Amarelli Liquorice – Interview with the Amarelli Family
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the best liquorice is a Calabrian growing. The body of this plant is feeble, however its roots are so strong and thick, penetrating so deep into the soil, that people believed liquorice came from Hell.
We had the pleasure of meeting and chatting at length with the Amarelli Family during our #idressitalian tour.
FORTUNATO AMARELLI
Mister Fortunato, this place is to neat and everything works so meticulously that it almost tricks me into thinking that we’re not in Calabria. How is that?
We are in Calabria indeed and we sell a very Calabrian product. Liquorice is a spontaneous root, it grows naturally here and in most of South Italy, Middle East, India and China. Calabria’s been the main producer for ages, though. Ours is a 285 year old company, it all began in the XVIII century when the global market was, well, just Europe. People from France or Germany would buy liquorice from Calabria. There is nothing more Calabrian than Amarelli liquorice. Our family settled in Calabria one thousand years ago and began trading liquorice in 1733. I believe this proves that we are 100% Calabrian.
What is your role in the Company?
I’m the CEO. I try to take care of every part of the production since I live here in Rossano, but mainly it’s just paperwork, and the financial side. I also take care of the liquorice museum, the theme park which is essential to our company and it’s one of our biggest marketing assets. In 16 years, our Museum welcomed over 50.000 visitors per year. This numbers make us the second biggest museum of the country.
In my childhood memories, men would always chew on liquorice. Now this habit has disappeared.
Well, is was a tradition from back when Calabria was a rural society to pick the roots that used to grow spontaneously. Today, society is not rural anymore. I myself used to do that! Kids would roam the countryside, they would recognize the plant and they -we – knew that we had to dig to get the roots out and suck the sweet juice.
What’s your target clientele?
We focus on Senior customers. This means adults who have already processed their taste for liquorice and they want the best one. Part of those customers are actual conoisseurs, well aware of liquorice’s varieties and their qualities: these constitute a niche market, which is our target clientele. As for today, on this planet there are 1,5 billion consumers, people who have the money to buy something. Just focusing on 1% of these people, well, it makes quite a business.
Liquorice is Amarelli’s core business. Are there other business activities?
Yes, there are. We like to diversify, with food or no food productions, beverages and chocolate. But mainly everything revolves around food. Judging from our catalogue, one might think we diversified a lot, but in reality our main business is liquorice, even more than our competitors. In the 80’s our competitors were Salia and Menozzi De Rosa (the liquorice pills known ad Tabù) but they noticed that liquorice is a niche market and gradually abandoned the field. Salia especially, they began producing every possible kind of candy, since liquorice wasn’t so lucrative, and they lost their name as producers of liquorice, they’re known for candies today. We decided to stick with our liquorice tradition, to the cost of loosing good business chances, but it paid off because today our company is the big fish in the liquorice business pond. When we created liquorice liqueur, it was meant more as a let’s-give-it-a-try and suggest a variation on the liqueur theme than starting a proper new trade. Nowadays our liqueur is made by Strega Alberti using our liquorice roots. The same thing happened with Marvis. Once you’re the name, the brand in one business, people will rush to associate their name with yours.
What is Amarelli today?
We have forty emplyees and a showroom in Naples. And seven people work for the museum. We are particularly proud of this, because culture isn’t much of a business and the government doesn’t invest in museums. Given this premise, we built our museum as a proper business. As for today, the revenues grossed one million euros and it’s proof that culture can be a business, making money educating people about our history. I mean, we live in Sibari, 20km from Thurii which was Magna Graecia’s biggest city, where Herodotus – considered to be History’s father – lived. Pitagora was from Crotone. I believe that, in the future, this will be Italy’s business asset. A day will come when Italian emerging markets will be able to distinguish their brands from Japan’s, China’s or USA’s, a moment when it will be possible to explain that Cirò’s wine is actually produced in Cirò ever since the dawn of times. This will be our ace in the poket, we need to invest in our history and culture.
Can you give any advice to those young people who leave Calabria, in search of better opportunities, feeling that their motherland failed their expectations?
We cannot ask smart, educated young people to remain stuck in a place where unemployment fell to 58%. Emerging markets will always welcome this youth. I don’t agree with the idea of born-in-Calabria-die-in-Calabria. Unfortunately, this means that here we are left with mediocre minds. The government should educate – and prove – young people that starting a business in Calabria is possible. Today it’s even easier, the dematerialisation of goods means that one needs not to invest too much money when starting a business. Moreover, we live in an era when one can sell everything from everywhere, thanks to the internet. Calabrian businessmen should use internet to their advantage. But infrastractures serve as alibis for not letting one start a new business. There are those who had successful businesses started against all odds. Scopri l’intervista a Margherita Amarelli cliccando Avanti >
MARGHERITA AMARELLI
We had to re-invent the company a bit, we liked it of course, but there was room for improvement. First of all, nobody knew us on an international scale. Secondly, we wanted to shake off us the “Grandma’s candy” aura: we needed to re-invent the brand, focusing on the future. We forged new partnerships and reached 26 markets (from a starting point of 5) all over the world.
