A family-run butcher business where quality, advice and attention to the customer go hand in hand: the Rossetto Butcher Shop in Piove di Sacco is all this and much more.

We met with the owner Federico and his wife Sonia to understand how Afinox technology has totally revolutionised their management of internal processes, allowing their business to evolve over time thanks to the improvement of production flows.

How did the business start? Tell us a bit about its history and evolution.

Rossetto Butcher Shop was founded in 1972 and subsequently evolved into a gourmet business. We will be celebrating our first 50 years soon.

In 1972, my father opened the shop in Piove di Sacco, which he then transformed into a larger and more structured business. It was a period of ups and downs, during which we went through various vicissitudes: from competition with large retailers, to mad cow disease.

In 1988, we expanded the old butcher shop and created a new one. In 1991, I joined the family business: I was only 15 years old and now I have been tirelessly trying to satisfy my customers for 32 years.

Over the years, we have had to conform to various trends, and this has led us to transform our butcher business into Gastronomia Rossetto. In this evolutionary phase, my wife Sonia helped me a lot, together with my brother and my mother.

In 2011, we took over the ownership of the butcher shop and last year we created the largest workshop where we process meat and cold cuts.

Today the Gastronomia is managed by Sonia, while I manage the purchases of the primary commodity, from the birth of the animal to the cooked and over-the-counter product.

Are you working alone today or is someone helping you?

Rossetto Butcher Shop has 5 employees working here every day in addition to myself, my wife and my father who gives us a hand every day.

It is unbelievable to think that from 2011 to today we have gone from 3 employees to 8! In this phase of transition, we have been helped by technology, which has given us a crucial boost to grow as a big family and work together to meet the ever more demanding needs of the customer.

What benefits does Rossetto Butcher Shop have to offer compared to its competitors, and what advantages do you have over large retailers?

Quality, professionalism and also customer relations, advantages that large retailers do not offer, instead just delivering the finished package. We recommend the best product for the tastes of our customers and their eating habits, for example if they have intolerances or have celiac disease.

We know our customers and immediately understand what type of product to offer them. It is not just a finished product: if you have food problems such as celiac disease, we take care to follow the entire production process, or to offer the customer an alternative to choose from, such as vegetable burgers for vegetarians, pastries with vegetables, etc.

Can you tell us how your usual workflows are organised and how Afinox machines fit in?

Our production cycle is divided into several steps. Every week has its rotation, starting from Monday, the day on which we take orders from suppliers and start with the production of meat, fish and vegetables, which are then transformed and processed.

Lasagna is produced on Monday morning, once the meat is blast chilled and packaged it will be used to roll out the lasagna. Once ready, it will then be vacuum packaged in a modified atmosphere, and then delivered to the customer.

On Tuesday, we start the production of vegetables and fish, on Wednesday the grilled meat for the local market, and on Thursday fish again.

Ever since my wife and I took over the business, we’ve thought about expanding the scope of wholesale supply. So we thought of creating a new business by putting ourselves at the service of some retailers, thus managing to get the most out of the business and repay the investments.

Today, we process large amounts of goods: about 30-40 kg of hash per week, 50 kg of fish, 80-90 kg of vegetables, and 150 kg of meat per week.

To give an example with a Cotechino: the process of preparing it, bagging it and cooking it in a vacuum bag are difficult. However, thanks to 1Hundred, a single instrument has given us a valid ally for cooking, maintenance and packaging.

The product remains inside the chamber, cooked when raw, then the water cools, which remains gelatinous, to be then used immediately.

This eliminates the risk of burns and the problem of water disposal. In this way, there is no damage to the kitchen and workshop.

How has your everyday life changed with the use of technology and how do Afinox products fit into your everyday life?

Technology has helped us mainly in the management of the production phases.

Often, we start production at night or when we are not physically present in the shop: it is particularly at those times that the machines come to our aid to optimise downtime.

Thanks to Afinox technology, when we get to work we find the product already cooked and chilled, ready to be packaged by our staff. All this translates into a considerable advantage in terms of management and in terms of preservation of the product.

For this reason, thanks to Afinox I understood that a blast chiller is not necessary, it is ESSENTIAL for the following reasons:

• No build-up of bacteria,
• lengthening of the shelf-life of the product,
• total guarantee of the wholesomeness of the product and WITHOUT the use of PRESERVATIVES
• minimum weight decrease (if product is baked in the oven it decreases by 20%, with infinity 10% less)
• reduction of consumption costs due to the low temperature,
• reduction of manual work: a machine that both cooks and chills, the operator does not need to be physically present.

Why did you choose these blast chillers?

Since we discovered Infinity we have found a new reality with extraordinary benefits in terms of product preservation.

This machine gives us the opportunity to create large quantities of product and store as much of it as is possible. In addition to the product itself, we can also cut down on times.

Finally, cooking with Infinity allows us to obtain greater healthiness, more taste and a raw part of the product transformed by the blast chilling.