To raise awareness of our area's outstanding businesses, we periodically interview our hubbers. Today it is the turn of Domani Food, a Swiss company that produces chocolate and snacks with sustainable and fair-trade ingredients. Julia Rahmani, co-founder of the company, tells us about it.
Q: What does your company stand for and why did you choose this name? What do you mean by 'gentle food processing' and what are the advantages? A: We represent the combination of safe, high-quality food production best practices with new food trends. Our goal is to create products for tomorrow's consumers. Hence, our company name expresses this mission. Gentle' processing is a production method with the goal of nutritional preservation and retention of nutrients. Treating food 'gently' means avoiding the use of chemicals or excessive heat or pressure when making the final product so as to protect the flavour and benefits of the ingredients, which are often compromised when using traditional processing methods.
Q: How did the idea of founding a company focused on sustainability come about? Why in Ticino? A: The founders have a background of over 150 years in the food industry. The idea came from the realisation that it is not only how food tastes that is important, but also how it makes us feel. To be able to 100% control every ingredient and food process, we decided to rebuild our production process from scratch. Our respect for Mediterranean food culture and food know-how combined with Swiss standards of excellence led us to choose Ticino as our base.
Q: You recently acquired the historic Ticino chocolate factory CimaNorma, giving the brand a fresh and innovative boost. Can you tell us about your plans? A: Our goal with CimaNorma is to re-launch and reposition the brand by focusing on developing chocolate products that honour its heritage and historical achievements, while being in line with new food trends including the use of 100% organic, additive-free, single-origin and sustainable ingredients. CimaNorma's brand new Sleeping Beauty Edition celebrates the brand's entry into a new modern era with a convenient and simplified yet impactful packaging design. The range includes pralines and bars in different sizes, which are being introduced to the world of luxury hospitality (with a focus on 5-star hotels). We supply, for example, Swiss Diamond Hotel and Ticino Hotel Group with our praline boxes.
Q: You combine innovation with responsible production and consumption. What are the challenges that a company like yours faces every day? A: One of the main challenges we face is that some of the biggest retailers are still slow to adapt to the real needs of consumers. The process of listing a new product is a time-consuming and expensive procedure that drives away many young companies with innovative and healthier food solutions. The good news is that more and more millennials are starting to join these organisations or offer their own food retail concepts like our clients Felfel, Siradis or Foodist, which accelerate and facilitate the food revolution.
Q: What are the problems in the vegan and organic supply chain you encounter today? A: The main challenge is that origins and suppliers are limited regarding organic products, especially in Europe. One of our organic suppliers grows some raw materials exclusively for us, which can create pressure if our production is lower or higher than expected. Another problem is the continued high price sensitivity, even in premium and organic trade, despite a decrease in price sensitivity of consumers. This makes it difficult to maintain high quality as a small producer.
Q: What are the objectives you would like to achieve? And what is your expected impact? A: In the long term, our goal is to become a global market leader in sustainable food, offering products that taste good and are better for our health. We plan to go beyond snacks within the next year and are working on expanding our operations beyond Europe.
Q: Why did you choose Impact Hub Ticino? What is the added value? A: We chose to join Impact Hub Ticino both to meet like-minded people in the industry and to share our knowledge, challenges and lessons with others in the region who might be interested in what we do.