Eataly is a Dramatically and Demonstrably Different group of shops and restaurants set up by Oscar Farinetti in Turin, Italy back in 2007. Today, they have 27 locations worldwide, including 10 in Italy, 13 in Japan, one in Chicago and another in New York. The key ingredients of their ‘Dramatic Difference’ are a unique combination of things: shopping, eating and learning!
“Eataly is not a chain. It’s a family,” says Nicola Farinetti, Eataly’s USA CEO. “The restaurant menus in New York and Chicago can be 100% different, but I don’t care, as long as the philosophy is the same. That’s why this is such a labour-intensive job and why we’ve only opened two U.S. stores in four years. It’s not copy-and-paste.”
Although the menus and the layouts might be different in each one of their stores, the philosophy is always the same: It’s about quality! The quality of their food is as high as possible, and it’s 100% Italian! They source traditional artisanal Italian products with genuine flavours sourced from hundreds of native Italian vendors.
They have consciously ‘broken the pattern’ to compete with the many, many ‘alternatives’ that focus simply on price.
As a result, as well as serving high quality Italian food, they work extremely hard at ‘Demonstrating’ their ‘Dramatic Difference’ by providing a unique customer experience in a number of ways:
- They educate their customers about their wares to give them a deeper insight in to what they are buying and eating, and where it all comes from.
- They have informational cards detailing each item’s origin and suggested use and experts in their respective fields oversee each dedicated area of the store.
- They also have demonstrations, tastings and events with Italian producers and food manufacturers.
- Importantly, all employees know their stuff – they are trained to authoritatively deal with shoppers’ questions and queries. They even teach their customers how to plan a meal, how to prepare it, cook it and serve it.
It all seems to be working… The opportunity to shop, eat and learn at the same time has made customers fall in love with Eataly, with more than 25,000 people dining in its restaurants every week.
Future plans include opening in Moscow and São Paulo in 2015 and a second New York site inside the newly rebuilt World Trade Center is under development because the first one is getting too busy!
Shop, eat and learn – that’s the Eataly ‘Dramatic Difference’!
