Private Label International - Summer 2010

Esselunga: Supermarket Trailblazer

By Sabine Geissler

This leading-edge retailer has developed a large portfolio of store brands that include organic, fair trade, and gourmet foods, fresh fruits and vegetables, chilled ready meals, eco-friendly household products as well as everyday staples.

Esselunga has the distinction of being the first supermarket chain in Italy, with the opening of the first store in 1957, in Viale Regina Giovanna in Milan. Today, it continues to be directed by Bernardo Caprotti, co-founder.

Esselunga was founded by Nelson Rockefeller, his group being the major shareholder of Supermarkets Italiani SpA, in which the Caprotti family held 18% of shares.

Bernardo Caprotti

Here is just a short note about the biography of Bernardo Caprotti:
Born in Milano on October 7, 1925, Bernardo Caprotti, after his degree in Law from the University of Milan, went to the United States for an educational period. He worked first as a mechanical assembler on the machines of a U.S. cotton fabric manufacturer (the Caprotti family owned a cotton fabric producing business) and then at the New York Stock Exchange.

He returned to Italy at the age 26, and due to the sudden death of his father, Bernardo Caprotti took over the direction of the family business — the Manifattura Caprotti.

In 1957, he participated in the foundation of Supermarkets Italiani SpA, a business set up by the Rockefeller Group: Nelson Rockefeller and his group owned 51% of the shares, the Caprotti family 18%, the Crespi family (owners of the newspaper Corriere della Sera) 16%, Marco Brunelli (one of the “motors” of that adventure) 10%, Princess Laetitia Boncompagni Pecci Blund (a friend of Nelson Rockefeller) and Franco Bertonili (managing director di Crespi) participated with minor shares.

The Birth of Esselunga

At the beginning of the 1960s, the Caprotti family bought from the Rockefeller Group its 51% of the shares of Supermarkets Italiani SpA and in 1965, Bernardo Caprotti, at the age of 40, takes over the direction of the company.
At that time, there existed 15 supermarkets within the Supermarkets Italiani SpA enterprise: 10 units in Milan and 5 units in Florence.

At the end of the 1960s, the company adopted its present name Esselunga, inspired by the logo of the group (Esselunga means literally long S, S being the first letter of Supermarkets Italiani SpA).

Over the years, Esselunga has expanded gradually, increasing step by step the format of its surfaces and the assortment.

Today, Esselunga has 141 stores located in the northern and central regions of Italy including: Lombardia, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Piemonte, Veneto and Liguria.

The Esselunga business model is considered as a benchmark in terms of efficiency, sales per square meter and assortment.

Esselunga is, in Europe, the retailer with the highest sales per square meter (excluding Aldi).

(The Esselunga Store Number 141 was inaugurated on April 14, 2010, in Bergamo.)

The group has about 19.000 employees, a turnover of about 5,7 billion Euro and a market share of 9,6% of the Italian retail market (source: IRI Infoscan, data in June 2009).

As of today, Bernardo Caprotti continues to head the direction of Esselunga, which is a topic of discussion in Italy, as there does not seem to be a successor. (In January 2004, Bernardo Caprotti ousted his son and designated dauphin, Giuseppe, from the company).

Falce e carrello

In 2007, Bernardo Caprotti published the book and autobiography Falce e carrello , talking about how he built the Esselunga chain and developing a report on the amalgam of the political system in Italy with the system of the Lega delle Cooperative (Coop) where there appears a non-official alliance which, looking at the documents published by Bernardo Caprotti in support of his thesis – www. falcecarello.com — has influenced the assortment and price policy of the Italian retail industry at the disadvantage of Italian consumers.

Note: The book title, Falce e carrello, plays with the phrase, Falce e Martello, which translates in English as Hammer and Sickle. Falce e Carrello means: Sickle (=Falce) and Supermarket Trolley (=Carrello).

Looking at the statistics, in those Italian regions where there is a strong presence of Esselunga, the price level of the other retail chains is lower when compared to the price level of the same retailers in those regions where Esselunga is not present.

