AN INTERVIEW WITH THE CO-OWNER OF PICCOLA ITALIA & MEDITERRANEO
„I observe the market; I can enter any store towards the end of the day, check out the shelves, the stock and the prices” - this is how Andrzej Sajniak – co-owner of Piccola Italia & Mediterraneo – starts his tale.
The company comprises seven stores and two patronages, all located in Warsaw. It also supplies a couple of similar venues with cheeses, cold cuts and wines from Italy, Spain, Portugal or France, traded exclusively by them. Piccola brand is managed by Caterteam – a company comprising partners with over 25 years of experience in gastronomy and supplying products to restaurants, hotels, etc.
- We have imported these products for a couple of chains including: Tesco, Carrefour, Kaufland and Geant. It took me years of know-how acquisition to get to my current level of expertise. In the end, I came to think: Why should I import for others when I know about this more than most people in the world. This is how the concept of Piccola Italia stores was born. Initially, we planned on about 400 basic products, such as pasta, rice, preserves; in other words, products that don't expire quickly and are easy to import. But our poor cheese & meats market begged for some refined, maturing products made with patience and love. We, therefore, expanded our offer. Once the offer got very extensive, we divided products into three main categories: cheeses, meats and wines – all affordable. These were our base criteria and main message to the customers – continues Andrzej Sajniak.
To negotiate and to educate
As he further explains, there is no hard rule about negotiations ending after 2-3 months. If I like something, I can easily negotiate for two years. Contrary to common belief, our prices can sometimes be lower than those in the Italian or Spanish supermarkets. Our quality to price ratio is extremely competitive. That's our strength. In fact, as far as Polish people are concerned, we've got a long way to go in terms of learning how to negotiate long term. The main thing is to notice common interests and negotiate. We manage to get good prices because we know the producers and the market, and because many Italian suppliers still consider Poland a good investment – Andrzej Sajniak says.
The owner of Piccola stores emphasizes that to understands the products' value, one needs to know the back story – how and under what conditions they are produced. Most of the products are simple, but the production process is sublime. Take Parma ham for example, that takes months to mature before it gets the expected taste, aroma and other qualities regulated by the producer.
Andrzej Sajniak bet on education and promotion.
- We issue a monthly magazine, where we describe different wine varieties to our customers, detailing how and what to serve them with, we organize promotional events presenting other products as well, such as San Daniele hams, Iberico, maturing cheeses; we invite clients to free tastings. We've been running tasting weeks at our shops since 2015. This is how we communicate with the clients and promote our products – he adds.
Article excerpts courtesy of PulsBiznesu.pl; read the whole article here.