|
N
ick
G
ardNer
GolDen ruleS
1. Make your profession your passion.
2. be specific about what you want to achieve.
158 HOW I MADE MY FIRST MILLION
3. Know your strengths and what you are capable
of doing well.
4. Stick to your business principles.
5. Eco- ventures have to produce profits to be
sustainable.
The Coffee King
Who Changed
Australians’ Taste
les Schirato
Cantarella Bros;
established 1947;
150 full- time,
fifty part- time employees;
$160 million turnover
Only twenty- five years
ago Les Schirato was
laughed at when he suggested to supermarket
chains that they should sell his company’s Vit-
toria brand coffee. Then it was available only
in Italian delis, cafés and restaurants, and in the
international sections of gourmet food stores.
Schirato was advised that Australians would find
Photo: Angelo Soulas
160 HOW I MADE MY FIRST MILLION
the coffee too strong. Now Italian staples are
everyday items in most Aussie shopping trolleys,
and the elegant Schirato is reaping the benefits
of his persistence—with a multimillion- dollar
business, a Bentley in his garage, a sleek motor-
boat and a wardrobe of Italian designer suits.
Schirato left school at seventeen to join his
father at Cantarella Bros. The aspiring young
salesman fell in love with the boss’s daughter,
Luisa. Realising he would have to prove himself
elsewhere if he wanted to marry her, Schirato
went to work for Italian car company Fiat. That
largely personal decision gave him invaluable
professional experience as well as nurturing his
love of cars. ‘I learned about sales management
and p eople skills,’ he says. ‘I would be selling
trucks one day to a big corporation, and the
next day I’d be in Wollongong talking to coal-
mine workers. Business is all about relationships.
Today, p eople don’t spend the time understand-
ing o thers. Human relations are important—at
every social level.’
As for the relationship with Luisa Cantarella,
it flourished. They married in 1983, and Schi-
rato returned to the firm as part of the family. ‘I
have to be honest, I love what I do. I love to sell
coffee and wine and deal with the restaurants
and hotels. The money became a fringe benefit.
COFFEE KINg WHO CHANgED AUSTRALIANS’ TASTE 161
I never expected the money on the scale it is
now; I loved what I did and I had a passion for it.
I never sold the business, even though merchant
bankers tried to buy us.’
When Schirato came back to Cantarella Bros
he launched his push into supermarkets with Vit-
toria, along with European cheeses, Barilla pasta,
Italian mineral water and the then exotic choco-
late spread Nutella. Realising that food editors
could influence public tastes, Schirato ensured
that they received information and ideas on Ital-
ian cooking. In an era of chops and three veg,
Schirato and his contemporaries helped bring
about a food- culture revolution—and make mil-
lions for the company in the process.
His father- in- law—whom Schirato bought
out, along with his brothers- in- law, in the
1990s—was proud to see Italian foods become
such Australian staples. ‘He started the company
in 1947 when he brought in a roasting machine
from Italy,’ Schirato says. ‘He stuck to strong Ital-
ian coffee and he was proud to see how tastes
had changed. It’s like our coffee beans from all
over the world that we mix to make the brand—
Australia also takes things from everywhere and
blends them together.’
Back then, Cantarella produced Vittoria coffee
but was merely a distributor of other products.
162 HOW I MADE MY FIRST MILLION
Schirato got his next big business lesson when
companies for which he’d created an Australian
market, such as Barilla, moved in to import and
distribute their products themselves. Schirato
responded by creating his own products—Aurora
Pasta, Santa Vittoria mineral water and Nutino
spread—which are made to order in Italy and
sold by Cantarella Bros.
This investment, along with Schirato’s earlier
ambitious push into mainstream markets, took
Cantarella from being a
$
2.5 million company
in the early 1980s
to one with a turn-
over of
$
160 million
today. But starting
to produce its own
brands was a big risk.
‘It felt like I was tak-
ing the controls of a
big plane with all the passengers and sharehold-
ers on board. I had their lives in my hands, and
I was in the cockpit trying to fly this thing,’ he
says. ‘And, let me tell you, I hate flying.’
But he learned to do it, and he’s landed smoothly.
‘We learnt there was no future in building other
p eople’s brands,’ he says. The average Australian
now consumes around 3 kg of pasta a year (a tri-
fling amount compared with Italians’ 54 kg) and
‘
‘
It felt like I was taking
the controls of a big plane
with all the passengers and
shareholders on board. I
had their lives in my hands,
and I was in the cockpit
trying to fly this thing.
COFFEE KINg WHO CHANgED AUSTRALIANS’ TASTE 163
drink
$
90 million worth of coffee. Cantarella is
the largest Australian vendor of pure coffee.
For Schirato, however, money is not the meas-
ure of success. Family remains his cornerstone. His
wife, Luisa, is a co- owner of the company, as is his
sister- in- law. His son, Rolando, is now marketing
manager. ‘Find your own balance between work,
family, health, community and anything else that’s
important to you,’ he advises. ‘Give back every
chance you get, and enjoy the journey.’
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: | 