The attention to the price of the products is one of the most important elements of the Esselunga strategy. In 2009, for the fifth successive year, the Esselunga leadership in consumer prices — that the most convenient Italian retailer — has been recognized by such organizations as Altroconsumo, a magazine published by one of the leading Italian consumer associations.

Esselunga is constantly working to bring innovation to the distribution system, and to improve product innovation – paying high attention to ambiental issues and to safeguard the interests of consumers.

In 2009, in the second edition of the consumer survey, “Retailer of the Year,” organized by Q&A Research and Consultancy, Esselunga has been awarded with the first place as “Best Italian Retailer of the Year 2009”.

This award is based on more than 100,000 judgements expressed by Italian consumers regarding their preferred retail chains.

The driver of Bernardo Caprotti’s business philosophy is the “furious” research of the perfection of each single detail involving retailing including the location, and the format as well as in the processes of logistics both of the goods and of the clients, the assortment, the product display and the product quality.

Store Brand Portfolio

Esselunga’s private label program is differentiated as follows:

• The basic Esselunga range containing any product for the daily consumption,
• Esselunga Bio, the organic certified products, including Ecolabel certified non-food products,
• Esselunga Top range with a selection of Gourmet food products that also include products with Italian regional origin.

In the fresh area, the Esselunga brands are:

• Naturama fruits and vegetables from integrated agriculture,
• Esselunga Bio organic fruits and vegetables, which also include Fair Trade products such coffee, tea, and cocoa,
• Pronti in Tavola chilled ready meals such as Lasagne, Gnocchi alla Romana, Melanzane alla Parmigiana, Vegetable Quiches and more,
• Pronti da Cuocere raw fish and meat specialties, already prepared with herbs and marinade, or spits ready for the barbecue, meat ready to roast — all items that need only to be roasted or cooked.

Both the Pronti in Tavola and the Pronti da Cuocere ranges are mainly produced in Esselunga’s own production facilities. In fact, Esselunga is both retailer and producer.

The assortment Pronti in Tavola varies according to the season of the year. During winter, for example, there is offered polenta with mushrooms or polenta with gorgonzola, while during summer, there will be rice salad and other light dishes in the assortment.

Gourmet Dinner

PLI’s gourmet team has been shopping at Esselunga to create a gourmet dinner with only Esselunga brand specialties.

This is quite easy.

First of all, before preparing a good dinner, however, the Gourmets need to start their day with a nice breakfast.

Following the Italian tradition of a “sweet” based breakfast, our Gourmets can enjoy Esselunga brand breakfast cereals such as Sugar flakes or the Honey Ciuffies (puffed cereals with honey), Frollini cookies or simply fresh bread made in the Esselunga in-house bakery, topped with Esselunga Top butter made from fresh cream (and packed in a nice tin with reclosable cover) and with one of the Esselunga Top marmalade varieties.

To drink, there is a wide assortment of Esselunga fruit juices, as well as a tea and coffee selection, for example, the Esselunga Bio organic espresso “caffe” tostato 100% arabica ctm, to be mixed with Esselunga milk.

CTM-Altromercato is an organization of fair trade and in the Esselunga Bio organic range, there are also the green tea and the black tea ctm from organic fair trade.

To prepare the Italian menu, there is first of all a wide choice of Italian Antipasti.

The classics are vegetable antipasti such as sundried tomatoes, as well as filled sweet peppers, grilled vegetables in olive oil, grilled mushrooms and artichokes prepared with different recipes.

Esselunga has a very clear range of “preserved in vinegar / pickles (sottaceti)” and “preserved in vegetable oil (sottolii)” products, both divided in two different available jar sizes: small and large, the jars having a nice bottle shape with a wide opening.

The Esselunga sottoli range is prepared with olive oil only (no sunflower oil).

The vegetables to be completed with a range of ready sliced and packed Esselunga charcuterie products such as salami and mortadella, as well as with cheese pieces from Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino.

The antipasti are followed by a Primo (first course), traditionally a pasta or a rice dish.

In case they select a pasta dish, the Gourmets will find an extended dried pasta range with Esselunga brand and with Esselunga bio organic brand with the classical shapes penne rigate, fusilli, spaghetti and with a choice of special shapes.

