There is an apparent contradiction that continues to surprise many Latin American retail professionals. On the one hand, the hard discount channel, traditionally associated with maximum efficiency at costs, has a high sensitivity to price. Furthermore, Italian products elaborated with Italian raw materials, developed at low standards of quality and intended for consumers with very different food habits of Europeans.
The experience of Food Tastes y Antonio Pallante Pasta Factory It shows that, in practice, this contradiction simply does not exist.
For the past few years, both companies have been jointly developing the strategy in Latin America under the direction of Andrea Meneghini, responsible for the development of the LATAM market. Management with more than twenty years of experience in the Italian and foreign retail sector, Meneghini is also an ambassador of the Italian international holidays AllFood y Cibus, two of the main global platforms dedicated to the Italian food industry. Thanks to your profound knowledge of the manufacturing tejido of your country, you have become one of the main referents for them Latin American buyers who want to identify Italian manufacturers capable of responding to the specific needs of their markets. Your activity is not limited to the selection of testers: integrate them knowledge of the industry, the dynamics of modern distribution and the specific commercial, logistics and regulatory aspects of Latin America, allowing the construction of sustainable and large-scale projects among Italian manufacturers and the main retail chains of the region.
A project that was born in Colombia and is now expanding to different countries in the region, focusing on a very clear vision: becoming an strategic partner for the main hard discount segments, offering much more than a quality Italian product.
The true value resides in the ability to combine industrial excellence, competitiveness, logistical efficiency, operational flexibility and a deep understanding of the specific needs of each retailer.
Colombia was the first great disaster, it was one of the most demanding markets for an Italian food manufacturer, where consumption habits significantly differed from the Mediterranean tradition and where pasta did not form a historical part of everyday food.
However, precisely in this context, a collaboration was born that surpasses the decade with D1, the absolute leader of Colombian retail and one of the cases of greatest success of the hard discount at the international level.
The commercial results clearly show that the sustained increase in sell-out during all these years confirms that the Colombian consumer recognizes the value of a proposed ability to offer Italian quality with an excellent quality-price relationship.
But the real learning goes much further to the product: the acquired experience shows that success in modern Latin American retail does not depend solely on manufacturing well. It depends on understanding how the distributor works and becoming a provider capable of solving problems, anticipating needs and accompanying the growth of the chain.
Therefore, Gustibus Alimentari and Pastificio Antonio Pallante have developed a model of integral collaboration that includes logistical optimization for intercontinental operations, permanent adaptation to the regulations of each country, the updating of recipes when the market requires them, the ability to respond quickly to new ones commercial needs and the constant support to help you sell out at the sales point, in other words, they do not export exclusively Italian foods. They export a management model designed to generate sustainable results for the retailer. This experience represents today one of the main strategic assets of both companies.
The project currently underway with Tiendas Mass, in Peru, confirms the solidity of this model. Although it operates under the hard discount format, the Peruvian market presents consumer habits most sought after by the Italian gastronomic culture, which has allowed it to obtain very promising results from the first phases of the project. The experience accumulated in Colombia has considerably reduced the time of adaptation and has allowed us to build a more efficient commercial plan since the beginning.
At the same time, negotiations are progressing with other important Latin American retail operators. Each new project incorporates the knowledge acquired over more than a decade of continuous work in the region.
For a Latin American buyer, selecting a provider does not only mean evaluating a price or a product. It means identify a partner capable of guaranteeing continuity of administration, stability of quality, regulatory compliance, logistical efficiency, rapid response and ability to evolve jointly with the customer's business and precisely in these factors the competitive trend of Gustibus Alimentari and Pastificio Antonio Pallante is sustained today.
Your presence in Latin America cannot simply be interpreted as an export activity. It represents an international model built on experience, operational knowledge and continuous improvement. Each logistical problem overcome, each regulatory adaptation implemented, each project rolled out to the main retailers and each increase in sell-out have contributed to creating a wealth of skills that are difficult to replicate.
And it is precisely this experience that today constitutes the greatest guarantee for any distribution chain that requires an Italian supplier capable of offering not only high quality products, but also strategic vision, operational reliability and collaboration oriented towards the sustainable growth of the business.
