Ilaria Puddu and the secrets of a small empire of pizza (awarded by the Guida Identità Golose 2021)

«We're ready to start over, we can't wait. What's giving us courage, for sure, is seeing our colleagues from other parts of the world who, in one way or the other, are getting acquainted once again with normal life!». Lots of patient breathing waiting to start again but then the “small empire of pizza” of Ilaria Puddu, Stefano Saturnino and Nanni Arbellini never gave up. In fact, the volume of their pizza delivery increased in this stage (confirming that 70% of deliveries is mostly related to pizza) and the ideas, well, those never stop.

But let's go in order: on the 18th March 2021 the business that includes Marghe, Giolina, Crocca, Pizzium and their sweet counterpart Gelsomina was awarded by the Guida Identità Golose 2021, in partnership with Petra - Molino Quaglia, for the brilliant management of what are now considered some popular points of reference for pizza lovers in Milan (and beyond), in a varied range of formats, settings and flavours. Ilaria Puddu was very emotional when she got the prize, but also light and happy «because when you get a prize from Identità, your legs will tremble a little more» – she confesses - «Identità, has indeed always been a lighthouse, for its capacity of directing you in the large sea of Italian and international gastronomy».

But what is the winning recipe to reach such a result? «For sure, working hard on the trust between employee and employer. For me success is knowing that some of the people with whom I started working 5 years ago, are still part of the team. Why so? Because they have truly believed in the project right from the start, so much so they felt it belonged to them as well».
Another element is understanding the compatibility of a character with the brand identity. The type of service you get at Pizzium is completely different from what you experience at Giolina: they have two different souls, two different audiences and hence even the actors will be different, offering their very personal contribution to each one of these contexts.

And then, no brand competes with the other, and this is shown by Piazza Cinque Giornate: within a short range you can find Crocca, Pizzium, Marghe and, slightly further, Giolina. Despite this, none of these brands steals clients from the other because each pizzeria welcomes a well-defined group of consumers...