The company
An entrepreneur’s passion becomes a brand marked by quality.
Founded in 1933 by Francesco Illy, illycaffè produces and sells a unique single blend of premium quality coffee worldwide. The unmistakable illy taste found in every cup all around the world comes from its blend of 100% Arabica coffee from nine different growing regions from South America, Central America, India and Africa. Available in more than 140 countries in all five continents, illy is served in over 50,000 public restaurants and establishments. In 2007, exports accounted for 52% of total sales.
“espressamente illy”: a complete coffee immersion.
In 2003, the company created “espressamente illy”, a commercial formula for franchising a chain of Italian-style coffee houses proposed to its customers worldwide. The philosophy behind the project lies in illy’s pursuit of quality and the cafés, whose concepts are designed by architects Luca Trazzi, Claudio Silvestrin and Paola Navone, are marked by innovative design. In the last three years, over 150 cafés have been opened in 20 countries.
"Università del Caffè" is the center par excellence for coffee culture.
The Università del caffè (University of Coffee) is a training institute established by illy to further and spread the coffee culture, by offering a complete, theoretical and practical preparation on all themes relating to the café, to coffee and to all the preparation techniques.
The courses are tailor-made for the students taking part: entrepreneurs and café, restaurant and hotel staff; coffee producers and growers; consumers and connoisseurs who are attentive to quality and interested in furthering their knowledge on the coffee world.
illycaffè is based in Trieste and is headed by the third generation of the Illy family, Andrea Illy, President and CEO.
Today the illy group promotes the expansion of the coffee market and the global culture of coffee through all the elements contributing to a perfect cup of coffee: from its blend to the machines for its preparation, from the training of specialized staff in cafés to the study and choice of settings for savoring it; it combines the spread of the coffee culture with an ongoing reinterpretation of its tradition.
In 2007, illycaffé, which includes eight subsidiaries and an associate company and employs over 700 people, attained a consolidated turnover of euro 270 million and net profits of euro 7.1 million.