As Rio Coffee celebrates 60 years in business, Founder Fulvio Pagani reveals how his soccer skills led him to establish one of Australia’s pioneering coffee roasters.
Reaching 60 years in business is a significant milestone for any company, but to do so with the founder still at the helm is extraordinary. At 92 years old, Fulvio Pagani continues to be a presence at Rio Coffee’s headquarters in Adelaide most days, often including weekends, undertaking an assortment of tasks. From fixing espresso machines to making sales and even a spot of filing, he is still the life and soul of the South Australian roastery.
Three generations of the Pagani family now run the daily operations and see that the five tonnes of coffee it roasts each week reaches its customers across the country. His granddaughter Emilia Pirone has recently taken over the role of Managing Director. Despite this, Fulvio has no plans to retire anytime soon.
“I’ll be 93 soon, but I’m not going to stop. I’m here from 9.30 every morning,” he says.
The nonagenarian has always been the kind of person who likes to keep busy. For many years, he juggled running his growing coffee and import business with a professional soccer career, which saw him play for the Australian national team on 13 occasions. In fact, it was his love of soccer, which was instilled back home in northern Italy before emigrating to Australia in 1955, that originally led him into the world of coffee.
“I came to Australia for an adventure. In Italy, I was working at a textile mill as a loom turner and one day a friend and I were approached and told the industry in Australia was looking for skilled workers from Europe,” he says.
“The next day, we went to a meeting and had to sign a contract there and then that said we would stay in Australia for a minimum of two years. Three months later, I was on my way.”
After 38 days at sea, mostly spent getting to know the 24 other Europeans he shared a bunk with and giving up smoking due to sea sickness, 21-year-old Fulvio arrived in Melbourne. He didn’t get a chance to explore the city but instead went straight to a camp for immigrants waiting to be allocated jobs.
“There wasn’t a lot to do there, but the camp had a soccer team, so for about 30 days we played a lot of games while we waited,” he says.
His first work placement was as a welder at a shipyard in Victoria, where a co-worker taught him English with a strong Scottish accent. He then relocated to Adelaide to work at a textile mill, where he also signed for Italian soccer team Juventus (now known as Adelaide City Football Club). One day, the President of the team approached Fulvio with an off-pitch opportunity.
“He ran an Italian import business, bringing goods such as pasta, tomatoes, and wine into the country. One day he said he wanted to start a coffee roasting company and asked what I thought of running it and being the face of the business,” he says.
The year was 1964 and coffee was predominantly a beverage of choice among the immigrant communities, with most Australians still favouring tea. Fulvio says there were two or three people roasting coffee in South Australia at the time, but the industry was very small.
“Coffee was still new to Australians at this time, so it was mostly the Italians, Greeks, and Germans drinking it,” he says.
Fulvio decided to give it a go and Rio Coffee started life in a tin shed in Trinity Gardens. The president of the soccer club helped import equipment from Italy and Fulvio learnt to roast on a 10-kilogram machine. With no guidance on how to turn green beans into bronzed coffee, he started experimenting to produce the same kind of coffee he’d drank at home.
“It was a case of trial and error. Friends and family would often see smoke coming out of the shed and know it wasn’t going well,” he recalls.
“The merchant I bought green beans from was very helpful and slowly I learnt about roasting and blending. At first, I was roasting a lot of Brazilian beans sourced from Melbourne.”
As Fulvio’s roasting skills improved, he would deliver the beans to local businesses in his blue Volkswagen van, which would become an icon of the brand. The company began to take off and, alongside roasting, he started to import mineral water and other goods. He says much of its early success was due to his performance on the soccer field, which made him very popular among the local Italian community.
In the 1970s, once the business had outgrown the shed and moved to new premises in Norwood, he started importing espresso machines and distributing them to Rio Coffee’s growing customer base. Making trips back to Italy, he would scout out the most striking machines he could find to supply to his customers in Australia.
“The old machines were very popular. New machines would be released, but people wanted the vintage ones as they thought they were beautiful,” he says.
“At the time, most people in cafés here were drinking cappuccinos like in Italy. At home, they would use a percolator or stove top.”
It was in the 70s that he says coffee culture really started to take off in South Australia and since then the quality, machinery, and education around the craft has been on an upward trajectory. The company continued to expand and Rio began to supply businesses outside of the state and even started working with a distributor in Darwin.
“I remember getting together with a few of my Italian friends and driving from Adelaide to Darwin to provide clients with coffee, espresso machines, wines, and other Italian goods. On our way, we stopped in the outback to shoot kangaroo and other animals,” he recalls.
In 2003, with a loyal clientele of hospitality venues, the roastery moved to a 2500-square-metre facility in Stepney to expand its operations. Today, it employs more than 40 members of staff and offers wholesale, tailored, and black bag coffee services, as well as barista training, equipment sales and servicing, and artisan imported goods.
The Pagani family believe they are informed but not constrained by their long history in the industry, continuously evolving their offering to remain relevant in the contemporary market. Roasting bespoke blends for its customers has become the brand’s signature, with venues across the country serving freshly roasted beans from the Adelaide headquarters.
As Rio Coffee celebrates its 60th birthday in 2024, Fulvio reflects on how the company has evolved alongside Australia’s coffee scene.
“We have some very loyal customers, such as Chianti restaurant in Adelaide which we have supplied coffee to for more than 40 years,” he says.
“The key to our success has been our focus on quality and hospitality. I know the quality of my coffee is great because I’ve never had to add sugar. Providing great service is also essential – I always tell my family and staff that being a nice person is the most important thing.”
He admits that the market has become much more competitive in the 21st century, with around 200 roasters in the region today in comparison to the three when he started out. Yet, his experience on the pitch means he’s not afraid of some healthy competition.
“There are many more coffee roasters around now, but we are very proud of our product and are confident of the quality,” he says.
Following a busy year, Fulvio, his family, and the Rio Coffee team haven’t yet had the opportunity to mark the company’s sixth decade. Fulvio admits he’s not 100 per cent sure in which month he established the business, but they plan to celebrate in January 2025.
“I love working in the coffee industry,” he says.
“Coffee brings people together and I’m able to share a part of my Italian heritage with the community here in Australia.”
And, on the secret to a long and happy life, Fulvio has one simple answer: “Lots of good coffee and wine is my secret to getting to this age”.
This article appears in the December/January 2025 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