The Esselunga Top range carries top quality dried egg pasta such as tagliatelle and regional pasta shapes such as Paccheri (typical pasta from Napoli.)

In case of a preference for fresh pasta, the Gourmets can source fresh Tortellini, Tortelloni filled with Ricotta & Spinach, as well as fresh Esselunga Top egg pasta such as Tagliatelle and Pappardelle.

There are also fresh Esselunga Top pasta sauces and condiments such as Salsa alle Noci (pasta condiment with walnuts) and Pesto senza Aglio (the famous Pesto, made with pineseeds, extra virgin olive oil and grated parmigiano or pecorino, but this recipe is made without garlic).

In case the selected Primo is a rice dish, there will be a wide range of Esselunga brand rice variations, to be chosen specifically according to the type of dish to be prepared.

In Northern Italy, there is an important region of rice cultivation (along the river Po) and the traditional Italian rice variations are Carnaroli (for risotto, timballi and rice salads), Arborio (for risotto and gourmet dishes), Sant’Andrea and Ribe (both of them suitable for rice dishes with sauce, soups and pilaf), Padano (for soups, rice dishes and risotto) and Vialone Nano (for risotto and soups).

All these variations can be found under the Esselunga brand; Esselunga Bio carries organic Arborio and Whole Arborio rice, as well as a Thaibonnet rice.

For example, the vegetarian “Corona di Riso” (Rice Crown) can be prepared with Esselunga brand Arborio rice, Naturama frozen green peas, Naturama frozen zucchini, Naturama frozen parsley, Esselunga brand sea salt and pepper, as well as with Esselunga Top extra virgin olive oil from the Olive Taggiasche, which are fine small olives growing in the Liguria region.

Gourmet Dinner

A quick and easy “Primo” can be chosen from the Pronti in Tavola range the Gourmet will find in the gastronomical counters, for example the ready fresh Lasagne.

The “Primo” is followed by the “Secondo” (main course) which traditionally is either a meat or a fish dish.
The Gourmets, though, can select among the Pronti in Tavola range and chose either the meat spits, marinated meats or prepared fish and seafruits which are simply to be grilled at home.

Or, they can buy fresh or frozen meat or fish / seafruits and prepare the whole “Secondo” according to their preferred recipes.

The accessory ingredients for any dish can be found under Esselunga brand: herbs and spices, canned tomatoes (from 100% Italian origin), extra virgin olive oil, salt and more.

The Secondo is normally accompanied by a Contorno, which is a vegetable preparation such as grilled vegetables (ready grilled frozen vegetables can be found in the Esselunga range), boiled vegetables. (Esselunga has an extended range of frozen vegetables such as Cauliflower, Champignons, Zucchini cut in round slices, Asparagus (only the top parts), Borlotti (specialty beans), Spinach in leaves and in cubes, Green baby beans, green Peas, grilled Aubergines and Broccoli. Available also deep fried potatoes and potatoes for sautée.

The frozen spinach, green beans, green peas, and deep-fried potatoes are also available under the Esselunga Bio organic brand.

After the Secondo and Contorno courses, the Gourmet will serve a cheese selection with typical Italian regional cheeses, prepacked from the Esselunga take-away cheese counter, such as Parmigiano, Taleggio, Provolone, Stracchino (fresh spreadable cheese).

In the Naturama range and in the Esselunga Bio fresh fruit range, the Gourmets will select the ingredients for a Macedonia (fruit salad) and then comes the dessert.

This will be an Italian ice-cream, where the Esselunga brand range includes a wide selection of flavours and formats.
Or, if the Gourmets have no time to prepare all this by their own, they can book at any Esselunga store the preparation of a ready menu, which will be freshly prepared by the chefs in the Esselunga facilities.

The Servizio Prenotazioni Esselunga (Esselunga booking service) has a wide range of menus for any occasion.
So, the Gourmet can book a complete dinner with the typical Italian dishes based on pasta, rice, fish, meat, vegetables, fruits, desserts and ice-creams.

A further, well developed service offered by Esselunga is Esselunga a Casa, which is a easy-to-use and consumer friendly online shopping service with direct delivery to home, at any day including Sundays, a unique customer service in Italy.