Catering Day, 10 thousand restaurants and 100 events to celebrate Italian cuisine
A 59 billion added value sector, but one that according to Fipe is 'challenged by an oversupply, a fragmented regulatory framework and increasing forms of unfair competition'
3' min read
3' min read
Catering Day, created on the initiative of Fipe Confcommercio to celebrate, both in Italy and abroad, the social and cultural importance of a sector that exceeds 100 billion in economic value, and the contribution of Italian cuisine (a candidate for UNESCO Heritage status) to the success of the entire Italian food industry internationally, is now in its third edition.
There are actually three days of events,from 15 to 17 May, and they include about 100 events with the involvement of more than 10 thousand restaurants, as well as the most important sector associations, institutions, schools, and many representatives of the cultural and economic world.
"With 328 thousand active businesses, 1.5 million employees, of which over 1.1 million are salaried workers, and an added value of over 59 billion Euro, Italian catering represents not only cultural and identity excellence, but also one of the key sectors for the country's economic growth. A strategic sector," recalls Fipe, "for the tourism and agri-food supply chains, today, however put to the test by an excess of supply, a fragmented regulatory framework and growing forms of unfair competition, in the face of the absence of an effective economic policy for the sector.
"Catering Day was created to strongly affirm the cultural and entrepreneurial value of our sector, which is among the most recognised and appreciated in the world. But it is also an opportunity to reiterate the urgency of policies that are able to truly support the sector, which still lacks a strategic plan - said Lino Enrico Stoppani, president of Fipe-Confcommercio - The time has come to evolve from the concept of Made in Italy to that of Sense of Italy, which combines beauty, skills, tradition and innovation in a generative vision capable of giving perspective to the country".
One of the main focuses of this edition - dedicated to the egg, symbol of creation, rebirth and unity, chosen as the icon to narrate the symbolic, cultural and productive richness of Italian catering - is the presentation of the Antology of Italian Catering, published by Topic and edited by Marco Bolasco, which promotes a new narrative of the sector, broad and up-to-date with the times and challenges of the present, and which aims to enter the school curricula of the Professional Institutes for Hotel and Catering Services in the country.
The Anthology, according to the promoters, is a vehicle to reaffirm the value cornerstones of the Italian food model: an objective shared with the "Vesta Award" assigned to Aboca, Caritas Italiana, Ferrari-Trento, Carlo Petrini, the Hon. Luca Squeri and Sveva Sagramola "for having contributed to the enhancement of Italian catering in their specific sector".
