About.
My involvement with F&B began in 1995, as a challenge and for passion, with the restaurant Nabucco located in Milan-Brera: a classic restaurant frequented by tourists with exacting tastes but also curious to get to know the dishes of the local territory. Starting from the operational aspects, I dealt with the table service, the organization of the dining room, the choices on the menu and, over the years, I repositioned the image of the restaurant’s eno-gastronomic proposals so that it became a reference point, even though commercial, for international clients. On the wake of this entrepreneurial success, I acquired other structures, each quite different from the other in terms of target and offer, with the intention of developing an individual spirit and a specific identity for each one.
Since the end of the 1990s I have supervised the restaurants l'OsteriaStendhal, l'Osteria dell'Operetta, la Locanda dell'Oste Scuro in Milan la Scaletta and I have taken care of catering in Milan’s race courses for the company Trenno (Snai Spa group).
I’m particularly proud of il Ristorante Santini, with its high quality cuisine and young chef, Francesco Passalacqua, thoroughly deserving the coveted Michelin star. An international restaurant which has grown in synergy with its sister structure situated in London.
In 2004 I was contacted by Spa Starhotels for the acquisition of the F&B division of the Starhotels Rosa, located in via Pattari 5 near the Duomo, Milan’s cathedral (as of November 2008 renovated and upgraded to a 4*SUP with 327 rooms plus 600-person capacity congress facilities).
A new challenge and the deep conviction that hotel restaurants represent the future of a certain concept of gourmet culture and the art of the table. As in all developed countries, the practice of business lunches and dinners in Hotel restaurants, often high profile and of an undisputed level, is becoming more common even in Italy.
Put simply, the idea is to provide a concept of restaurants that, even though located within a Hotel, are not only for hotels. Quite the contrary. The aim is to give content and substance to the structure, so as to make it attractive to “internal” clients but also to the external customers.
A philosophy that has been rewarded by Starhotels with the F&B proposals of its Hotel Grand Milan di Saronno; an ultra-modern structure which opened last September and was already working at full capacity a few weeks later.
Soon after the opening of Holiday Inn: Milan Rho Fair e Garibaldi Station. And following the first hotel in Europe of Hilton's new brand: Doubletree.
In 2009 after 3 years of restoration, re-opened the marvelous Starhotels Savoy Excelsior Palace of Trieste, facing the sea near one of the most beautiful public squares in Italy.
In summer of 2009 I began a collaboration with Gruppo Boscolo, with the very new B4 in Padova, and then in September 2009 the inauguration of the first five star Exedra Milano.
The company of which I am founder and sole member permanently employs over 100 staff with a youthful but proven central office which undertakes, as well as the typical duties of our work, also marketing and communication, my main interest.
After graduating in Law and completing my legal traineeship, I worked in the field of communication and PR with the fashion house Enrico Coveri. I was employed by the newly established Special Initiatives division of Publitalia 80, with a role in middle management for five years, taking care of public relations and advertising campaigns.
At the same time, a passion for the restaurant industry led me to personally take on the role of Restaurant Manager in the young “Nabucco”. From there to personnel manager and then the concept of formats for the structures which my company gradually acquired (I remember, for example, introducing the city to Dining Light with Haute Cuisine, at Santini Restaurant in 2003 with the coopertion of important professionals such as the nutritionist Prof Nicola Sorrentino; and, also, the setting up of a Course for Professionals, “La Ristorazione ben fatta” (“The well-run restaurant industry”), a cycle of 12 lessons, conceived by my wife, Francesca Senette, journalist, which contributed to rounding off the training of those who work inside the Company).