Food Accademia Founder Fabrizio Canal Says Italy Is the Hero Product in Travel Retail

Food Accademia founder Fabrizio Canal has marked roughly a decade since launching the business in 2016, saying the original idea to take a broad and diverse Italian food and drinks offer into travel retail has been validated. The company focuses on bringing not just the taste but also the experience of Italy to international audiences.

In a follow-up conversation ahead of a trade show, conducted about two and a half years after an earlier meeting in a traditional Hong Kong tea restaurant, Canal discussed his mission to tell Italian stories in airport environments. That approach combines food, drinks and a distinctively Italian experience, he said.

Canal framed authenticity, discovery and memorable experiences as central to the proposition. He said the real hero product may be Italy itself, presented not as a cliché but through the quality, people, territories and stories behind the products.

The business was founded in 2016 after Canal identified an opportunity to bring a great and diverse Italian food and drinks offer to travel retail. Ten years on, he said, the greatest satisfaction is that the original intuition has proved right.

The discussion centred on how Italian food culture can be represented in the airport environment through products and the stories behind them. Food Accademia's model places experience alongside taste in that setting.