MODENA: If you can imagine it, you can create it. That’s the motto of Massimo Bottura and his team in Modena.
The chef of world famous Osteria Francescana, Franceschetta 58, Casa Maria Luigia and Food for Soul among others is known for thinking outside the box.
That has also been the mantra of his team that works behind the Italian chef.
On 1 May, his team, created what they termed ‘Mission Impossible’ delivering 450 boxes of kits with dishes from Franceschetta 58 to Milan.
At 5am, the team, clad in masks, gloves met in Via Stella at the more illustrious Osteria Francescana which made Massimo Bottura world famous. Their task was to finish off the work and pack the boxes with ingredients and instructions. These would end up in many homes in Milan.
The idea was to offer a takeout possibility not just to the people in Modena but also to Milan for a day. It is something that Massimo’s team will repeat soon.
At the 8.45am, having prepared all the kits and packed them into a truck, the delivery team left from Modena in Reggio Emilia. Two hours 15 minutes later, the truck arrived in Milan and the ‘mad idea’ suddenly became a good idea.
The truck passed through deserted roads and some of Milan’s most famous quarters as it delivered the food boxes to customers. Dishes included the the Emilia Burger, stuffed rabbit, a pasta dish with smoked clams and much more.
Not everything went according to plan. There were delays in deliveries which meant that the final boxes were delivered at 9.30pm with apologies to customers. Franceschetta’s team had delivered all their 450 boxes to various customers that ordered the food from Modena.
Enrico Vignoli, who works at Osteria Francescana with Massimo Bottura said that COVID-19 has forced many, including restaurants to rethink everything.
Speaking at Sangue na Guelra, the Power of Food which had to go digital because of the crisis, he said that complaining was not going to help anyone.
“At the moment, it is the time to think of new ideas. It is the time to test the ideas. Some of them will work, some will fail and we need to see which will stay after the crisis. With this initiative we wanted to rethink the concept of neighbourhood and also the value we offer to customers. In this case, a city that is far from Modena became part of ‘Franceschetta’s neighbourhood,” he said.
He does not exclude the possibility of offering the service in other cities in Italy or that they use dark or ghost kitchens in future to offer what in effect could be a new future for many restaurants.
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