From Naples to Aberdeen

Riccardo Venditti is bringing passion and experience to a new Aberdeen restaurant. He tells P&J Recruitment about the desirable skills for working in the food and beverage industry

Riccardo Venditti, 28, has been working for Mozza since the first restaurant opened, and his dayto-day role sees him travel across the country between their restaurants in Glasgow, St Andrews, Dundee and, now, Aberdeen. As area manager, a large part of his job is focused on supporting the teams, and ensuring the growth of the business; he provides advice and training to staff to ensure the company’s high standards are consistently being achieved, and always looks for ways to improve the experience for customers.

Riccardo, originally from the south Neapolitan pizza being prepared at Mozza of Italy, close to Naples, has worked in the food and beverage industry his whole career – from going to cookery school to becoming a professional chef and sommelier, to working alongside celebrity chefs and running restaurants.

Amid all the desirable skills of working in the food and beverage industry, including excellent communication, problem solving and the ability to work under pressure, Riccardo strongly believes that passion sits at the top of the list.

He said: “People must have a passion for their product. This is something that cannot necessarily be taught, but it’s what can truly set your restaurant apart. Passion is firmly at the heart of the company – it flows through everything we do – and this is what we believe differentiates us from other restaurants. This is also why we always say we’re ‘mad’ about pizza!

“To us, pizza is not just pizza – there’s an intricate and scientific process behind making the perfect dough, combinations of flavours and fresh ingredients are cleverly put together to create something memorable, and this cuisine reflects the history and heritage of our Neapolitan culture – as Naples is the pizza capital of the world. We want our passion and enthusiasm to radiate from everything we do, to hopefully teach our customers a thing or two about real pizza, and create an experience for them.

“Personally, my passion for pizza and food in general keeps growing and growing, and it’s an amazing feeling to have so much love for your job. I don’t even see this as a job, it’s my life.

“My passion stems back to my life in Italy. Back home, eating food wasn’t just that – it was an experience we shared with the whole family, where we’d have big gatherings at the house, eating around 14 courses from midday until late evening. This is part of our culture, and because of this, we all have a high appreciation for the dishes we enjoy and create.”

Riccardo continued: “But passion also goes hand in hand with knowledge. To work in this industry, you have to understand the food you’re cooking or serving, and be able to inform customers about the process, the ingredients, and every little detail that goes into making the food or drink. Knowledge is the fuel for passion.

“But you are never finished learning – you can learn something new every day. And this is definitely true if you work with food, as there are literally millions of combinations of ingredients, and different methods and tricks – it’s very exciting.

“I love travelling the world and learning new cooking skills from different countries, as I can then bring this into our business. It gives you new ideas to inject into your existing menu, or gives you that creative spark to create brand new recipes.”

Riccardo said: “We believe Aberdeen is the perfect city for this concept. People in Aberdeen have a strong appreciation for their own local delicacies, which is rooted in their history, and we’re excited to teach them about our culture and our authentic pizzas. You’d have to travel almost 3,000km to try a real Neapolitan pizza, but we’re bringing the exact same taste and experience to Aberdeen.”

“I love travelling the world and learning new cooking skills from different countries

Riccardo Venditti, area manager at Mozza