Margherita, what is your position inside the company?
I’m one business partner. There are ten of us, four CEOs, my brother and me plus two more persons. Fortunato takes care of the administration side, I’m more involved with marketing. Our aunt Pina’s our PR and the fourth partner, Franco, he conceived the idea of the museum. As I said, we are four partners, two seniors and two younger ones.
I was born here, but went to study in Florence and I live between Florence and Rome. When I joined the company, I moved our offices in Rome from Rossano because you know, it’s easier to deal with international buyers and partners from Rome. Rossano is too small a town to be around and keep oneself up to date with the world, which is fundamental if you work in marketing. The head quarters had to stay here in Rossano though and that meant that some members of the family, those at the head of the company, would have had to travel often. You know, meeting foreigners and Italians alike, getting to know them and keeping the market situation in check. This was the beginning of our bet on international markets. We updated our communication without changing the product. It may sound absurd, but we work with the precise purpose of ensuring that the liquorice contained in every red can shall be our Amarelli 100% Calabrian liquorice. Scopri l’intervista a Pina Amarelli cliccando Avanti >
PINA AMARELLI
Mrs Pina, you represented Amarelli and Calabria at the Expo in Milan. It means you represented good Calabrian business. How was it like?
This Expo’s aim was to represent Italy’s ability to reach and offer excellence, it wasn’t about business per se. Protect the Made in Italy and Italian creativity. The Italian genius. Think about us, for example: our product is 100% Calabrian and it’s the best on a worldwide level. We’re trying to uphold the idea of the Italian genius, the Italian art of living which is a high quality kind of life. This was Expo’s purpose and I felt it greatly, representing our culture.
Did Amarelli underwent any change through time?
It certainly did. One has to know their origins and evaluate who or what one is. Amarelli went through different phases, just like the region it is in, our land’s history and our company’s are intertwined and we try to communicate this. After WWII the entire country had to be rebuilt, people would try to save on everything, food and clothes, but it is in this historical moment that the Italian genius emerged: in the 60’s they understood that reforming the agricultural system and investing in the industry, we could become appliances and machinery leaders, sustainable mechanical engineering. Our company basically had never been altered ever since its foundation in the XVIII century, the change began in 1940. It would follow the market instead of leading it. In 1960 we faced a hard choice: either ending it – just like others did- or opening up to technology. Hence the Sixties were all about investing in machinery, we bought the first Olivetti computers! Thirty years prior to this, my father in law’s father died and left the agricultural business – the main one – to an unmarried sister. When she died, she didn’t leave everything to her nephews: my father in law and his brothers, instead she left it all to their future boys who weren’t even born yet. It wasn’t a wise move. When my father in law died, this kind of inheritance “without” heirs brought us to argue with the Ministry of Finances, you can imagine seventy years without passing the inheritance from one generation to the next can be a curious occurrence. But there actually were heirs, my husband and Fortunato’s father, so we started thinking about how to run the company. Back then, I was in Naples working as a lawyer and lecturer at the University, my occupation couldn’t be more different from the actual one. Once the restoration of the company was completed, new doors were opening for me as a publicist and I immediately understood that we needed to invest in production, marketing and communication. We brought back the tin cans designs the company used at the beginning of the XIX century. I started taking pictures of the old labels kept in the archives. They are the emblem of our success, we sell millions of cans every year.
What does Calabria represent for you?
I’d say it intrigues me. When I came here for the first time in 1969 I thought I’ve come to a very backwards land, I was accustomed to Naples, Florence, Rome, Monopoli and Bari… those cities were different and their approach toward working women was different. Here women would leave their homes to go calling on a friend or attending Mass. Calabria has changed a lot in 50 years. I approached this reality intrigued by it, especially since it was part of my family’s history. I made some researches and today they are nationally and historically important. It was worth it. Here if you’re the first to arrive, you’ll get the best in everything. This is were one can find truly strong roots, literally and metaphorically.
“In our little boxes that travel around the world there is imprinted the name Rossano – Calabria; in our opinion this is the most beautiful form of tourism promotion that we can can offer to our wonderful region” Fortunato Amarelli
Thanks Fortunato, thanks Margherita, Thanks Mrs Pina.
Discover also the interview with Filippo Callipo, the king of tuna in Calabria clicking here
Photos: Lucia Franco
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