Barry Callebaut opens its 20th Chocolate Academy Center in Milan, Italy, led by world champion Davide Comaschi.
Together with Davide Comaschi, winner of 2013’s World Chocolate Masters, Barry Callebaut had the pleasure to inaugurate our 20th Chocolate Academy center, accompanied by some of its senior management members, sponsors and renowned chefs. The Chocolate Academy center in Milan is a teaching and training center for professionals of all levels and all Barry Callebaut customers who are interested in improving their chocolate skills or learning new techniques, trends and recipes for the Italian market. In addition, the academy will act as the global center of excellence for chocolate gelato (artisanal chocolate ice cream) and hosts the first ChocoGelato Lab, dedicated to this truly Italian craftsmanship.
Davide Comaschi’s team at the new academy consists of Cacao Barry chef Alberto Simionato (left) and gelato expert Paolo Cappellini (right).
Massimo Garavaglia, President EMEA, said in his opening speech: “The future for chocolate is bright, whether you look at it from an innovation perspective, or from a perspective of creativity, or from the perspective of new applications. Therefore, it’s really a good moment for all of us to celebrate.
The success of our recent academy openings in Moscow, Dubai and Istanbul makes me confident that our new academy in Milan will turn out to be very successful very soon too, and I am sure that with this we have created something really beautiful for Italy, and even more so for the city of Milan.
You know that I’m Italian. The special thing with this academy is that it will be Italian in the best sense of the word, led by Davide Comaschi, an Italian chef who has collected a great experience in recent years – this excellence and creativity are difficult to find and really valuable for us. In addition, it will be the first academy to develop recipes for artisanal gelato with real Belgian chocolate.
I am convinced that this is only the start. Others may view Italy as a mature market and a difficult one, where you don’t need to invest, but I believe that this is the right moment to invest, and I am sure that the academy will be a way to draw a promising future for chocolate in Italy”.
“The success of our recent academy openings in Moscow, Dubai, and Istanbul makes me confident that our new academy in Milan will turn out to be very successful very soon too. And I am sure that with this we have created something really beautiful for Italy, and even more so for the city of Milan”, Garavaglia concludes.
Massimo Garavaglia, President EMEA, cuts the ribbon to formally open Barry Callebaut’s 20th CHOCOLATE ACADEMY center in Milan, Italy.
Including the recently inaugurated center in Milan, Barry Callebaut manages a total of 20 Chocolate Academy centers all over the world. A specialized Beverage Academy center forms also part of the mix. The academies act as centres of excellence where Barry Callebaut concentrates chocolate knowledge in order to drive innovation and facilitate partnerships with artisans. They provide venues for training and customer demonstrations focusing on all aspects of Chocolate work and across all trade sectors from hotels, restaurants and catering (Horeca) to Pastry, Bakery and Chocolatiers. Last but not least, they offer an excellent forum for customer dialogue through seminars and customer focus groups.