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Hi everyone. Today we are going to continue our talk on Prosecco and we have in our studio to more guest speakers, Joey and Daniele from the restaurant industry. Welcome to the show guys.

Hello everybody.

Good afternoon.

First of all, I will actually give the floor to you guys to tell us a little bit about your restaurant experience. Let's start with Daniele.

Hello. I’m Daniele Salvo from Italy, exactly from Napoli (Naples那不勒斯).

And we are located in Beijing with Bottega. We arrived here for consulting. One enterprise approached my family for restaurant consulting and we arrived here 11 years ago exactly.

I have to admit Bottega is actually one of my favorite pizza restaurants in Beijing.

Thank you.

And actually I’ve heard that you guys won the Best Pizza in Asia Award, right?

Exactly. We take this massive award from 50 Top Pizza, which is a world guide of best pizzeria in the world.

That’s impressive.

And with them, we are working that in future as so in China there will be a real ranking of best pizzeria, not just in Asia.

You basically have been around this industry, especially pizza since…basically since childhood, right?

My father was a pizza chef, all these brothers are pizza chef, my grandfather is pizza chef. We grew up in a pizza environment.

Sounds amazing.

So what about you, Joey? Your restaurant is in fusion food, is fusion cuisine, right?

Yes, that's right. My name is Joey. I’m from Singapore. I’ve been in Shanghai since 1995 and I used to work as a corporate guy in advertising.

Restaurant was something that I started in 2015. My last restaurant was called UMAAMI Global Kitchen and Bar. What we do is basically Singapore style fusion food to get with a bar. Yes.

I’m gonna ask both of you a basic question, what is it like to work in a restaurant or have a restaurant in Beijing and in Shanghai? What is unique about this experience? I mean, especially Daniele, you were always in food and beverage, how is it different?

Totally different, for me it was a unique experience.

First of all, the impact with this big city, Beijing 25 million people, we don't have this big city in South Italy. Also the communication was a big step for us, a big world. And the search of the ingredients, at beginning it was quite hard to find the right ingredients. Even simple basis was not easy to find.

But over the years, I mean in the past 5 years or so, it's getting easier, I would assume?

Definitely, with more importing company, I’m importing like made in Italy food like mozzarella, tomato, basil sauce, now it’s getting quite easier now to find products.

Sounds amazing. And what about you Joey, in Shanghai, I mean obviously people have a much more open attitude and perhaps products are just easier to source.

Shanghai in the last 5 to 10 years, it's actually moved on to become very advanced; and 20, 25 years ago to get basil or something was very difficult. But now it's actually available very easily at a very fair price.

So for us actually ingredients is not an issue. I think it's actually creating something interesting that the people would like to eat. This is crucial for all UMAAMI because we are essentially a western restaurant with Asian touch. So we do a lot of western food, but with Singapore touch, or with Malaysia touch. And hence we need to get those kind of ingredients to work together with our food.

As about your customers attitudes towards all of these experiments and fusion food, different types of cuisine that's different from their local ones. How do you think the general attitude is like, are they welcoming?

I would say Shanghai is probably much easier than other cities. I mean being a cosmopolitan city, people here are more travel…have seen a lot more outside, hence getting them to experiment with food, they will jump into it. Yeah.

Daniele, I’m sure Beijing is a slightly different story. I’m bit of a foody and I know that in Beijing people in general are perhaps not as open or as adventurous when it comes to cuisines from other parts of the world.

Mhm, let's start from responsibility to educate customer because as Italian, we are responsible for that.

When customers enter in our restaurant, they're going to experience, because probably most of the guests they don't know what is pizza or what is Prosecco.

When they to get them like why to drink Prosecco, what is the benefit to bring a Prosecco, drink it before a meal or during a meal, which glass to drink it, how to drink it, what time to drink it?

So you basically can cater to complete beginners in drinking Prosecco. If they have never had Prosecco before, they go into your restaurant and then they can get informed. So they can get their first experience with Prosecco.

We’re trying to do that, trying to create the Italian environment, let's say.

Yeah I like that.

So go to a restaurant is not just have food and drink, but also sort of to experience a different lifestyle. But how would you actually recommend Prosecco to customers?

First of all, I would explain the benefit of drinking Prosecco. Prosecco might elevate your mood.

Definitely.

Sparkling wine symbolized joy, victory, celebration. It’s perfect for celebration. Maybe a younger lady waiting on the bar waiting for friends could be a perfect way to waiting for friends like drinking a glass of Prosecco or a group of people celebrating like a business contract would be a perfect way to celebrate it.

And it's kind of a welcome drink, isn't it? They go in, you can directly start with Prosecco.

Definitely yes. Sometimes on weekends when restaurants are busy, our manager use Proseccos as welcome drink. For example, like let's say there is a line of customer waiting for table at door, Prosecco is a perfect choice. Managers go with some glass of Prosecco, so customer can enjoy the sparkling environment, sparkling mode like during the waiting.

