no preservatives, no additives, no added colourings. Sole Mio is a real pioneer and has gone even further by offering organic recipes for the last 10 years, a growing success story under the brand-name La Pizza du Moulin. Demand was non-existent at the time, but we forced the market. Now all the big names sell 3 or 4 organic lines. It s thanks to this quality, as well as to the variety of its 200 recipes, that Sole Mio has gradually made its mark in the mass distribution market. Searching for new ingredients, new toppings and new recipes is a constant preoccupation of the directors. Among consumers favourites are the Mère Maury ravioli pizza, and perhaps soon one that has just come onto the market, truffle pizza, developed by the starred chef of Chez Bruno at Lorgues, in Var. Quality above all While the people in charge of production are endlessly tasting the raw materials to be sure of the quality of suppliers, on-the-spot tastings are also organised as pizzas come off the production line to check the final result. > Shaping the dough by hand > Organic pizza with grilled Provence-flavour vegetables

4 Food safety involves a large number of analyses and controls on a daily basis, at every stage of manufacture, from the design of the recipe right up to the delivery of the finished pizza. All of the employees take part in these repeat samplings thanks to the reject and mis-shaped pizzas that they are given every day for lunch. We try to get employees to take part and get them involved so as to reduce staff turnover, because recruitment in the food processing industry isn t always simple. A good quality of working life is essential, and the Magno family is extremely close to its teams and has an ear out for their needs. I manage my business like a good family father. We try to infuse our staff as a whole with our family spirit. Two quality engineers are in charge of conformance to hygiene requirements. Food safety involves a large number of analyses and controls on a daily basis, at every stage of manufacture, from the design of the recipe right up to the delivery of the finished pizza. A rigorous approach which has enabled the company to obtain the IFS, BRC and Organic Farming certifications. Relaunching the Sole Mio brand as The sunshine Pizza It was in 1994 that Sole Mio made its first pizzas on behalf of distribution brands, known as MDD (marques de distributeurs). We started off with Carrefour and Stock, recalls Francesco. Nearly 40 years later, the Drôme brand has become number 1 maker of frozen wood-oven-baked pizzas on the market, present in virtually all French and European big outlets. So 80% of its production is marketed by these distribution brands. The company owes this success to its ability to meet particularly demanding specifications. Quality, flexibility, anticipation and respect for schedules, are all trump cards that have enabled us to grow in this market. For all that, thanks to a bigger financial and production capacity, Francesco and his family now want to re-launch their own brand throughout France... and abroad. To this end, for 2 years now, Sole Mio has taken on two exporting agents. China, South Korea, Canada and the United States are among the first targets envisaged. We will soon be exhibiting in a trade fair in Chicago. In a general way, we are not fixing any exact objective for export, but we are trying to get every chance we can on our side! So they are applying a method favoured by numerous brands: keeping the number of intermediaries down. Not having a platform, the sales force has been outsourced, to reduce the hazards of absences, and is in direct contact with the big retailers. The aim is to bring the best value for money to consumers. In 2018, this brand with the southern twang will therefore be the beneficiary of a makeover to modernise its image, after almost 40 years of unaltered identity. The famous white and red boxes produced in Valence should have a new image to attract an ever-growing clientele. With an Italian-style pizza made entirely in France from healthy and natural ingredients, Sole Mio will no doubt attract ever more consumers in its quest for flavour and authenticity. Every pizza demonstrates our authenticity and traditional knowhow, with noble and natural ingredients. > All our pizzas are frozen immediately after baking to preserve all their aromas > A family story since 1980: Francesco, Geneviève, Enzo and Alexandrine 80,000 pizzas per day Workforce: 100 employees 80% of production sold via mass distribution and 20% on our own account 15,000 sq. metres under cover Turnover: 22 million euros

5 ZA du Guimand MALISSARD - France Tel. : +33 (0) Fax : +33 (0) f.magno@solemio.fr Éditions du Signe, Offprint from Excellence in the Drôme - Companies Expertise