Wanting, imagining and creating an excellence appreciated throughout the world starting from three ingredients, the simplest and most genuine there are, flour, extra virgin olive oil, and wine. This was the feat of Giuseppe Fiore, who succeeded in the process of identifying activities, products and territory, creating an established and recognised brand, Fiore di Puglia, which started from Corato and landed as far as the Far East, in China and Japan.
In the 1990s, rich in family experience - his father and grandfather were skilled bakers with whom he had shared that art since childhood in the bakery in Corato, a wheat-rich town in the Alta Murgia region of Apulia - his production intuition was taralli. Nothing original for the Apulians, but a new frontier for the Italian and foreign markets, which discovered in that traditional product an innovative, tasty and healthy snack.
This company, born from an ambitious and far-sighted vision that anticipates various elements of the marketing that is to come and, therefore, not only innovates the food production offer but also marks and dictates the times of commercial communication, using attractive packaging, new and appetising flavours and convenient snack weights, also succeeds in becoming an ambassador of Apulia in the world, of the scents, sun and goodness of this land. Today, all this walks on other legs and rests on strong young shoulders, those of Giuseppe Fiore's four sons, Tommaso and Antonio, the company's directors, and sisters Annalisa and Marinella.
A family business, with all that this can mean in the south, namely tradition, strong ties and firm values, thanks to the skilful direction of a woman, wife and mother, Mrs Cinzia, who has always lovingly guided that family and maintained the solid base on which Fiore di Puglia's success rests and is supported. “What we are today and the role we play,” explains Tommaso Fiore, “was neither due nor taken for granted. ”It was a choice that I, my sisters and my brother were able to make because we were prepared and that we accepted with a great sense of responsibility, strengthened also by the mutual trust of employees and collaborators".
And also of confidence in the future, given that, at such a complex time for the economy as the current one, Fiore di Puglia has focused precisely on tomorrow, with an investment of EUR 2,000,000 to make its production processes even more efficient and high-performance. “The pandemic we are facing is putting a strain on everyone, we are all affected by it in some way, but we cannot stand by and wait for it to pass. We have to think and prepare for the next, investing and seizing the opportunities of this crisis,” said Tommaso Fiore.
And so at Fiore di Puglia the plants are technologically advanced, modern and with a low environmental impact, able to offer the consumer different lines of products: classic, gluten-free, vegan-free and organic, certified “Qualità Puglia”, made with raw materials that come from organic agriculture at km 0, using organic extra virgin olive oil P.D.O. and mother yeast, packaged respecting the environment, with recyclable packaging.
Not only taralli, but also dry pasta, bruschette and other snacks, salty and sweet, including the latest arrivals, nutritionally studied for their protein and fibre contribution. The entire production chain at Fiore di Puglia is also very Green in order to reduce the amount of residual waste at the end of the production cycle. About sixty people work in this enterprise plus the allied industries, creating a virtuous circle for the economy of the area that is about to be enriched by another family jewel, but this time by the sea, in Trani, pearl of the Adriatic.
Having passed the baton of the company on to his sons, Giuseppe Fiore realised a dream he had cherished for over ten years with the start of the ambitious project to redevelop a stretch of the seafront, with the construction of a tourist complex that will breathe new life into a historic and important pre-existing structure, “La Vela”. A complex that will rise on an area of 2,500 square metres, consisting of a bathing establishment with lounge bar and restaurant. The laying of the foundation stone took place on 18 September.
“It was an important and exciting moment,” said the owner of Fiore di Puglia, "a new beginning for me, for this new adventure and for the territory to which, grateful for what my family and I have been able to achieve, I want to dedicate a tangible sign of gratitude with this work that, although it is an entrepreneurial project, will allow, first and foremost, the redevelopment of a stretch of coastline that has remained hostage to degradation and bureaucracy for too long.
