Although in Italy the traditional “coffee and croissant” still empires, some locals have understood how to renew themselves and welcome the new needs of today’s consumers and the proposal therefore appears much wider and more varied.
What is the typical consumer at breakfast? Doubtlessly, he is a creature of habit, having breakfast outside home almost every day and preferably alone. Breakfast or coffee breaks are a meditative or social moment (“social networks pause”, hence the choice already adopted by many locals to create areas equipped for smartphones and tablets). But he is also a demanding consumer. What is he looking for? First of all, a healthy and protein-based breakfast: the health enthusiasts (and the intolerants) are increasing and consequently also the proposals for clean-label and healthy food or diet-friendly foods. But what attracts more and more customers are the different cafés, those specialized in a single product.
Some new trends that already spread abroad are appearing also in Italy: in Milan or Rome, for example, the first matcha cafès or avocado bars arose. In general in our country many locals have decided to focus on crafts, seasonal and zero km products, even for breakfast, to enhance the regional characteristics, a choice that allows to attract tourists if, moreover, are told the stories and the origins of the product to intrigue and offer a complete experience.
The customer is curious, he’s looking for personalized advice, but is also at firsthand informed and therefore also the most requested beverage, coffee, is no longer the simple espresso, but it is a precious blend and single origin. It is a novelty of recent times in Italy, but they are already widespread abroad: we talk about the specialty bars or coffee shops, vanguard activities where coffee is fine, high quality, obtained with different methods of extraction and are told by an expert bartender-sommelier who illustrates its history, the land of origin, the processing and the aromas.
Another phenomenon spread abroad and it is now slowly establishing in Italy too, we talk about the hybridization of the bar with other activities. Bars today are arising everywhere: museums, stations, shops, in the most unlikely places. An example of this is the opening of the new Vergnano café inside the Desirée perfumery in Milan.