Ep. 103 - The Greatest Italian Retail Experience with Dino Borri, VP of Purchasing at Eataly

My Food Job Rocks!

Back in November, I saw posts from Dino Borri on Linkedin and all this buzz about opening Eataly’s newest location in Los Angeles. Conveniently, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to message him saying if I could interview him at the spot.

It turned out, I was able to go to Eataly, take a tour of the fantastic new LA location, interview Dino, and did such a good job, I ate the heck out of their food.

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Key Takeaways

• What Eataly means to Italian food
• What makes each Eataly location unique
• How Purchasing vets their 25,000 SKUs

Show Notes

Eataly is all about Susbtainability What is your official job title?: VP of Purchasing, but titles dn’t matter in Eataly What’s the best thing about your job?: We create a lot of jobs in the United States. We also support a lot of small business products

How do you find new vendors? We go out and they also go to us. We have a blind taste for all of our products. They use a simple ranking system. The food has to be Good, Clean and Fair.

The History of Eataly SLOW Food Philosophy - a movement Mr. Oscar Farinetti, the founder of Eataly who wants to combine Italy Food and Retail Used to be called Eat Italy Opened in Italy to start (duh) Then the Tokyo Location 5 more stores in Italy New York Location (Aug 31st 2010) 40 stores in 2017. Finally in Los Angeles Possible next locations: Las Vegas, Toronto maybe Phoneix (haha) Launching Eataly World in Bolongna November 15th Eataly world 65 acres of Italian food. Has FICO – Italian farmer production

Why do people like Eatlay so much?: We deliver the experience. Every location is different. When you walk, you feel like you’re in an Italian market.

Differences in Eataly Every location is a mix of products.

What’s different in Japan’s Eataly? We use soy sauce and tofu.

Los Angeles has more Vegan and local Fish products Claifornia Wine

Flour is sold locally. We want to use local ingredients

What is your favorite food event or expo?: The town of Bra, Cheese event in Italian 30000 people. All the cheese mongers in the world for 4 days

How did you get into Eataly?: I worked for SLOW Food and my boss Carl Petrini knew the owner of Eataly El Bulli Dino had a dream of going to New York, and he opened the Eataly store in new York El Bulli will create a class

Did you have any experience in purchasing or was it all there?: I had to learn it on my own Any advice for quality products versus cheap products?: It’s easy to buy the best product, but it’s hard to afford the best product. I need to find good food for everybody. Our system makes it easier for smaller businesses to get to our market. Our job in Eataly is to deliver good food to the store. Why does your food job rocks?: Food has become cool. In the past, food was a common person’s job. Now food is important. We have to take care of the earth What type of Food Trends are you interested?: We want labels that say “not organic”. Also, the certification is too harsh for small businesses. GMO Good or bad?: Bad Gluten-Free: It depends. I love pasta and pizza but I don’t overeat. We should enjoy food. Clean Meat: We need to eat meat. But we should eat less meat Sustainability: Everything should be sustainable The biggest Challenge the food industry has to face?: Food Waste. We produce food for a lot of people but a million people still go hungry. Eataly is almost 0% waste and we give food away. What is one thing you’d like to know more about?: Other food cultures. Whenever we open a new store, I discover a new culture. What’s a new favorite cuisine?: Whenever ask people what’s my favorite, I tell people I haven’t found my favorite yet. Whatever reminds me about my roots. What do you recognize when you eat your home town food?: Raw meat at my home town Bra. A local cheese from Bra mixed with tomato. Who inspired you to get into food?: Carlo Petrini was in my hometown and he inspired me. I started working for him at 14 year old. I met people like Michael Pollan Why did the owner like you?: I got lucky. I was born in the right place and met the right people. I was part of the University of Gastronomy. We hire a lot of people there. (is this like food science?) Favorite Quote: We are what we eat, don’t eat sh*t Favorite Kitchen Item: Knife. I eat raw food so I like to cut. I have knives from Japan and Brookyln Any advice for anyone who wants to go into your industry?: When you’re in the food business, you’re feeding people. You’re in the ecosystem. Study a little bit. Where can we find you if you want to be found?: You can go to our website and contact our buyers. We will blind taste your product. Eataly SKU’s: 25,000 in the United States. The Los Angeles SKU has 15-18,000 SKUs.