Interview with Marco Porcaro, CEO of Cortilia

Cortilia, the innovative e-commerce business for short-supply-chain fresh food, has recently launched “Scoperto da Cortilia per voi” (“Discovered by Cortilia for you”), a line of everyday essentials sourced from local producers, on which it has decided to put its own brand as well.

On this occasion we met the company’s CEO, Marco Porcaro.

How was Cortilia born? What was your insight?

“The idea for Cortilia came from my own need, as a customer, to find an alternative to the usual channels, one that would let me buy quality products from small producers simply and conveniently, something I had until then been doing by going straight to the countryside or through solidarity purchasing groups. I asked myself: why is there still no service where you can order online and have that kind of product delivered straight to your home? So I decided to try to create it myself and offer it to potential customers like me. After a careful analysis of the market, of consumers’ needs, and also of the needs of the many small producers I had met, in 2011 I decided to launch this venture, which brings together two of my great passions: technology and artisan food.”

How has Cortilia changed since the beginning, and how is it organised today?

“When we started in 2011, in Milan, we worked with 4 farms, offered only a subscription model and delivered within 72 hours, with around 50 product lines, all fruit and vegetables. Today we have 250 partner producers and 2,500 products in our catalogue, and we can rely on an innovative, technology-based business model that lets us not only guarantee our users a personalised shopping experience and a fast, punctual, safe service, but also eliminate inefficiencies, in line with our anti-waste and sustainability philosophy. Today Cortilia’s service operates in Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont.

The company currently employs 50 people directly and more than 200 in related activities. We have brought investors into Cortilia who believed in the venture with us and allowed us to grow in a way we could hardly have sustained alone, giving us credibility and the financial resources to compete in a complex market.

The funds from our financing rounds allowed us to make a leap in quality and size; above all we were able to invest in technology, implementing artificial intelligence software, largely developed in-house, which has allowed us to optimise the management of suppliers (small and medium-sized farms and processors) and of the service.”

What, in your view, are the qualities of a successful entrepreneur?

“A successful manager must be able to combine profit targets with the aim of having a positive impact on people and the environment. This kind of leader must guide the evolution of the organisation and its processes for the benefit of all stakeholders, sustainably and using data and technological innovation ethically.”

Was there a turning point in your life?

“Over the years I have realised that there are no turning points in life. I recognise myself in this passage from Antonio Machado’s “Caminante”: “[…] ours is to pass, to pass making paths, paths over the sea […] Traveller, your footprints are the path and nothing more; traveller, there is no path, the path is made by walking”.

Which technology tools have helped, and can help, to increase online sales?

“Our model, always aimed at reducing the distance between producer and consumer, is based on the use of technology, algorithms and artificial intelligence, which first of all let us suggest the most relevant products based on customers’ tastes and preferences, offering a personalised shopping experience, and also guarantee home delivery of our quality short-supply-chain products in less than 24 hours from the order, on the day and in the time slot the customer wants. Technology also lets us eliminate inefficiencies, in line with our anti-waste philosophy.

For home delivery, we operate through a cutting-edge logistics system that combines the short-supply-chain concept with the best technology available.

Deliveries are made by a fleet of refrigerated vans, respecting the cold chain and food safety. All this means we can bring the freshest possible product to the table.”

How did the collaboration with Renzo Rosso come about?

“For Red Circle we represent the natural development of their path and commitment in the sector: Cortilia combines the idea of quality, sustainable products with digital innovation, the pillars of their vision of the future.

For our part, we believe that having an entrepreneur like Renzo Rosso, with his spirit of innovation and his experience, join our shareholders can only give us great added value and help build a successful future for Cortilia. So the collaboration was made possible by sharing values we both consider fundamental, such as quality, innovation and sustainability.”

Let’s talk numbers: how has Cortilia grown, and what profits did you make in 2020?

“In 2020 Cortilia had a turnover of €33 million, up 175% on 2019.”

What did you do during the pandemic? Did you see an increase in demand?

“The pandemic brought a great many new people to us, creating an unexpected peak in demand. In the first weeks of the health emergency we found ourselves handling demand five times greater than our logistics capacity, which we managed thanks to the support of our producers.

At Cortilia we were already working on a big increase in production capacity planned over a longer time frame, but the emergency forced us to speed up our processes, expand our team and strengthen our systems and logistics.

