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THE LAVAZZA STORY
Spreading the aroma and quality of Italian espresso and coffee around the world has always been our main aim.
That is the reason why we strive for excellence and innovation, drawing strength from our experience established over more than a century of activity, since the early 1900's, when Luigi Lavazza first invented the concept of the blend, the art of mixing coffee of different origins to obtain a harmonious and tasty product.
1885 From Monferrato to Turin
At the age of 25, with just fifty lire in his pocket but plenty of dreams, Luigi Lavazza leaves Monferrato and moves to Turin. His idea is to set up his own business in the city, but he certainly does not imagine that his name will become famous one day. He has plenty of energy and resourcefulness, and with his drive to move ahead, in the ten years to follow Luigi often changes jobs: manual labourer, factory worker, shop clerk. In the meantime, he attends business school evening courses and then the municipal school of chemistry. This gives him a chance to discover his true vocation: business.
1894 The first grocery shop
After numerous work experiences, Luigi Lavazza decides to move up in quality: he quits his job as a warehouse worker, buys the “Paissa e Olivero”, an old grocery shop in the heart of Turin, and goes into business for himself. His dream comes true. The grocery shop, the starting point for the modern-day Lavazza Company, opens for business on 24 March 1894.
1895 Lavazza is founded
This is the year the Lavazza Company is officially established. Luigi heads the company, assisted by his cousin Pericle Forno. The shop sells a bit of everything. It works over the counter, offering home deliveries and supplying the nearby inns. In addition to retailing, Lavazza, like other grocery shops, also produces soap, spirits, oil, spices and, of course, coffee.
1910 Luigi Lavazza focuses on blends
Always striving to do more and to improve, Luigi Lavazza decides to focus on consolidating business and boosting the company’s prestige. He realises that in order to set himself apart from others, he must make a name for himself with his most prized product: coffee. He does this through a skilful use of blends, an art unknown as yet to his competitors, who simply sell a single variety of coffee.
1920 Specialisation
Luigi Lavazza is assisted by his children Mario, Beppe, Maria and Ginetta, while Pericle continues his studies and decides to focus on specialisation. Oil, sugar and roasted coffee are the products to ply.
1926-27 Luigi Lavazza S.p.A.
Luigi Lavazza, his wife Emilia and their children Maria, Mario and Giuseppe establish an unregistered company, "Luigi Lavazza": In November 1927 it is turned into a joint-stock company with a share capital of 1,500,000 lire.
1933 Transfer of shares
With the “family pact”, Luigi Lavazza, at the age of 74, formalises the transfer of all his shares in the company to his children, who have long collaborated in running the company.
1936 Luigi Lavazza retires
This is the year the founder of Lavazza retires to Murisengo. Luigi feels he has done his part and expresses the need to go into retirement, particularly after having witnessed the destruction of a million bags of coffee in Brazil, simply to keep prices up after a sharp decline triggered by production that far exceeded demand. From his house in Murisengo, Luigi continues to follow the company, offering his children advice during difficult times.
1945-46 The Lavazza brothers together for reconstruction
After the war, Mario devotes himself to administrative work, Giuseppe to commercial activities and Pericle to equipment and products. Mario, Giuseppe and Pericle are together again and they reconstruct the factory on Corso Giulio Cesare, that had been damaged by bombing: The company is back in business. Times are tough, the Lavazza brothers need to re-establish relations with suppliers, employees and banks. Trading is also difficult, due to the numerous limitations on imports. Despite all these difficulties, the three brothers agree on one goal: the specialisation of the company. Therefore, they need to focus on just a few products, namely coffee, oil and soap. In 1946, the Borghi studio in Milan designs the first Lavazza logo. Brand policy begins.
1949 Luigi Lavazza passes away
On August 16, Lavazza loses its founder. Luigi Lavazza dies at the age of 89.
1950 The first advertising campaign
“Lavazza Paradiso in tazza” (heaven in a cup) is the company's first claim in press and radio commercials. Television is not common in Italian homes. In the meantime, the group diversifies its range of products and creates the forerunner of today's “Qualità Oro”.
1955 New headquarters
The amount of roasted coffee sold comes to 6 million pounds. During the same year, Lavazza purchases the factory at 59 Corso Novara in Turin, still the location of the company headquarters and executive offices. The regions of Northern Italy are criss-crossed by cars bearing the red-and-black Lavazza logo on the sides.