That's such a nice touch. And what about you? Joey, obviously, for Daniele, they are an Italian restaurant, so it's much more natural for them to promote Prosecco.

But what about your restaurant? It's a fusion. So how would you or in what kind of context would you recommend Prosecco to customers?

Our approach to recommending Prosecco is actually very simple because we have a pretty robust happy hour and 3 types of alcoholic beverages are available as part of the promotion, Prosecco being one of them.

So we would just push a drink for them to choose, but all in all our approaches whenever we see a group, a couple, a few ladies where there's a pre-holiday evening, brunch we will serve prosecco especially on a Friday. Thank God it’s Friday.

Why not thank God, it’s Friday.

Why not live a little? Yeah.

Bubbly drink really does give you that celebratory feeling.

Yeah, to us, to me, I think Prosecco is bubbles. And for me bubbles symbolize celebration, joy and all that, there's no harm spreading it.

Exactly. And I love the fact that you mentioned brunch because brunch has been so big in both Beijing and Shanghai in the past few years.

Oh indeed.

And brunch is basically legitimizing day drinking.

It's a good excuse to drink in the day.

Exactly. Especially bubbly. Why not?

Absolutely.

But overall, obviously, you're both promoting Prosecco as people who work in this industry, have you noticed the increase in Prosecco sales or interest in Prosecco over the, let's say, past 5 to 10 years?

We have been selling Prosecco for about 4 years.

In the last 2 of the 4 years, we noticed that people are actually coming to ask for a specific type of Prosecco, be it a rose or if we have a dryer one, if you have something that is sweeter, or they will comment us that they do not want something that is so sweet.

I think that signifies that the consumer is maturing, they know their palate and they are seeking something that they want.

It certainly sounds like they're getting more informed if they're asking for a specific type of Prosecco.

Absolutely. We have a lot of ladies coming in, especially during festive season, asking for Rose Prosecco, it becomes a natural sell.

We also noticed that consumers are now able to clearly differentiate Prosecco versus champagne versus sparkling. I mean when we first started our restaurant, we were using champagne as bubbles drink.

After about a year or so, we switched to Prosecco, and we realized the optic was actually pretty good because talking with customers, we realize that they understand now that Prosecco is just as good as champagne, but without the champagne perceived price point, so it’s a value for money celebratory drink, it's easy to see a few ladies going through two or three bottles in the course of dinner.

It certainly sounds like a more “young and sort of fun” drink, very easy drinking as well, and you don't have to empty your wallet to do that.

Yeah.

And what about Daniele? People who come to the pizza restaurant, have they been ordering more Prosecco over the years?

Definitely increasing, big increasing, more and more customers are ordering Prosecco. If there is a celebration, there is Prosecco. It’s our best choice at the moment. Usually a group of friends might order a bottle of Prosecco in order to refresh themselves after a long working day.

Earlier on, you mentioned about creating this whole environment, giving them sort of a lifestyle experience. I was wondering how would you train your staff? Because like Joey was saying now customers are getting more informed about Prosecco.

So they might actually want to know exactly which bottle of Prosecco to choose if you hold different brands. Your staff, would they be able to advice on that.

Definitely. On our menu, we have a different kind of Prosecco, we have Proseccos Rose, Prosecco DOC, the main point is which benefit Prosecco gives to you.

Before the meal, Prosecco prepares your stomach in order to receive the food before the meal, so you can digest faster, you can feel lighter.

That's aperitivo.

Basically, we have aperitivo in all of our restaurant. Aperitivo is our…is Italian happy hour, let's say like this. Happy hour is a modern way, aperitivo is the traditional way, we've been doing this hundreds of years in Italy.

Definitely a lifestyle experience. And talking about aperitivo, I know for a fact that with aperitivo, with this pre-dinner drink, generally in the Italian culture is you also have some food, right? What specific food would you recommend people to have to pair with Prosecco in general?

Definitely, our advanced pair of starters or appetizer, like marinade olives, simple bruschetta with tomato and mozzarella, or either like cold cuts. Cold cuts is perfect to match with the Prosecco because parma ham or salami is full of fat and the bubble of the Prosecco cleans your mouth and create a perfect match between these two elements.

I see. What about Joey. Would you recommend things like seafood or what type of things you mentioned that you do sort of fusion or Asian influenced tapas?

Absolutely, that's right. We usually recommend our customers to start their meal with a bottle of Prosecco or a glass.

The side of meal is usually Asian based small bites, and a lot of them are seafood based. For instance, like even deep-fried pork, scallops and all that, we will recommend that to start with the Prosecco to tickle the appetite to get people in the mood.

We also have a pretty robust Oyster Night on Friday. That's when we sell the most Prosecco actually.

Yeah, it's such a versatile drink because it pairs well with seafood because it is very light, but it's also like both you and Daniele was saying that if you're eating very fatty food like the cold cuts or parma hams or like you said pork, and then the bubble will balance the fat element out.

