Cimbali Group strengthens its strategic presence in Asia and Australia, driven by its ability to innovate.
Cimbali Group, representing brands La Cimbali, Faema, Slayer, and Casadio, is a world leader in the design and production of professional espresso machines.
The group has strengthened its position in the fast-growing Asia market and Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Oceania region, reaching two important milestones.
The first is the opening of the new Gruppo Cimbali hub in Singapore. The hub will primarily serve Southeast Asia, Oceania, and the North Asian markets of Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Macau, China, and Taiwan.
“Asia as a region with sustainable growth has immense potential for the group. As such, Asia plays a strategic role in our plans and will be a bigger focus for the group going forward,” says Enrico Bracesco, Chief Commercial Officer of Gruppo Cimbali.
Regional Director Millie Chan, who joined Cimbali Group in March, will lead Singapore’s new hub.
Millie’s experience includes over a decade in commercial foodservice equipment sales across the Asia Pacific (APAC), which Cimbali says will help grow the business, as well as working with networks of professional distributors to provide after-sales service and support.
“The entire Cimbali Group Asia Pacific organisation is working together to maintain and further develop the group’s leading position. It’s my great honour to lead this initiative and I look forward to introducing the Cimbali brands to coffee professionals across Asia,” Millie says.
To show the group’s strong interest in the APAC, Cimbali Group is focused on increasing its investments in Singapore and across the continent. This will result in the growth of its offices and training centre, and an expansion of the organisation that will allow the group to engage with the market at a deeper and broader level.
Cimbali’s second milestone in the APAC region is the appointment of Angelo Caruso as Cimbali’s new Branch Manager for the ANZ Oceania region, considered a very important and strategic market for the group.
Angelo will oversee the Oceania office in Melbourne. With 20 years’ experience in the ANZ coffee industry, Angelo’s role will offer strong support to the group’s partners, representing Cimbali, Faema, Slayer, and Casadio.
Angelo says Gruppo Cimbali has always been at the centre of the attention for new trends and technologies in the sector.
“A pioneer within the Australian coffee industry once told me how Gruppo Cimbali was leading the coffee machine industry with their forward thinking and pushing of boundaries to constantly innovate. ‘Try an espresso out of a Cimbali – Faema’ he said, ‘and you will understand all’,” Angelo recalls. Those words have resonated with him until today.
“It is so surreal, and I am deeply honoured [to oversee the Oceania division of Cimbali]. I am especially looking forward to introducing more of the ANZ coffee industry to our wonderful and innovative products that span from traditional machines and fully automatic solutions right through to grinders,” he says.
Innovation is at the heart of Cimbali’s products. The group says its renowned Mumac Coffee Academy in Milan, Italy, is a testament to this, leading the industry in training for coffee lovers and professionals.
Cimbali’s desire to constantly improve is represented by never before seen features in its coffee machines.
One example is the Smart Boiler, which improves the overall thermostability of its machines and, ultimately, the result in cup.
Another is the Perfect Grind System, whereby Cimbali machines use an algorithm to send instructions to its coffee grinders to self-adjust grind settings when required.
Thermodrive technology in Cimbali’s mid-to-top-of-range heat exchange machines also allow baristas to set different coffee group temperatures without the need to invest in multiboiler technology.
With more than 60 patents to its name, Gruppo Cimbali says the innovative spirit at its core means the company is always searching for new groundbreaking technologies, even in a year marked by a global pandemic.
In ANZ, Gruppo Cimbali is proud and humbled to have formed very strong and strategic relationships with partners that it considers friends.
The La Cimbali and Casadio brands are represented in Australia by a very dedicated and highly capable team at Service Sphere, while the iconic Faema brand boasts a very rewarding 60-year association with Vittoria Coffee.
In New Zealand, Bean Addicted represents both La Cimbali and Faema.
In addition to the La Cimbali, Faema, and Casadio brands, Gruppo Cimbali has recently decided to vertically integrate the Slayer brand into the rest of its business.
Handcrafted and geared around ‘making coffee better’, the Slayer brand has remained independent of Gruppo Cimbali’s other brands since joining the group in 2017. However, Cimbali says the integrations will allow Slayer to continue to flourish under the group’s guidance with broader support.
“We owe a lot of our early success to Australia, a market we recognise as a leader in specialty coffee and an early adopter of new technologies,” Millie says.
“Slayer is about being different, taking risks and making coffee better. The Australian coffee industry shares similar values and that is probably why Slayer has been well received.”
Slayer partners in Australia include Coffee Works Express in New South Wales, Specialist Espresso in Victoria, Complete Café Services in South Australia, and Espresso Works in Western Australia. In New Zealand, Auckland’s Machines Limited represents Slayer.
“Our optimism about the ANZ region has driven us to increase our investment with the appointment of a Slayer Brand Ambassador who will be based in Melbourne and our belief is that Slayer will continue its vibrant growth in ANZ and across Asia,” Millie says.
For more information, visit www.cimbali.com or for enquiries outside ANZ, contact asia@gruppocimbali.com
