Alessandro Savelli – Food for Thought
Allow me to take you back to the dark days of March 2020, where a mysterious virus called “Covid-19” prompted panic buyers to run around supermarkets like headless chickens. Overnight, shelves were ransacked of medicine, toilet roll, non-perishable tins and the nation’s greatest comfort food, pasta.
Suddenly, a packet of penne became about as valuable as a gold bullion as we trembled at the thought of surviving the pandemic without the arsenal for a creamy carbonara, spaghetti bolognese or a tastily-tiered lasagne.
We are a nation that lives, breathes and worships the durum wheat-based dough in its myriad of shapes, sizes, bow-ties, stars and cylinders. According to a YouGov poll, an astonishing 68 per cent of Brits eat pasta at least once a week, with 42 per cent enjoying a bowl multiple times a week. Is it then, of any surprise at all, that the company Pasta Evangelists enjoyed a meteoric rise in sales where demand quadruped, amid the pandemic?
The company, which delivers fresh pasta meals and sauces in letterbox-sized parcels nationwide, is the brainchild of the Italian-British businessman Alessandro Savelli. Investors include the likes of food critic William Sitwell, Guinness Asset Management and The Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith.
Savelli recently reportedly sold a majority stake in the business for a stonking £40 million to Barilla Group, the 143-year-old Italian multinational that is the world’s largest pasta producer. “It was a very big milestone,” says Savelli, who remains as Pasta Evangelists’ chief executive and shareholder.
The Italian-British entrepreneur was born in 1980 in Genoa, Italy, to an English mother and Italian father. His childhood was spent in and amongst a big and bustling family that gathered, somewhat ceremonially, around the dining table to revel in the rich flavours of the north-western Italian coast. “In Italy, food is engrained in the culture,” explains Savelli, “and the climate produces fruit and vegetables with a phenomenal taste. The concept of “family” in Italy is also potentially more intimate than in other countries, so eating together and spending time around the table is naturally incredibly important.”
Savelli then studied at Exeter University and Columbia Business School in New York before pursuing a career in investment banking. During these years, Savelli honed in the “art of selling” and created his first start-up business called Savelli, which sold luxury smartphones designed and marketed as luxury jewellery specifically for women. Long story short, the business was a flop and cost investors millions. But, soon enough, the savvy entrepreneur got back on his feet and started mixing the ingredients for an idea that would take him sky-high.
“Well, I have always been interested in food and beverage,” Savelli says. “I had experience in commercial business, I’m Italian, I like to sell things, and I like artisan goods. Adding all those things together, I had the idea to create a pasta business. Let’s be honest, it was never going to be a BioNTech company.”
In 2015, Savelli launched Pasta Evangelists from his flat, where he started delivering portions of Gnocchi with Pesto Alla Genovese to his friends and family. In 2018, on track for a £700,00 turnover, he was invited to BBC2’s notorious Dragon’s Den, where the panel turned down his pitch for £75,000 in exchange for 2.5 per cent of the company, memorably calling Savelli’s idea “pasta le disaster.”
But this was far from a blip; Savelli saw his debut in the den as a roaring success. “It was free marketing!” he exclaims, “someone may as well have handed me a £200,000 cheque. My partners were against the idea, but we thought, it was a great chance to go and make some good television and not have to give away a chunk of a company.”
Now based near King’s Cross in London, Pasta Evangelists offers 18 fresh pasta dishes to help people enjoy a “5* trattoria experience from their homes”, and is also available in Harrods and M&S. Day-to-day, from 7 am up until 4 pm, and the pasta is made by hand, cooked, and packed along with garnishes and sauces, overseen by Roberta, the official sfoglina (pasta artisan). Using tomatoes from growers around Mount Vesuvius, toasted hazelnuts from Piedmont and black truffles from Umbria, Pasta Evangelists harness the best of both Italian and UK provenance.
The dishes not only shift with the seasons but also reflect all twenty regions of Italy. Past recipes have included a traditional Roman Cacio e Pepe and a Rigatoni with fennel sausage sauce from Sicily. Currently available dishes include the Salt Cod Ravioli with Tarragon Butter & Fresh Samphire, a “Carbonara of Dreams”, Mac and Cheese with Black Truffle & Fresh Marjoram, and their signature dish of a Tuscan Wild Boar Ragù with Fresh Pappardelle.
“Pasta dishes in Italy don’t just differ from region-to-region, but also from town-to-town,” says Savelli. “For example, the Ragù in Genoa is quite watery and dense, in Napoli, it is heavily tomato-based, and in Bologna, it’s very meaty. Even the sauces, fillings and shapes hugely differ. Pesto in Genoa is made with basil, and in Sicily, it uses almonds instead of pine nuts, and is finished with fresh tomatoes. That is what is so exciting about Pasta Evangelists, we get to give a voice to all of the regions and the way they do things.”
Pasta Evangelists are also constantly adapting the pasta dishes to not only reflect Italian traditionality and diversity but that also reflect changing consumer demands, such as the rise of gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan dining. From Baked Zucchini, Kale & Spinach with Ricotta and Lemon Zest to a Gluten-Free Conghiglie with Sicily’s Pistachio Pesto & Fresh Basil, no one needs to be excluded from indulging in a bowl of piping hot pasta.
At the core of the Pasta Evangelists business is an emphasis on sustainability. The mission is not only to deliver a trattoria experience through a letterbox, but to do so in a way that minimises waste. Through its pre-order model, predictive technology and pre-portioned products, Pasta Evangelists is currently aiming to be a 100 per cent zero-waste business by 2025. “For me, sustainability is about diminishing the amount of packaging,” says Savelli, “I want the packaging to be smaller and have less of an impact. I am always thinking: how can I make this pasta delicious with as little waste as possible?”
Pasta Evangelists also provide thousands of meals to The Felix Project, delivering surplus food to charities and schools in London. For every box of food sold, they also donate £5 to Age UK, and have already raised more than £25,000 — pasta alla philanthropy.
For Savelli’s last supper, he picks a buffet with a smorgasbord of spaghetti. “I’m a bit of a glutton,” he confesses before envisaging a scenario where he could have bottomless plates of pasta with a different sauce each time. To drink? Champagne.
In fairness, it is a banquet fit for a pied piper of pasta who needs all the carb-laden energy he can get to continue bestowing bowls of glee to homes up-and-down the country — gods speed.
Try Pasta Evangelists’ recipe for Sardinian Lamb Ragù
Serves: 6
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 – 2 hours
Calories per serving: 500
Ingredients
2 x 400 g cans of diced tomato
600 g lamb diced into 1 – 2 inch pieces
500 ml of lamb stock (use chicken stock if you can’t get your hands on lamb)
1 small onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1-2 celery stalks, diced
a generous splash of red wine
1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
3 tsp mint, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tsp of sugar
1 sprig of rosemary
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs of thyme
Salt and black pepper to taste
Method
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat until shimmering then add your lamb and quickly brown the outside
Remove the lamb and add the onions and cook until soft. Then add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
Add the carrots, celery, and tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. If the mixture starts to get dry, start slowly adding the lamb stock.
Deglaze the pan with your red wine and then add the lamb stock (if you haven’t already).
Add the lamb back in, followed by sugar, mint, rosemary, bay leaf, and thyme.
Cook for 1-2 hours, or until the mixture has thickened and the lamb is very tender.
Taste the sauce and season with salt and black pepper.