More choice for city’s culinary romantics
Italian restaurants have been wooing Hongkongers for decades and now Italian food professionals are opening gourmet shops and delis focusing on premium produce
[Customers] are fascinated by the geography, the location, where the product comes from
KETI MAZZI, CERTA
It’s better when you can touch and smell the items. Food, like sex, can never be replaced by an online version
GIANNI CAPRIOLI, MERCATO GOURMET SHOP
It sounds contradictory, but the main reason chef Gianni Caprioli started his Mercato gourmet shop was so he could spend more time cooking in his restaurant, Giando.
“When I opened Giando, I brought in many Italian products, like olive oil and fresh vegetables,” Caprioli recalls.
“Even if the quantity was small, I would organise a shipment a week. Then every Saturday at the restaurant, I sold my extra products from a corner.
“But people started coming in on other days, even interrupting service to say, ‘Oh, can I get some of this or that.’ It was very disruptive. So, I opened a shop on the floor below at Fenwick Pier.”
From this pragmatic beginning, Mercato emerged as a magnet for home cooks seeking premium Italian fare to make their own pesto, carbonara and cacciatore. Other outlets might offer more mainstream brands and corporate suppliers, but Caprioli focused on small, family-run producers and quality ingredients. In fact, he wasn’t just their seller, he became their advocate.
“As the shop grew, I took it more seriously and got more professional in importing and distribution. Meanwhile, the producers back in Italy would ask, ‘Can you sell more?’, so I want to help them sustain.
“Sometimes I have to teach them about selling. For example, buffalo mozzarella packagers used to add a kilo of brine in with one kilo of cheese. That’s going to cost a lot more for shipping so I try to tell them to package better. In this way, I see the shop as a collaboration.”
The city’s romance with Italian cuisine is evident, not just in the abundance of trattorias and ristorantes across Hong Kong, but the growing number of speciality outlets selling Italian produce and delicacies, in stores and online.
Aside from bricks-and-mortar retailers like Mercato and combo store/deli concepts like Il Bel Paese, ads for other Italian grocery portals are rife on social media. Of course, everyone claims to offer the best Italian cheese, salami, dried pasta and wines from every region of the “boot”. But Caprioli isn’t sweating the e-competition.
“Many people are not so busy at their jobs [during the pandemic] so they try other things,” he says.
“In Italy, food has always been an important industry so they think it is easy to get into this kind of thing.
“The people who try to sell online, they’ve come to me and ask if I can buy their leftover stock [for Mercato]. Some owners, maybe they do garments or have a large warehouse already, so they try other businesses like [importing and selling Italian] food thinking it’s easy. These competitors just make me want to search for better, greater products. I don’t worry about them, just like I don’t worry the shop means fewer customers in the restaurant.”
Of the many Italian platforms – Buonissimo, Borgovivo, The Italian Club, Stable Trading and more – few are affiliated with actual chefs. Tipico Italian Grocer is one, launched by Zeno Bevilacqua, chef of now defunct 208 Duecento Otto.
Another is Bella Ciao, started by wine seller Paolo Ponghellini with his compatriots Luca De Berardinis and Alessandro Angelini, who are chefs at LucAle.
“Other Europeans can’t compare with Italians,” Ponghellini boasts.
“There’s nothing similar for French or Spanish goods. Italians really know how to build up the whole package, with so many specialities from fresh pasta to meat.
“It has been really remarkable. We started two years ago, as Covid began, as part of a wholesale business. In response to problems in the supply chain and the pandemic – when customers like restaurants started dropping orders – we basically tried to think how we could cover the shortfall.”
Going directly to consumers benefited business, improved cash flow and delivered higher margins. But many others want to get into the fine-foods business, too.
“We noticed most online retailers also trade in other products or have a wholesale business. To be honest, every online Italian business probably has something else, more substantial to support it,” Ponghellini says.
“Bella Ciao is still very small. We have to keep our costs down. I notice larger portals target Chinese customers more. We’re also trying to expand our local customer database, but you need to do everything differently. We don’t have money to expand that way yet.
“You need to translate into Chinese and explain more as some customers may not know how to enjoy products. If you have 50 different items coming in and out every month, that’s expensive content maintenance.”
One Italian trying to balance virtual and physical sales is Keti Mazzi. Although her platform Certa is essentially an online shop, she’s keen to encourage patrons to visit her Wong Chuk Hang warehouse/office/showroom by hosting regular open houses, aperitivo events, tastings and masterclasses.
In fact, customers who come to pick up their orders get 5 per cent off, and likely a warm “buongiorno!” from Mazzi herself.
“Certa is something different,” Mazzi professes. “We opened this space last September after the online platform launched at the end of 2020. I wanted my own little place, something different, not just a shop, more like a casa Certa. It gave me the opportunity to welcome people.”
Like Mercato and Bella Ciao, the emphasis is on premium goods and artisanal produce. Sure, everything she imports can be bought and delivered with the click of a mouse and other platforms may sell cheaper items, but then you don’t get the full treatment of Mazzi or her staff offering you a taste and explaining the backstory of the products.
“I think important retailers like Gianni’s Mercato and others make it more empathetic, have a more intimate touch, going deeper on the items. It’s just a part of what we do as ambassadors of our country,” Mazzi says.
“You come here to learn about the wine and discover new things. I don’t think of us as just a retailer, but a luxury dispenser. We’re more like a private tailoring session with Valentino than picking something off a shelf. We source directly from Italian producers, the finest, most excellent products.”
Ultimately, Mazzi is not concerned with other shops and competition. There are enough connoisseurs happy to pay a premium for real value and personalised service.
“At restaurants, people want to know more technical aspects. But here, it’s the opposite,” she notes. “The customers here give you more opportunity to tell stories because they have a bit more time when visiting you. They are fascinated by the geography, the location, where the product comes from. So, I love this.”
Shopping websites might deliver convenience but that’s not what gourmet clients of fine food and fine wine really look for. Rather, they are food geeks. They like the hubris of details and minutiae about wine vintages and the tactile feel of selecting Roma tomatoes – which is what Mercato’s purveyor Caprioli intends with his goods.
“To be honest, I never believe in anything online. I don’t buy things online even though I do have my own Mercato platform. I know online business is huge but I’m a bit old-fashioned. It’s better when you can touch and smell the items. Food, like sex, can never be replaced by an online version.”