The ability to be original, the combination of ideas and creativity, passion and concreteness define his fighting spirit in conceiving the everyday in everything that surrounds him. So is Dany Stauffacher. Meeting him immediately reveals the enthusiasm and love for everything he does. It is a continuously flooding river, a factory of emotions that overwhelms and involves all those who know it. It tells about food and everything that is related to it better than anyone else.
How many times have we read about him, heard and seen him, but there is always something new that manages to amaze us. His life has been and continues to be a journey into and for food (and by food I also mean wine), but a journey of formation, essentially cultural. After a lot of satisfactions, he could also decrease his commitments, but I don't think that's in his plans for now.
The general public knows him above all for S. Pellegrino Sapori Ticino, the festival that enhances the excellence of our territory by combining them with big names in international cuisine, but Dany Stauffacher is not only this.
What can still come out of your cylinder after so many years of great chefs and so many meetings?
«This year, for the 14th edition, the theme is dedicated to Latin cuisine with 24, perhaps 26, fantastic Michelin stars guests in fantastic Ticino locations. You will certainly taste and discover the details but the date is yet to be defined, given that the health emergency has forced us to postpone the one already set for 13 September. Since its inception, S. Pellegrino Sapori Ticino has wanted to promote our territory as a tourist destination, using the universal language of gastronomy. At the time, not many people thought so. At the same time, we have managed to bring the many excellences of Ticino to eat and drink in internal Switzerland, promoting the typical bien vivre of our canton. Today, according to the analysis of the World Food Travel Association, food and wine tourists in the world are 53% of the total. There has been a constant growth with memorable experiences of various kinds, and food and wine, with its dual emotional and cultural profile, satisfies their needs in the best possible way ».
Does that mean your work is done? Is it time to slow down and enjoy some free time?
«Not yet, on the contrary, I was asked to bring the same format to other European countries! And then the work evolves. At the moment, catering needs everyone's support more than ever. It is increasingly necessary to enhance resources, offering services and activities aimed at promoting our food and wine heritage, focusing more and more effectively on communication, in teamwork.
In recent years, the difficulties are evident with, even at the Ticino level, two thirds of restaurants suffering from a profit that does not justify the investment necessary to keep the business open. I don't want to give numbers, but they are all data published by GastroSuisse. Alarming data of a vital sector for our cities and for the reception of tourists, with a considerable weight on the national economy which in Ticino is worth about 10% of the cantonal GDP and 12% of the workforce.
For these reasons and to restore momentum to the whole category, we are planning a new event with Massimo Suter and GastroTicino that will involve a large number of restaurants in our canton throughout the year and that will make communication its strength.
We were inspired by the format already developed on the occasion of Lugano Città del Gusto in 2018, where 45 restaurants in the Lugano Region were involved. An already tested format that starts from a strong promotion in the territory, but not only. The main objective is to win back the locals who allow restaurants to work 12 months a year. An opportunity for all consumers because attending certain places can foster knowledge, interest and appreciation for specific products and, more generally, be a guide to healthy eating. At the same time, a strong communication campaign will also be developed beyond the Gotthard, as for S. Pellegrino Sapori Ticino, but with all the chefs of the restaurants involved. We want to give voice to the protagonists, to redesign the image of a category that is too often criticized incorrectly.
To positively present everything that revolves around the project and tourism in general, to underline the importance of the sector at the cantonal level with attention to the professions related to the sector, also in this case, the collaboration of the media will be fundamental and the Corriere group del Ticino said he was willing to develop a partnership in all its areas, paper, web and TV, confirming their always demonstrated sensitivity and support for the category of exhibitors and tourism ».
For you, communication has always been very important….
«We never realize it enough, but we live on food and wine“ deposits ”, real mines of taste that should be valued more and more, as a cultural heritage and a form of art.
As a communication agency in the sector, Sapori Ticino wants and must explain that food is culture, especially in a territory like ours, a region that has a particular geographical location, which has always witnessed changes. It sounds strange, but you need to remember this over and over again! Food is the fruit of our identity and a tool to express and communicate it. In the current highly competitive tourist situation, it is the specificities that must be aimed at, implementing a process of safeguarding, promoting and enhancing what are the uniqueness of one's land. And this capacity can only be activated by implementing a collective process, in which local administrations, producers, restaurateurs, hoteliers and in general the promoters of the territory work in unison, creating synergy ».
Is this why Michelin has chosen Lugano as the venue for the presentation of the new 2020 Swiss guide and has chosen Sapori Ticino for the organization?
«The presentation of the Guide in Lugano is an excellent opportunity that Lugano Region and the city of Lugano have been able to seize, the important thing is that contacts and relationships continue. As an agency, we have worked a lot over the years, developing a lot of knowledge. I think that's why Michelin chose us not only for the organization of the official evening, but also for communication ».
Michelin guide, collaborations with EOC and USI, tell the truth, you can never answer no?
“It all seems disconnected, but it isn't. If I close my eyes and think about 14 years ago… food made us change! It is the glue that increasingly unites economy, tourism, sustainability and health. We could say that it is history on the plate, with the best representation of the change itself! The sensitivity of chefs and consumers has also changed. Today we are more and more attentive to our lifestyle. The intent is to spread greater awareness and knowledge of what we eat every day without giving up pleasure and conviviality, helping people to discover new realities through information and education. We are actively collaborating with the EOC, comparing ourselves positively in a good team effort to propose a taste offer to those who are temporarily in difficulty and to enhance the important work of the Chefs of the structure. In particular, chef Andrea Bertarini and the cantonal staff are developing healthy dishes in a more gourmet key. And also this year - in the hope that the event can still take place by 2020 - during S. Pellegrino Sapori Ticino there will be the “Health with Taste” evening which combines quality gastronomy and health. With USI, we have been dealing with sustainability for some years now, a very topical and dear topic especially to the new generations, more attentive to the concept of food waste. Within a few decades we will be 10 billion, so something must change ».
Never stop, therefore! I'm almost afraid to ask you if you have other projects in the drawer ...
"Actually, yes! First of all, I hope to find ourselves in a couple of years with the Ticino Gourmet Tour that travels throughout Switzerland at full capacity and then, I admit, to see another area that I love, the San Gottardo, enhanced more and more! With Marzio Eusebio, thanks to a friendship born of common values and a great passion for a region that has been, and continues to be, the most direct route between central Europe and Italy, we want to develop "San Gottardo in festa", a set of events to tell the important history of these lands, to promote the new Gotthard Museum, which is scheduled to reopen in 2021, and to support the important Pro San Gottardo Foundation, chaired by Dick Marti ».
He sleeps a few hours, reads a lot, listens (although it may not seem like that at times) and thinks a lot, has a thousand ideas. He is our gourmet ambassador to the world. Will it surprise us again? Knowing him, I would say yes ...
«I am lucky, I have worked 30 years around the world, I have had unique experiences, I love conviviality, sharing and knowledge. I hope everyone can understand that food and wine is not just pleasure, but education. A combination of culture, know-how and creativity based on identity elements ».
