Interview with Lucca Cantarin, strategies to get going again
That he can rightfully be placed in the gotha of Italian pastry is shown by his curriculum, dotted with important milestones. He was in charge of the pastry shop at Le Calandre, the three-star restaurant of the Alajmo family. Then came the Spanish experience of Paco Torreblanca, a world-renowned pastry chef. Then the passages in France to the Maison Baud and in the nearest Padua, to the court of the world champion of pastry Luigi Biasetto. To all this is added the tradition in the confectionery art started by grandfather Mario with the production of homemade ice cream. A tradition that his family has been handing down from generation to generation for over a century. Returning to his Arsego after the important experiences with the great masters, Lucca has enriched the proposal of the place that bears the name of his mother Marisa with the pastry shop. A story of success and in constant growth that of the Paduan pastry chef, who has maintained his determined verve even during the Coronavirus emergency. “My state of mind is still positive today”, he says confidently. A positivity supported by facts and even before that by some choices that have proved successful and that he himself tells us.
Lucca, how is the situation at the moment for your business?
It is paradoxical but we are working harder than before. My restaurant is located in a small village outside the center and many are not going on vacation, so they come to us. The geographical position is now an advantage, but it wasn’t during the closure to the public, when we could only make home deliveries. In a reality like ours, making delivery is more complicated than in a big city because to reach customers you have to move more, since the population density is low. Some conditions have therefore been favourable, others less so, but what I consider fundamental, in the face of an emergency like the one we are experiencing, is not to sit still, not to wait for customers to arrive by themselves or for everything to go back to the way it was before the pandemic broke out.
So, what were the winning strategies?
First of all we never stopped. In the first phase, I developed the delivery by investing heavily in the packaging to find a formula that would facilitate the work, allowing us to achieve two objectives: to be quick in managing orders but also to present our products in an attractive way, taking great care of the packaging graphics. As regards ice cream, for example, we have given customers the opportunity to order 11 different kits from our site, each containing 2 different flavours, for a minimum purchase of 20 euros. In the trays the flavors were already portioned and separated from each other so that they didn’t mix, which was very important to me. We already had an optimized site for managing online orders and this helped us a lot.
Then you reopened and what were the changes implemented inside the club?
The ice cream parlor and pastry shop with adjoining cafeteria are two separate shops, even if housed in the same building. In both we have positioned safeguards aimed at containing the virus, with particular attention in the areas where contact with the public is more direct, such as at the point where orders are placed at the counter or where payments are made. Furthermore, we have reduced the seats both inside and outside, to ensure the correct spacing of the tables.
For some colleagues, reorganizing the spaces was experienced as a drama…
For me it was not like this, indeed I think it is possible to change the layout of the premises managing to guarantee the safety required by the emergency and at the same time preserving the pleasantness of the environment and of the display of the ice cream and sweets. Looking back, I don’t understand why a pandemic was needed to introduce innovations that I consider a form of respect for the operator who works in constant contact with the public. And then we must bear in mind that there are precise regulations to observe: I am sorry to see around that the desire to transgress often prevails, I find all this not very sensible. Operating safely is not at all like a compulsion. It would be worse, however, if the lack of attention led to a new lockdown.
Speaking of customers, how have behaviors changed?
In most cases I notice that the level of education has increased. If before people crowded inside the club, now they stand in an orderly queue for 10 – 15 minutes waiting for their turn: scenes that I used to only see abroad. This is a good sign for me: it means that the pleasure of enjoying a good ice cream prevails over the “sacrifice” of waiting longer than usual, which is inevitable in the context in which we find ourselves now.
So what is Cantarin’s recipe for staying afloat during the Covid-19 storm?
The ingredients are many. There must be presence and closeness to the customer, with punctual communication and an even more attentive service. Then the opportunities offered by technology must be exploited (as in the case of online orders) and the possibility of modifying the fittings as needed to ensure compliance with safety standards. This is for everyone’s good. It’s a difficult time for anyone to manage: for those who govern us and have to make decisions, for us craftsmen and for all citizens. The first thing, I repeat, is not to stand still and suffer the situation. I am convinced that if we manage to overcome this challenge by drawing positive lessons from it, we will come out of it having made great strides that are useful for the future.
