The Business of Coffee
illy’s goal is to become the first global brand coffee in the world. Its strategy is simple: to distinguish itself from the competition through unsurpassed excellence. This policy of pursuing quality is followed down to the last detail: from the moment the raw coffee beans arrive at the processing plant to the time they are shipped out in sealed cans, the product is controlled 114 times.
illy is one single blend of coffee made from nine varieties of Arabica beans, available in medium and dark roasts, in regular and decaffeinated, whole bean, ground and E.S.E. (Easy Serving Espresso or pods) and iperEspresso, an easy-to-use home system combining a proprietary capsule for use exclusively with iperEspresso machines.
illy coffee is sold in more than 140 countries. The company has more than 700 employees. Approximately two-thirds of its business comes from the hotel, restaurant, and café sectors. The proportion of sales earned outside of Italy is constantly growing and is now more than 40 percent. Illy's strategic markets are Europe and the U.S., where the group holds approximately 30 percent of the quality market. In Italy, illy is number one in Italy's highly fragmented hotel, restaurant and bar segment, with 6 percent market share, and holds 27 percent of the home espresso market.
The concept of coffee as a commodity product is anathema to illy. Due to the difficulty finding high-quality green coffee, in 1991 illy went to the source, making an agreement with top Brazilian growers and establishing an annual prize for the producer of the highest quality coffee. More than 600 Brazilian producers now take part in this competition, and illy supports them year round to produce better coffee. This superior coffee generates increased income for the growers and insures illy of the highest quality product. The award ceremonies garner international press coverage and create a sense of pride and accomplishment among the participants.
Brazil was chosen as the location for the award not only because it is the world's largest coffee producer, but also because its growers demonstrate a high level of professionalism and tradition that is difficult to find in other coffee-growing nations. Brazilian coffee is often considered to be merely a "bonding agent,” that is, a component to be blended with more highly prized beans from other countries.
In reality, however, the potential quality of Brazilian coffee is very high. One reason for this is that in Brazil coffee is dried in the sun. This means that the bean dries from the outside in, causing the sugars that are present to migrate towards the center of the bean. As a result, Brazilian coffee beans have a sugar content that is about 2 percent higher than that of similar beans processed using the washed method. It is the sugars in the bean that give body to the taste of coffee.
Under Andrea Illy's leadership the company's sales have increased 137 percent. It is the uncompromising pursuit of quality that has helped fuel the company's growth. Not surprisingly, illycaffè is the only global agro-industrial company to have double quality certification. In 1996, the company was granted ISO 9001 certification for its production process, after having received the Qualité France certification for its product in 1992.
ISO 9001
The ISO 9001 certification, awarded by the certifying body DNU (Det Norske Veritas Italia), guarantees that specific ISO 9001 quality control standards are met. These parameters are applied to the entire production process: from the design, planning, and development phases to the roasting, packaging and sale of the coffee. Distributor and retailer training programs and customer satisfaction are also factors. illycaffè is the first agro-industrial company not only in Italy but also in Europe to receive ISO 9001 certification (the most stringent ISO level).
Qualité France
Qualité France is the only institute that certifies the quality of agro-industrial products at a European level. It is one of the most prestigious independent associations in France, and was the first organization to be accredited by the French government for the quality control of processed coffee. France is the only European country to have specific legislation on the certification of agro-industrial products. The Qualité France certification guarantees "product compliance" with specific guidelines, underscoring the intrinsic quality of the illycaffè blend. Every three months illycaffè's methods for buying coffee, the characteristics of its products, the composition of its blend, its roasting and air-cooling systems, and the packaging of its coffee are all subjected to controls by Qualité France representatives. The verifications made by Qualité France experts complement the daily internal controls carried out by the company itself.
The following details demonstrate illycaffè's dedication to excellence:
• Only the highest quality Arabica coffee beans selected directly at the source
• Extensive training programs for growers to improve bean quality and processing
• Illy pays a premium price for a premium bean—as much as 25 percent over the market price
• Patented electronic sorting and elimination of defective beans
• Perfectly roasted after blending
• Air cooling
• Pressurization and aging
• Ecological and aesthetically—pleasing packaging
• iperEspresso
• E.S.E system: Easy Serving Espresso system
• Constant quality guarantee
• Quality certification of both the product and the production process
About illycaffè
Celebrating its 75th anniversary, illycaffè is the world’s finest Italian coffee and a leader in quality, innovation and technology. A third generation Italian coffee company, illy is the number one European imported coffee brand in North America. Based in Trieste, Italy, illycaffè produces and markets a unique blend of coffee as the single brand leader in quality coffee and gives coffee connoisseurs an overall authentic Italian coffee experience. Illy is available in more than 50,000 of the finest restaurants and coffee bars and is sold in over 140 countries around the world, serving more than 6 million cups of illy coffee per day. Globally, illy employs more than 700 people.
illy buys green coffee of the highest quality Arabica directly from the growers through partnerships based on the mutual creation of value. The Italian-based company fosters long-term collaborations with the world’s finest coffee growers – in Brazil, Central America, India and Africa – providing know-how and technology and offering above-market prices.