1957 Technological innovation and communication
With the new factory on Corso Novara, the great coffee-roasting industry is born. The main innovation lies in the processing cycle, which makes it possible to handle the coffee with a vertical or gravity process. As it falls, the coffee goes through the roasting, blending and packaging phases. This is a totally innovative process in Italy and it proves to be extremely rational and efficient, guaranteeing the processing of more than 88,000 lb of coffee a day. The picture of a modern brand-name company is completed with the addition of advertising and marketing. The first advertising campaign is launched and the house organ, “Notizie Lavazza”, is published.
1957 Emilio Lavazza
Beppe Lavazza's son Emilio has been with the company for several years. He strongly believes in the power of advertising and therefore contacts the Testa Studio in Turin for a nationwide billboard campaign. This marks the beginning of a long-lasting and important relationship, but also a strong friendship between the Lavazzas, Beppe and Emilio, and Armando Testa.
1958 Paulista
Lavazza launches Paulista, the coffee in a tin that is vacuum-packed under pressure. The launch is supported by the first unforgettable Lavazza advertising campaign: the adventures of Caballero and Carmencita, which support the character/product Paulista.
1979 The coffee culture
Coffee consumption rises again. The Luigi Lavazza Centre for Coffee Studies and Research is founded and it will subsequently lead to the creation of the Training Centre, focusing on teaching all about Lavazza coffee. Lavazza thus invests in spreading the culture and quality of Italian coffee.
1980 Emilio Lavazza
Now the new President of Lavazza is Emilio Lavazza, with Pericle's son Alberto as Vice-President.
Towards Europe
The entire area devoted to production is moved to Settimo, while the lines for Ho.Re.Ca. products remain at the Corso Novara facilities. In the meantime, the market is changing rapidly and the sector concentration process seen in the seventies increases furthermore; small retail shops decline and large retailers are on the rise. Lavazza is increasingly oriented toward foreign expansion, in Europe and around the world including Canada and the USA.
1982-83 Lavazza France
Lavazza France, the company's first foreign branch, is established in Vincennes, near Paris.
1985-86 “Crema e Gusto” is launched
The launch of a new product contributes to the company's overall positive trend: “Crema e Gusto”. Manfredi once again is the spokesman for the new product, which one year later, in 1986, gains more than 30 per cent of Italian consumers. Lavazza's net profit comes to 21 billion lire, the highest in recent years. Cofincredit (now Cofincaf), the financial company for food service outlets businesses, is established.
1994 – ISO 9003 certification
Lavazza obtains ISO 9003 certification, which is attributed only after careful inspection by SGS ICS, the Geneva-based Société Générale de Surveillance. “Notizie Lavazza”, the Group's house organ established in 1957 to keep employees informed about all the production innovations, is radically overhauled, becoming a four-color magazine with information that covers the entire field of coffee. In the meantime, the “Top Class” blend posts enormously successful sales. At the Settimo plant, new production departments and new offices are built.
2000 Globalisation and quality
In 2000, Francesca Lavazza, Antonella Lavazza and Marco Lavazza join the board of directors. “ Salone del Gusto” is held in Turin for the third time. Lavazza, historic partner of Slow Food, is the main sponsor. The common objective of the partnership is to safeguard food quality as well as training and education in flavour. The Lavazza stand, designed as a multi-sensory area devoted to discovering the secrets of coffee, also hosts the Laboratori del caffè. This is used for educational purposes and for examining specific coffee-related subjects. Xlong, the filter coffee blend is launched along with the traditional Lavazza range of products.
2001 Internationalisation
The company's plan is to move forward and increase the level of brand internationalisation, paying special attention to the away-from-home sector. The seventh subsidiary is opened in Portugal.
2004 The fourth generation
Giuseppe, Marco, Francesca and Antonella represent the fourth generation at Lavazza. Aware of their history and tradition, their objective is to lead the company into the future while maintaining continuity with the past. At “Salone del Gusto”, Lavazza launches a new product: ¡Tierra!. ¡Tierra! is also its first Corporate Social Responsibility project, completely organised to launch key initiatives at the economic and social level for the communities of three countries: Honduras, Colombia and Peru.
2008 Acquisitions in Brazil
On 1 February 2008, Lavazza signed an agreement to acquire the Brazilian company, Café Grão Nobre Ltda, in the State of Rio, and shortly after, also acquired Café Terra Brasil, an exceptional brand on the coffee market in the state of Sao Paulo. These two transactions bring to the Lavazza Group two major brands in the vending sector. Café Grão Nobre, which employs a staff of 150 and operates a roasting facility, recently entered the Ho.Re.Ca market.