Absolutely.

I also like the idea that even if you plan to drink other things like heavier stuff later, you can still start with a bottle of Prosecco.

Indeed, usually for us, the dinner muse starts with a bottle of Prosecco, when the mains come, they usually progress to wine to something else.

I see. But so far we've been talking about Prosecco as in just Prosecco, drinking on its own, right, just a glass or bottle. But I’m sure you've noticed since both of you are experts in this industry.

Now as a customer, I have the habit of going to a restaurant and just ordering a Spritz. So like a mixed drink with Prosecco in it. For example, one of my favorites is Aperol Spritz. I just love the color, it’s big and it's refreshing. Do you both serve Spritz in your restaurants?

Aperol Spritz is the most popular cocktail in our lists. Every single customer ordering, it's perfect for lunch or afternoon tea, it’s perfect after meal, before the meal, it’s a timeless cocktail, is a combination of bitter and bubble. In Italy, Aperol Spritz is not just a cocktail, it’s a rather way of life.

It's a way of life.

You can drink Spritz all day long. And so it's about to drink often, but drinking well.

And it's also so pretty, the color and then just the big glass that holds it. It's so summery perfect picture to post on Instagram or other of your social media.

Definitely. It's a perfect photo for social media, this big orange bowl with a massive splash of orange inside.

And when I drink Aperol Spritz, it always brings me back to my travels my experience sitting in the Piazza in Italy and then just drinking a huge Aperol Spritz.

Takes you to Italy. You are like imagining yourself drinking Aperol Spritz in a Tuscany Villa.

Exactly, I think that's what people are going for that sort of complete cultural experience.

And then Joey, so do you also serve a lot of Spritz？

We have one Spritz that we sell very well. It's Campari Spritz. We actually sell quite a lot of that from late spring to late autumn, I guess it's because like what you mentioned earlier, Spritz, Campari Spritz, Aperol Spritz is a visual cue for summer for relaxation, for the sun to come out and all that. This is a pretty to look at so. I guess that's one of the reasons why we sell so much of that. And also ours is Italian approved.

So your Italian customers…

Because we do have a fair bit of Italians that come in every day the afternoon all they will drive pass, they will go “boss, can I have a Campari Spritz?”

That sounds brilliant and perfect summer drink.

So I’m going to just add each of you to share with our listeners and easy to make cocktail recipe with Prosecco in it. Let's start with Joey then. Your famous Italian proved Campari Spritz, so how to make that.

It's basically a four-ingredient drink, Campari, Prosecco, soda, and a big wedge or slice of juicy orange, put in a big glass with some ice and there you go. Obviously one can choose to garnish it a little bit more prettier, that works too.

So our recipe is basically two parts Campari to two parts Prosecco, one part soda. And then with a big wedge of orange.

I love Spritz drinks because they're just so simple and they're so nice.

Indeed.

What about Daniele？What is your recipe？

My recipe of today is a Hugo Spritz, take one wineglass, fill up with the ice, 20 cl of Elderflower liqueur, top up with Prosecco, splash of soda, decorate with the mint’s leaves. and few splash of lemon, pretty easy to make at home and…

Sounds equally refreshing.

Again I stand by what I said Spritzes all sound amazing.

Yeah.

All right. It has been a wonderful experience talking to both of you showing us a little bit so to speak behind the scene or from a food beverage professional perspective how Prosecco is perceived, is enjoyed by your customers.

So to wrap up, I would like to ask each of you to give one comment, if you want to promote or summarize or recommend Prosecco to your customers or potential consumers, what would you say？I guess let's start with Daniele.

Prosecco elevates your mood. Sparkling wine symbolized joy, victory, and celebration.

Joy, victory, celebration. That's a really good summary. And what about you, Joey？

I guess we can say La Dolce Vita.

The Italian way of life

The Italian way of life, take it easy. Don't get too caught up with things. Live a life a little bit, have a glass of Prosecco for sanity check.

I think this is particularly useful for the current situation.

Can I have one more comment？I believe this is true because the Italians are so good at it that they even have a saying for it. That's exactly what I said earlier La Dolce Vita.

They perfected the art of enjoying life.

I come from Napoli, and probably most of people living under these life statement, and they don't even know it.

Nice.

You know what I mean. I grew up spending my afternoon on the beach drinking Aperol Spritz, I was doing a lot La Dolce Vita but I didn't even know it.

Or you can do just like we call it La Passeggiata which is a like a working for nothing basically, you walk with no direction no targets…just walk on the coast with the family without worries or … that's all.

I just have to say, it just sounds like you see we as outsiders we talk about La Dolce Vita, we try to summarize it, we try to define it, but you guys just live it.

Well, you have to.

Wonderful. All right, that was a wonderful talk. Thank you, Daniele, thank you, Joey, for coming to show and share with us all these wonderful information about Prosecco.

So cheers.

Bye bye.

Bye bye.