However, a business model like ours can only grow within the production capacity of its suppliers (small and medium-sized local businesses) and of its own warehouse, and in keeping with the rhythms of nature. During the health emergency e-commerce grew across the board, but in our case many users who tried our service during lockdown kept buying afterwards. The decisive factor in this growth was our offer, made up of products tied to the values of quality, craftsmanship, short supply chains, transparency and sustainability, from around 250 carefully selected local businesses, along with a fast, punctual, safe service.”

What are your next business projects?

“At the end of 2020 we started work on a new 50,000-square-metre multifunctional space on the outskirts of Milan to house all our teams, create greater synergies and offer an even more efficient service. The new “green” headquarters will be in the municipality of Cassina De’ Pecchi, with the aim of strengthening and bringing together all company functions in one place and supporting growth, using the best technologies available and following the principles of environmental sustainability.

In January 2021 we also changed our articles of association to officially become a Società Benefit (benefit corporation), confirming our commitment to prioritising socio-economic and environmental sustainability in what we do, with great attention to supporting the farming fabric of our wonderful region.

The new articles set out several common-benefit goals we will pursue: from reducing our direct and indirect environmental impact, to promoting the short-supply-chain model for

the development of local producers; from transparency and accurate information to raising consumers’ awareness of a sustainable lifestyle; from involving and listening to stakeholders in decision-making, to creating a company community that can spread a culture of inclusion, ethics and sustainability. Our goal for the future is also to further accelerate and develop our service in new geographical areas.”

How much does environmental sustainability matter to you?

“In our case, environmental and socio-economic sustainability is not a recent trend; it has been a founding principle of our model since the day we started, and it touches every aspect of our business. First of all because we are committed to selecting short-supply-chain producers who work with environmentally friendly practices, favouring seasonality and always looking for the most ecological packaging solutions. We pay very close attention to food waste: we use artificial intelligence and technological innovation to keep surpluses to a minimum, so much so that we have a very low percentage of unsold stock. Another fundamental aspect is our pricing policy: we sell products online at a “fair” price that gives the producer more resources to look after quality, to the ultimate benefit of the consumer.

All this has a cost, of course, but in the long run not pursuing a responsible kind of business would present us with a high price to pay anyway.”

What is your relationship with your producers?

“We have always been committed to choosing partners who, as well as offering excellent products, work according to principles of responsibility and transparency, environmental and social. To do this, we go and meet the people behind these businesses in person, their passions, their bond with the land and the community. We have a very close relationship with our producers. We work on a short-supply-chain model, with no intermediaries: the “Scoperti da Cortilia per voi” line was created precisely to promote the businesses that hand down our food culture and the biodiversity of our region. This project lets us make even more of our partnerships, putting producers in closer touch with customers and bringing new stories from the countryside into their homes. For us, producers come before products, and that is exactly why on the packaging of the new line we have left a dedicated space to tell each of their stories.”

You are very attentive to food waste, and you have less than 1% waste. How do you do it?

“Leftover stock is one of the most deep-rooted problems in our sector: at Cortilia, however, accurate sales forecasts, supported by sophisticated deep learning algorithms, let us optimise how we manage producers and suppliers, ordering products and quantities in line with expected sales. This way we manage both to avoid stock-outs and to keep food surpluses down to just 1%.

These surpluses are not wasted but donated to Banco Alimentare Lombardia, which distributes them to charities that help people in need, making a virtuous circle of solidarity possible.”

How did the “Scoperto da Cortilia per voi” project come about? How does it differ, for example, from supermarket own-brand products?

“With the “Scoperto da Cortilia per voi” products, Cortilia wants to tell and celebrate the stories of some of its partner producers who work every day to preserve food culture, know-how, biodiversity and the flavours of the past. These are stories of distinctive business journeys, of families and passionate people who care about environmental and social sustainability. Cortilia is committed to making them known to its customers starting with the packaging of each product: the producer’s name is not hidden but “put at the centre”, in a dedicated graphic space that highlights what makes them special and unique. Every label on every product in the line describes the qualities of whoever made it, so that the customer can start getting to know their story. For the packaging we chose minimal graphics that clearly highlight this information and reflect the ideas of genuineness and purity. “Scoperto da Cortilia per voi” is not a private label but a partnership aimed at promoting sustainability, accessibility and quality.”

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