Autogrill designed its research & development facility, La Factory – Food Designers, at its headquarters in Rozzano (MI) around the concept of food service as a holistic experience.
People from different professions – whether they’re leading chefs (including Gennaro Esposito, Andrea Ribaldone, Renato Bosco and Niko Romito), pastry chefs, or nutritionists, but also local artisans and producers, food bloggers and designers – have teamed up to share their expertise and knowledge and put enthusiasm and passion at the service of culinary innovation.
Their joint efforts will be channelled into identifying nutritionally optimal raw materials, technological solutions that privilege food safety and sustainability, new contemporary concepts in step with trends and exportable to all the Group’s locations, and innovation at the service of the hospitality industry.
Credibility, experience, innovation. The values of our team.
Interiors
FOOD HALL
The area designed for meetings and similar events but also for coworking.
FOOD ACCADEMY
This is for the training of restaurant personnel and for teaching the techniques of top chefs through show cooking sessions.
AREA 51
The place that hatches new ideas, experimentation and solutions and where there’s also room for the smallest HIGH-TECH RESTAURANT, with table service and even a “chef experience table”.
CONCEPT e FOOD&TECH LAB
The laboratory that defines Autogrill’s main formats in their entirety, from culinary concept to design, and where they are tested.
Food is all about experience
Trending concepts
It’s this mix of technology, skills and team work that produces the Autogrill creations marketed in all the Group’s stores to spread a culture of food in line with new ways of travelling (faster and faster) and capable of offering products and services to meet the needs of well informed and nutrition-sensitive consumers.
One example is La Fucina – Ristorante, which takes Fast Casual Dining to a new level: grilled specialities, classics of Italian cuisine but also pizzas and dessert are prepared in front of the customers’ very eyes, with fast and quality service. The “ready on demand” is also applied by Pastaria, a concept corner that’s compact (and therefore adaptable to all space requirements) and dedicated to pasta espresso, as developed by star chef Andrea Ribaldone. The inspiration here is the old Italian pasta making tradition, while the actual dishes are served in 1 minute in totally sustainable packaging. Burger IN turns the idea of a hamburger (of dubious nutritional value) on its head by offering gourmet quality meat combined with ingredients from the world’s main gastronomic cultures, all of which in the typical atmosphere of an American steak house.