2014-08-12T12:00:00

Eataly appoints Smurfit Kappa to bring it to global marketplace

Eataly, the world-renowned food retail and dining concept, and Vino Libero, its underlying wine project, have appointed Smurfit Kappa to help it to expand into new international markets.

This follows the company’s successful launches in the US, Japan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and its native Italy.

Smurfit Kappa’s established partnership with the dining and beverage company has already helped achieve global reach by providing a diverse range of innovative packaging solutions. The paper-based packaging company was uniquely placed to advise on a number of international markets thanks to its global presence, ensuring that Eataly and Vino Libero’s packaging was optimised for specific local consumer behaviours.

Eataly’s aim is simple but ambitious - to ensure that its food and wine can be enjoyed at the same high quality anywhere in the world as in Italy. The challenge for Smurfit Kappa is to create innovative packaging and transport solutions to meet this goal. The packaging company drew on its expertise to ensure that Eataly and Vino Libero’s mission could be accomplished, developing a range of bespoke materials.

The two companies work well together due to their shared traits, such as a passion for creating high-quality products and shared values in sustainability . One example is Smurfit Kappa’s eco-sustainable Bag-in-Box® packaging created for Vino Libero, which Eataly’s President Oscar Farinetti called “a fantastic instrument for distribution” of its wine range. By establishing itself as Eataly’s one-stop packaging solutions provider, Smurfit Kappa has continued to satisfy the company’s global needs and positioned itself, in Farinetti’s words, as “indispensable to those in our business”.

Saverio Mayer, CEO of Smurfit Kappa Italia and Smurfit Kappa Bag-in-Box® said,

“What is particularly exciting about this partnership is that our commitment to sustainable and innovative packaging solutions is very much aligned with Eataly’s aim to bring premium, local produce to global markets. We have been able to apply our expertise in this area to deliver forward-thinking solutions to a growing brand. We look forward to helping Eataly continue their successful story as they look for opportunities to expand over the coming months and years.”

Francesco Farinetti, CEO of Eataly said,

“We were very excited to create this partnership with Smurfit Kappa as we were looking not only for a strong, global supplier who could meet our demand for a diverse range of packaging solutions, but also one who could help develop our story across continents. We hadn’t met with a supplier previously who was able to offer such a complete solution, and Smurfit Kappa’s unique skill in constantly developing innovative products has created the perfect partnership.”

This is an example of Smurfit Kappa’s on-going dedication to help brands make their mark in the global marketplace, and is in line with their new global brand strategy, active across 32 countries, which is set to ‘Open the future’ for its customers. 

The new strategy focuses on delivering customer growth through insight and innovation, reflecting the continued battle for brand owners to win that all-important ‘First Moment of Truth’, where shoppers choose one brand over another. It is brought to life through a dynamic microsite, where a series of films demonstrate how customers across the world have worked in partnership with Smurfit Kappa to create innovative solutions which have driven commercial success.  The new microsite can be visited at openthefuture.info and will be the home for new, shareable content updated regularly.