The partnership is further consolidated between Despar Nord (Aspiag Service), dealer of the Despar, Eurospar and Interspar brands for the Triveneto, Emilia Romagna and Lombardy, and IO SONO FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA, the project promoted by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and managed by Fondazione Agrifood FVG, created with the aim of enhancing regional agri-food supply chains, informing citizens about the origin of products and the companies’ commitment to sustainability, guaranteeing transparency and traceability of local products.
Despar Nord has also joined this system project since 2021, contributing, through its widespread sales network in the region, to spreading its values and being a vehicle for promoting the quality and peculiarities of local products towards the end customer, confirming the alliance with the territory for the promotion of “made in Friuli Venezia Giulia”. A commitment that membership of the regional collective brand has consolidated and enriched, but which Despar Nord has been carrying out for over ten years within its own stores also through the “Sapori del Territorio” project, the proprietary brand of the Fir which in Friuli Venezia Giulia alone today has over 700 micro-local and regional products on the shelves from around 85 producers in the region.
And precisely the choice of companies that give value to the local supply chain of the region is the heart of the IO SONO FRIULIVENEZIA GIULIA project which from today is strengthened with a new initiative promoted by the Agrifood FVG Foundation in collaboration with PromoTurismoFVG and with the support of Despar Nord. This is “Flavours of… Friuli Venezia Giulia”, a journey which, through a particular truck specially equipped to host show cooking and tastings, will stop in various cities and towns, describing local products and their artisan producers with an eye to the great heritage of people, resources, quality, knowledge and traditions of the area.
The tour will start on June 23rd from Lignano and will end in December in Gorizia, touching a total of ten locations in the region with a format of tasting, show-cooking and narration of local products branded I AM FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA by the voice of the artisans of good food who they produce them. Giuseppe Cordioli, journalist and food and wine critic, will accompany the public in tasting the local products expertly combined and interpreted by the chefs who will cook inside the truck, transforming the products supplied by the companies involved into gastronomic dishes that the participants will be able to appreciate taste and, at the same time, discover the commitment to environmental, economic and social sustainability of the company that produces them.
Despar Nord’s commitment to the regional territory and the new initiative “Flavours of… Friuli Venezia Giulia” were presented today in a press conference which took place in Trieste at the Sala Predonzani in Piazza Unità d’Italia and which was attended by Massimiliano Fedriga, President of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Sergio Emidio Bini, regional councilor for Productive Activities and Tourism, Pier Giorgio Sturlese President of the Agrifood FVG Foundation, Christof Rissbacher, President of the Management Committee of Despar Nord (Aspiag Service) and Fabrizio Cicero, Regional Director of Despar Nord (Aspiag Service) for Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
“The “I am Friuli Venezia Giulia” project is a successful bet and a success achieved thanks to the participation of all the players in the area; together they are making this network grow which represents a very important driving force for the promotion of our region – is the comment of Massimiliano Fedriga, President of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region -. This brand embodies the values of the territory and its excellence, but also the sustainability and traceability of what is produced in the region: it is a system initiative, which involves not only the agri-food sector, but also the production and tourist. “Flavours of… Friuli Venezia Giulia” which we present today and which arises from the synergy between the regional promotion bodies and Despar Nord is a further push to make the stories of our region’s manufacturing companies known to an increasingly wider audience. Furthermore, it is also a concrete example of what it means to work as a system to promote the best this territory can express through teamwork, to enhance a unique heritage of knowledge, traditions, know-how and people”.
“Io sono Friuli Venezia Giulia is an integrated brand that not only enhances the agri-food sector, but also tourism, culture and, in general, our regional territory – stated the Councilor for Productive Activities and Tourism of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Sergio Emidio Bini –. The new itinerant initiative “Flavours of… Friuli Venezia Giulia” fits precisely into this perspective, with which, together with all the partners involved, we want to catalyze the interest of the general public in our Friuli Venezia Giulia, showing its excellences and telling the stories of those examples of dedication and professionalism that are local producers. An initiative that fully embraces the spirit of the Io sono Friuli Venezia Giulia brand and in particular the concepts of tradition, authenticity and sustainability, understood as environmental, social and economic, now indispensable also in tourism promotion. We are increasingly convinced, and the results are proving it to us, that these are fundamental tools to make ourselves known and appreciated by an increasingly wider audience.”
“The numbers achieved in just four years by the Io Sono Friuli Venezia Giulia project demonstrate its foresight and ability to reconcile the interests of both producers and consumers – said Pier Giorgio Sturlese, president of the Agrifood and Bioeconomy FVG Foundation -. Today there are 369 participating agri-food companies in the region, with over a thousand branded products. But one of the pluses of the project is that of knowing how to involve the entire supply chain, therefore also distributors and professional users, such as restaurateurs, who recognize themselves in the values inherent in this brand of traceability and environmental, social and economic sustainability. This fundamental link is today represented by a further 383 member companies. Finally, 1,237 co-branding initiatives are also included in the project.
In this entire network, Despar is playing an important role and the one presented today is a further step forward in the right direction to create added value for the economic and social system of Friuli Venezia Giulia”.
“Our company has always been at the forefront in encouraging and promoting local supply chains in all the territories where it is present – added Christof Rissbacher, President of the Management Committee of Despar Nord (Aspiag Service) – Choosing products for our stores of the territory means for us to give life to development with a view to sustainability, valorise the work of local producers, preserve the quality and authenticity of the products, guarantee the development of the territory, promoting the local economy and increasing transparency, trust, and the growth of the entire agri-food chain. A commitment that, like Despar Nord, we have been carrying out for over ten years thanks to the Sapori del Territorio project and which we have decided to further strengthen in this region by embracing the regional project I AM FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA, as well as by adhering to regional protocols in the other areas in which we are present. A commitment that continues to grow today with the new taste tour initiative that we are happy to promote together with the region and the other promoting bodies, renewing the alliance with this territory and demonstrating once again how the virtuous synergy between public and private can contribute to supporting the economic and social growth of communities with a view to sustainable development”.
“I AM FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA is a great opportunity for our territory – concluded Fabrizio Cicero, Regional Director of Despar Nord (Aspiag Service) for Friuli Venezia Giulia – Giving voice to this brand through our widespread sales network is a further opportunity to confirm the company’s roots in this region and reiterate our commitment to restoring value to the territory in which the Despar fir has had its roots for over sixty years. A commitment that materializes every day also in promoting the agri-food excellence of our territory by aiming to respect and promote local producers, the territory from which they come and the communities that inhabit it. We are therefore happy to be promoters together with the regional bodies of the new initiative “Flavours of Friuli Venezia Giulia On Tour” with which we strengthen our commitment within the regional project, helping to promote local agri-food products and supply chains inside and outside the Italian borders thanks to our being part of the Spar Austria Group, which also includes the Spar organizations of Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Austria, to which we export many regional specialities, thus affirming, once again, our role as ambassadors of Made in FVG”.
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Despar Nord (Aspiag Service)
Despar Nord (Aspiag Service), concessionaire of the Despar, Eurospar and Interspar brands in Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige, Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy, operates in the large-scale retail trade sector, selling products wholesale and retail food and non-food. In the territories in which it is present, with a logistics network of 10 platforms including 4 Regional Directorates (Mestrino, Bolzano, Udine and Castel San Pietro Terme), it manages 250 direct sales points and supplies 304 affiliated sales points, thanks to its over 9,285 collaborators . Together with the SPAR dealerships in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary, Aspiag Service is part of the SPAR Austria group. Aspiag Service is also part of the Despar Italia Consortium which, with its 6 consortium members, brings together all the brand’s dealerships on the national territory.
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