La Formaggeria Gran Moravia won the Mastercard award “Obchodni roka” as the “Best Retail Chain of the Year 2016” in Czech Republic.
La Formaggeria Gran Moravia won with 65% of the votes the Mastercard Obchodni roka 2016, the most important award in Czech Republic in the retail industry. The chain of shops was awarded during the Retail Summit 2017 with the vote of a jury of 500 experts, after a passionate live presentation of the three finalists. Second place for Lidl with 19% and in third place is Globus with 16%. In the previous editions the prize was won by Ikea and Lidl.
A fantastic result has been achieved by “La Formaggeria Gran Moravia” that operates 19 stores across the Czech Republic. La Formaggeria Gran Moravia took 65% of the votes, beating the retail giants Globus and Lidl that respectively took the 19% and 16%.
On January 31st at the Retail Summit 2017 in Prague, following a passionate presentation held by the three finalists, a panel of 500 judges awarded La Formaggeria Gran Moravia thanks to the “unique purchasing experience” that grants to its customers.
“An unexpected achievement we got thanks to the great group of 150 people doing amazing work: starting with store clerks, shop managers, buyers, cheese-making dpt., logistic dept., dairy experts, Italian suppliers and last but not least thanks to the support of our loyal customer!.
It is the Winner of the best Italian food culture, majestically interpreted by the Czech people”, said Roberto Brazzale, author of the retail shops project. Brazzale Group is the only European dairy manufacturing company operating its own stores. “Warmth and passion won over the Orwellian efficiency of big data. It was a great honor to compete against these two and valuable giants”.
It has been a real joy for La Formaggeria Gran Moravia people: the jury took into consideration customers appreciation to the irresistible experience offered by the store employees, the value of the proposition and the innovative format of the 19 stores located in Czech Republic.
The previous editions of the Mastercard Obchodni roka award was won by Ikea, Lidl and Yves Rocher. Also Billa, Kaufmann, Tesco, Carrefour and Metro contended the 2016 prize.
The reward of La Formaggeria Gran Moravia has been crowned also by the recognition given by 1.110 attendees to Roberto Brazzale as “the Best Speaker at the Summit”. The presentation was evaluated as evocative, funny, full of passion, dedication and commitment.
The shops
As of February 2017, La Formaggeria Gran Moravia operates 19 stores in Czech Republic. The first store was opened in 2010. There are over 1.5 million of customers in a year and 80% of products sold are imported from Italy. The group of stores is housing about 150 employees. The sole Italian retail chain developed outside the national borders, organized according to the Italian tradition with customers being served directly by the store staff from the counter. The stores are located in city centers and malls, they reach peaks of 1.600 daily customers per store with a sales area in between 60 and 200 sqm. The shops are characterized by almost minimalist, bright and sophisticated décor, designed to give maximum emphasis to the products and make the shopping experience easy, enjoyable, and at the same time unique.
“The stores– tells Roberto Brazzale – are focused on the quality of service behind the counter, since we wanted to bring this kind of service back in Czech Republic, taking inspiration from the Italian tradition to “pamper” customers everyday and personally taking care of each one of them. The Czech People are cultured, polite, curious and represent the ideal customer. Our 150 Czech store clerks are extraordinary and they love the Italian food culture maybe more than us, and they are able to convey their passion and knowledge to the final consumer. In creating this new format I treasured the time spent at my grandfather’s shop, in Asiago, and I imagined what I would have liked to find, as a consumer, in a deli shop: smile, competence, high quality and wide variety of products, silence, cleanliness, brightness, elegant furniture, functionality, sensorial experience, practical tips, information about the products. Moreover, prices have to be as convenient as possible and the offer must include a choice of big and small packaging sizes, in order to meet also the request of people that have less purchasing power.
Purchasing power in Czech Republic is significantly growing and it is close to overcome the Italian consumers’ one, but it is a great joy to see inside our shops a great diversity of consumers, including students and pensioners, along with wealthy customers. The creation of an artisan cheese plant inside the manufacturing facility in Litovel, allows us to have our own production of fresh cheeses and dairy products, such as ricotta, mozzarella, whey, giuncata, yogurt and many other specialties that comes both from the Italian and Czech traditions. The direct link between the cheese manufacturing plant and the shops allows the containment of costs and the purchasing department in Italy is able to carefully select the best suppliers at the most affordable conditions. The day I realize that purchasing experience in our stores will no longer be a daily fest, I’ll close them all with my own hands”.
Good Italian food, reasonable prices, knowledgeable staff and satisfied customers: this is the simple formula for the success of the stores La Formaggeria Gran Moravia.
The product assortment
A complete range of dairy products “Fresh from our dairy” is always available in the stores coming directly from the production plant, such as ricotta, mozzarella, curds, butter, milk, yogurt, flavored whey. Gran Moravia hard cheese and fresh butter are still the main products that are prepared on demand in store. To complete the range, the shops offer the full range of cheeses from Italy, the charcuterie, sliced and packed at the moment, and a huge selection of typical ingredients of Italian cuisine. Product range is very wide and goes from sweet to savory items, but all of them are carefully selected to ensure the highest quality at the best price. Beautiful books are also available, featuring Italian culture and typical regional recipes within everyone’s reach. 80% of sold products are coming from Italy: 70 suppliers, 500 different SKUs.
The Formaggeria’s magazine
In 2014 La Formaggeria Magazine was created, in order to support customers’ need for newness and tips on how to make a better use of the items purchased. The magazine, with an edition of 80.000 copies, is distributed free of charge in all the stores. Customers enjoy classic Italian recipes from Italian chefs with some tidbits on products story, some information on tourism in Italy and some additional light on Italian cuisine. Besides cultural details, the magazine provides interviews to notorious personalities as well as some pages dedicated just for kids.
Two cultures with a strong link
The link with Italy is very close. Store clerks and managers travel often to Italy to get to know better the products, the culture and the places. In addition La Formaggeria Gran Moravia launches competitions with prizes for the clients for holidays and ski holidays in touristic places such as Monte Verena ad Asiago. Moreover we can also count the proposals of promotions in stores on the part of Italian suppliers, implementation of exhibitions of Italian artists in the Czech Republic and, most recently, also the proposal of paintings by Italian artists, on display in the stores.
A large painting of Enrico Robusti is displayed in the shop that is located in the main square of Brno city (Zelny Trh). The artist represents the life store in a funny and innovative way.
To find out where the stores of La Formaggeria Gran Moravia are located, visit the website.
