As many luxurious customers can attest, the worlds of trend and hospitality aren’t to this point aside contemplating how designer forces like Prada, Dior, Ralph Lauren and Maison Kitsuné are recognized to additionally provide espressos as an added enticement.
As an indication of the overlap between meals and trend, the SA Hospitality Group has tapped Federico Turconi, a former Gucci govt, as chief govt officer. The corporate contains 14 Sant Ambroeus areas, 12 extra for Felice and one Casa Lever restaurant. In an interview, Turconi mentioned he was desirous to dive into a brand new trade that he loves. A lot so, that he exited as president and CEO of Gucci Americas on Oct. 4, and began his new publish Oct. 7. Earlier than touchdown that top-shelf job at Gucci Americas, Turconi had beforehand served as govt vp and chief working officer.
Representatives at Gucci declined to remark.
Gucci’s chief business officer Cayetao Fabry is alleged to be overseeing his former president and CEO duties at Gucci Americas. Additional bulletins are anticipated in the end.
Switching profession tracks, nevertheless, was not a rash resolution for Turconi, however one which he mentioned he had first mulled over originally of the yr. He determined to take action although Gucci had been his “house” and his “household” for a few years, he mentioned. Describing that “unimaginable journey,” Turconi mentioned that after becoming a member of Gucci in 2011, its gross sales had quintupled by 2022 — exceeding 10.48 billion euros.
Raised in Como, Italy, Turconi mentioned that hospitality has all the time been his ardour, as a consequence of how his household prioritized meals and spending time collectively. There was additionally all the time meals on the middle of the desk for celebrations, holidays and different important moments in his life, he mentioned. Recreation for a profession problem, Turconi mentioned he sought one thing that was “very a lot” linked to him as an individual and what he loves. As a lot as he enjoys the hospitable side of his new trade, he additionally loves that Sant Ambroeus is a constant, heritage model that also resonates right this moment.
He first skilled Sant Ambroeus throughout buying journeys to Milan together with his father or mother as a baby. Impressed by Saint Ambrogio, the patron saint of Milan, the primary location bowed in 1936. His fondness for the Italian restaurant strengthened after he moved to New York and began frequenting Sant Ambroeus — typically with purchasers. “Being Italian and coming to New York, it’s a place the place the previous European world blends with the brand new American world. Sant Ambroeus turned a house away of houses. It was a kind of issues that you simply did on the very starting and you continue to keep in mind the primary conversations,” Turconi mentioned.
As a lot as he enjoys leisurely lunches open air on the Madison Avenue location, he singled out the SoHo outpost as his favourite due to the neighborhood’s miche mache of structure and billboards. Trying forward, a brand new Sant Ambroeus will bow in Miami’s South Seaside subsequent yr, and an Aspen outpost is anticipated to be unveiled by the tip of the yr. Purchasers’ familiarity and experiences with Sant Ambroeus performs into enlargement plans. “The model has super alternative to develop nationally and internationally,” mentioned Turconi, including that California, Texas, components of Europe and the U.Ok. are different prospects for brand spanking new outposts.
Simply as shoppers search the most effective expertise when selecting a purse, they use comparable discretion when eating, based on Turconi. From his viewpoint, the hospitality sector is somewhat harking back to the style world within the Nineteen Nineties, when many manufacturers had been on the brink of scale internationally. As well as, luxurious homes like Prada Café, Ralph Lauren’s Ralph’s Espresso and Dior Café have entered the hospitality sector with cafés.
And customers in main cities like Manhattan haven’t any qualms about ready in traces for bespoke bakeries, as they’d for sneaker drops or luxurious purse launches. (When Jacquemus unveiled its SoHo flagship in New York Metropolis Friday, staffers supplied croissants and orange juice to customers in line.)
Turconi mentioned, “There might be extra crossover. In the intervening time, each model is preventing for market share and making an attempt to develop one thing that can allow them to drive the visitors into their shops. It’s humorous that one way or the other the product just isn’t a bag or a pair of footwear any extra, however a espresso. For a few of these manufacturers, the part of hospitality turned extra related than the product itself.”
With that in thoughts, SA Hospitality plans to open extra Sant Ambroeus Gelateria and Espresso Bars, however solely after a lot consideration and with an emphasis on consistency. “When you comply with the developments, by the point you catch the pattern, the pattern is in a declining section. That’s one thing we’d by no means do. We don’t wish to be a stylish model — we wish to be a related model,” he mentioned.
