A passion that has been handed down from father to son: the story of Io sono la Chianina.
The evolution of an activity that has been able to look courageously at the new challenges of the present.
When you carry out a job with commitment and dedication, it is easier for your passion to be a source of inspiration for the new generations; and that these, starting from the teachings of those who preceded them, make their own personal contribution, innovating and making the starting realities grow.
It is a story also testified by Io sono la Chianina, not a simple butcher shop but, as their owners like to call it, “the temple of meat”: a small family-run shop in which Salvatore and Roberto D’andrea, who kindly granted this interview, they put their experience and professionalism at the service of their customers.
When did your business start and how does your collaboration begin?
“This adventure began in 1976, when dad opened his first butcher’s shop, after years of experience as an addicted butcher. After university I decided to pursue this career too. We opened the Capri store in 2018, while the historic headquarters in Naples, where it all began, is still active today”.
What emerges especially from this story is the fruitful integration that has taken place between your worlds. How have you been able to make the most of your respective generations to carry out an activity in the name of quality and innovation?
“We certainly related to work in a different way, both because of our age difference and because everyone had their own personal cultural background and experiences. In fact, I can testify that today we face this profession in a totally different way, it is necessary to bring innovations both in terms of acquisitions and in the selection of products.
The difference with the past is that there is greater access to information by both those who sell and those who buy;
I believe that the only way to approach all this in a winning way is to be as clear as possible. Everything that is sold has a path, and is subjected to certain production processes; what we aim for is to offer customers maximum transparency in this regard. A further innovation that I wanted to bring into the business was to specialize in aging techniques; finally, we pay greater attention to selecting and proposing products… in short, we can say that there is a whole study behind the actual “counter” work”.
The type of meat on which your attention is focused is obviously, as the name of your business suggests, the Chianina. Why this choice? And what other meats do you offer?
“We have decided to specialize on this delicious meat, and we proudly carry on this philosophy; We have had this name for exactly 20 years and we have been dealing with pure Chianina. Alongside this main product of ours, we offer a section, called “luxury on the palate”, which includes Australian, American and Japanese meats, all strictly sourced from the best farms in the world. In short, having an international clientele meant that, over time, we also headed towards international cuts. Finally, I can say that we never stop experimenting: for example we are working on a new and unusual technique, the aging in chocolate”.
Beyond the shop, in what other contexts do you have the opportunity to exploit your professionalism and your passion?
“We have participated for four consecutive years in the” Night of the stars “in Vico; they also often ask us to cook for private events, and we specialize in a sort of “show meat” in which we embody the figure of the butcher and experts in meat cooking at the same time. We have other similar projects in the pipeline and we can’t wait to put our skills on the line again”.
