Table of contents:
- So the question of the company that produces in Viterbo?
- So is the Modica Chocolate Protection Consortium very happy to have one of its products on the shelves of a discount store?
- But isn't the price of € 1.49 demeaning towards such a refined and historic product?
- Speaking of PGI, why has it been 10 years and there is still nothing certain on the horizon?
Video: Modica chocolate is not a cult product, says the number 1 of Modica chocolate
2024 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 12:26
“ We are proud that our product is being sold to Lidl . It is not the producer of the mammoth cucumbers we all know for sale in the discount chain that speaks.
It is a sentence of Nino Scivoletto, president of the consortium for the protection of Modica chocolate: unique, particular product, effigy and tourist attraction of a fascinating area in the South East of Sicily.
After the shock and complaints from consumers, now about the 100 gram tablets of Italiamo chocolate, sold in special offer to 1, 49 € (in specialty food shops they are even close to 4 euros) –a scandal according to those who make a product for which the European IGP (Protected Geographical Identification) mark has been requested, the number one in Modica chocolate speaks to Dissapore.
This happens: we publish a post about what happened, also reporting the alleged truths of the Corriere di Ragusa which, (perhaps) just by way of example, cites an elusive producer from Viterbo who then packs the chocolate in Frigintini.
In Scivoletto the question does not go down, he writes to the editorial office of Dissapore and asks for guidance.
In order to avoid yet another misunderstanding, we pick up the phone and chat with him.
And then, in order not to miss anything, we also ask the same questions to Pierpaolo Ruta, owner of Antica Dolceria Bonajuto (one of the promoters of the Consortium, but released in 2005), the sixth generation of pastry, one of those who make Modica chocolate as his grandfather taught him.
So the question of the company that produces in Viterbo?
SLIDE: I can't know if there is anyone in Viterbo who produces chocolate by passing it off as Modica, but everyone knows that the one on sale at Lidl is produced by Antica Dolceria Rizza.
This company was selected by Gambero Rosso, after verifying all the certifications, to be included in their project for Lidl.
I checked: I understand that in Viterbo there are companies that produce chocolate, now I will investigate if anyone is doing something of this kind.
So is the Modica Chocolate Protection Consortium very happy to have one of its products on the shelves of a discount store?
SLIDE: “Nowadays Lidl can no longer be defined as a discount store, especially in the derogatory sense of the term. On the other hand, it seems to me that I was awarded for the second consecutive year as the best structure in Italy for large-scale distribution.
We are absolutely happy to have been selected by Gambero Rosso and, consequently, to have arrived on Lidl shelves. Our chocolate is a product that wants to meet consumers, indeed all consumers.
We do not want to be likeable only to a market niche, but to everyone, always respecting the quality of the product. Modica chocolate is for everyone, not just for a few: let's not give it reasons for worship, it's a question of consumption!"
RUE: “According to my point of view, Lidl is not the right vehicle to reach the public, rather a good advertisement were the articles published in the New York Times, or in the Financial Times.
Cocoa is a complicated raw material, with difficult processing and, obviously, it must be sold at a price that also takes into account its added value. It is a question of dignity, first of all for the product, and then for the entire supply chain and the people who work there with passion, like me.
The ideal positioning in the market for an excellent product like ours is certainly not Lidl."
But isn't the price of € 1.49 demeaning towards such a refined and historic product?
SLIDE: Absolutely not! I tell you more: a bar at that price does not appear to be below cost. As with all the products of the Italiamo selection by Gambero Rosso, foodstuffs are simply discounted, and other products have even been discounted up to 40%.
Our chocolate, on the other hand, was sold (and only for 8 days) at this price, against a promotion with a 25% discount. And, taking a quick account, that is the market price of Modica's chocolate. So, it seems to me that there is nothing strange about it.
Was anyone scandalized when 30-month Parmigiano Reggiano was sold for € 15 at Lidl?
Also, I remind everyone that our chocolate is not normally on the shelf at Lidl. In short, this whole story seems like a pretext for controversy now that IGP recognition is just around the corner."
RUE: First of all: the discount on the shelves of Lidl is not the only one to cause a scandal. Even in other supermarkets things are not better, with prices between € 1.49 and € 1.79 (see photo ed).
But to do the math is done quickly: during the 6 months of Expo, for example, the 100 g Modica chocolate bars were sold starting from € 3.50, the price set by the producers as the minimum to have margin.
Prices of this type do not help, indeed I find that they only manage to trivialize and debase the product. The fact that Modica chocolate has a simpler processing than other chocolates does not mean that it must lose its dignity in favor of a truly degrading marketing by the Protection Consortium.
An example?
During the last event dedicated to chocolate in Modica, the Consortium distributed a kit to the participants to make chocolate at home: all right, chocolate for everyone, but that's just too much: it is still excellence!"
Speaking of PGI, why has it been 10 years and there is still nothing certain on the horizon?
SLIDE: “Whoever sees the issue from the outside, the average consumer who does not deal with paperwork but with eating chocolate, cannot know what lies behind this very long process. At a certain point, too, it seemed impossible to us to reach the coveted PGI, but chocolate is a particular product.
Everyone knows that cocoa beans certainly cannot grow in Sicily, and nowhere else in Europe. And, given that the PGI wants to guarantee precisely the geographical indication, the bureaucracy was long and painful.
In reality, we of the Consortium have made a small revolution, and now we are ready to reap the benefits: in a few months, if all goes well, we will have the first recognition of protection for a European chocolate. Then?
Then the related activities will be considerable: certainly new chocolate producing companies in Modica will be born, and respect for quality will finally be protected by a specification. For example: do you know that without the PGI the phantom producer from Viterbo would not even be prosecuted?"
RUE: It is necessary to put the points on the i. What calls itself the Modica Chocolate Protection Consortium is a simple association, a group of producers who have joined together with the sole purpose of obtaining recognition.
To date there is no certification, and furthermore it is not known what the production specification is. There is no and I am still waiting for clarifications requested from the Chamber of Commerce on the site, which has never replied to me about it.
Outside of this association, no one is even informed about the PGI process. Who knows if it will come."
And so the circle is closed. Perhaps.
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