Dispensa Emilia turns 20: 50 premises and 60 million turnover

Twenty years ago, the first Dispensa Emilia Casalecchio di Reno offered stuffed tigelle and tasty salads. Then, with the first restaurants in Modena, two more classics were introduced: gnocco fritto and typical Emilian pasta dishes. This is how regional cuisine became 'fast casual', when restaurant chains in Italy were still in their infancy and the offer was essentially distinguished between restaurants, osterias and pizzerias on the one hand and fast food on the other.

Today Dispensa Emilia is preparing to open its 50th restaurant in Ravenna and has exported its recipe to Lombardy, Veneto, Piedmont, Tuscany, Lazio and Campania, creating 900 jobs. The brand, which since 2018 has been owned by Andrea Bonomi'sInvestindustrial fund, has experienced significant growth in recent years, with turnover rising from €35 million in 2022 to €49 million in 2023 and a forecast to approach €60 million by the end of 2024.

Thanks to the direct management of all the premises, we are managing to grow without losing sight of our distinctive traits, which begin with the artisanal quality of our dishes," comments Alessandro Medi, Managing Director of Dispensa Emilia. "These twenty years of success are the result of our ability to combine the goodness, comfort and hospitality typical of the Emilian tradition and a fast and affordable consumer experience, with average receipts of between 10 and 15 euros per person. And we want to continue in this direction, containing price increases without sacrificing product quality and speed of service, to become the first alternative for eating out, convenient for everyone and with a distinctive personality on the market".

So the expansion plans continue? "The objective of our three-year plan," continues Medi, "is to achieve a qualified presence in a large part of Central North, with an average of 10-15 openings per year, both on the road and inside shopping centres, and to approach 100 million euro turnover in the three-year period. The new signs will be positioned above all on major roads such as the Via Emilia and the Romea state road, with the 'stand alone' format conveniently located on the road. The future also envisages expansion in Southern Italy and abroad, with the prospect of launching franchising agreements and partnerships for geographically distant locations, and the objective of enhancing the format of compact restaurants, smaller in size, in order to be able to preside over even the smallest shopping centres and historic town centres.