1957 Technological innovation and communication
With the new factory on Corso Novara, the great coffee-roasting industry is born. The main innovation lies in the processing cycle, which makes it possible to handle the coffee with a vertical or gravity process. As it falls, the coffee goes through the roasting, blending and packaging phases. This is a totally innovative process in Italy and it proves to be extremely rational and efficient, guaranteeing the processing of more than 88,000 lb of coffee a day. The picture of a modern brand-name company is completed with the addition of advertising and marketing. The first advertising campaign is launched and the house organ, “Notizie Lavazza”, is published.
1957 Emilio Lavazza
Beppe Lavazza's son Emilio has been with the company for several years. He strongly believes in the power of advertising and therefore contacts the Testa Studio in Turin for a nationwide billboard campaign. This marks the beginning of a long-lasting and important relationship, but also a strong friendship between the Lavazzas, Beppe and Emilio, and Armando Testa.
1958 Paulista
Lavazza launches Paulista, the coffee in a tin that is vacuum-packed under pressure. The launch is supported by the first unforgettable Lavazza advertising campaign: the adventures of Caballero and Carmencita, which support the character/product Paulista.
1979 The coffee culture
Coffee consumption rises again. The Luigi Lavazza Centre for Coffee Studies and Research is founded and it will subsequently lead to the creation of the Training Centre, focusing on teaching all about Lavazza coffee. Lavazza thus invests in spreading the culture and quality of Italian coffee.
1980 Emilio Lavazza
Now the new President of Lavazza is Emilio Lavazza, with Pericle's son Alberto as Vice-President.
Towards Europe
The entire area devoted to production is moved to Settimo, while the lines for Ho.Re.Ca. products remain at the Corso Novara facilities. In the meantime, the market is changing rapidly and the sector concentration process seen in the seventies increases furthermore; small retail shops decline and large retailers are on the rise. Lavazza is increasingly oriented toward foreign expansion, in Europe and around the world including Canada and the USA.
1982-83 Lavazza France
Lavazza France, the company's first foreign branch, is established in Vincennes, near Paris.
1985-86 “Crema e Gusto” is launched
The launch of a new product contributes to the company's overall positive trend: “Crema e Gusto”. Manfredi once again is the spokesman for the new product, which one year later, in 1986, gains more than 30 per cent of Italian consumers. Lavazza's net profit comes to 21 billion lire, the highest in recent years. Cofincredit (now Cofincaf), the financial company for food service outlets businesses, is established.
1994 – ISO 9003 certification
Lavazza obtains ISO 9003 certification, which is attributed only after careful inspection by SGS ICS, the Geneva-based Société Générale de Surveillance. “Notizie Lavazza”, the Group's house organ established in 1957 to keep employees informed about all the production innovations, is radically overhauled, becoming a four-color magazine with information that covers the entire field of coffee. In the meantime, the “Top Class” blend posts enormously successful sales. At the Settimo plant, new production departments and new offices are built.
2000 Globalisation and quality
In 2000, Francesca Lavazza, Antonella Lavazza and Marco Lavazza join the board of directors. “ Salone del Gusto” is held in Turin for the third time. Lavazza, historic partner of Slow Food, is the main sponsor. The common objective of the partnership is to safeguard food quality as well as training and education in flavour. The Lavazza stand, designed as a multi-sensory area devoted to discovering the secrets of coffee, also hosts the Laboratori del caffè. This is used for educational purposes and for examining specific coffee-related subjects. Xlong, the filter coffee blend is launched along with the traditional Lavazza range of products.
2001 Internationalisation
The company's plan is to move forward and increase the level of brand internationalisation, paying special attention to the away-from-home sector. The seventh subsidiary is opened in Portugal.
2004 The fourth generation
Giuseppe, Marco, Francesca and Antonella represent the fourth generation at Lavazza. Aware of their history and tradition, their objective is to lead the company into the future while maintaining continuity with the past. At “Salone del Gusto”, Lavazza launches a new product: ¡Tierra!. ¡Tierra! is also its first Corporate Social Responsibility project, completely organised to launch key initiatives at the economic and social level for the communities of three countries: Honduras, Colombia and Peru.
2008 Acquisitions in Brazil
On 1 February 2008, Lavazza signed an agreement to acquire the Brazilian company, Café Grão Nobre Ltda, in the State of Rio, and shortly after, also acquired Café Terra Brasil, an exceptional brand on the coffee market in the state of Sao Paulo. These two transactions bring to the Lavazza Group two major brands in the vending sector. Café Grão Nobre, which employs a staff of 150 and operates a roasting facility, recently entered the Ho.Re.Ca market.
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