Barry Callebaut Opens New Chocolate Academy in Milan with First ChocoGelato Lab
Barry Callebaut opens its 20th Chocolate Academy center in Milan, Italy, led by world champion Davide Comaschi, winner of 2013’s World Chocolate Masters.
The ChocolateAcademy center in Milan is a teaching and training center for professionals of all levels and all Barry Callebaut customers who are interested in improving their chocolate skills or learning new techniques, trends and recipes for the Italian market. In addition, the academy will act as the global center of excellence for chocolate gelato (artisanal chocolate ice cream) and hosts the first ChocoGelato Lab, dedicated to this truly Italian craftsmanship.
As Academy head Davide Comaschi explains: “Milan has become the Italian capital of chocolate in recent years. It is in fact the city where the Salon du Chocolat, the Italian edition of the prestigious Parisian kermesse, takes place, and the place chosen by an undisputed market leader as the Barry Callebaut group to host its 20th ChocolateAcademy center, the first in Italy.”
Barry Callebaut’s chefs from all over the world met in Milan to prepare a 20-story-cake and everyone attending the event was only too happy to help making the sweet delight disappear very quickly.
Including the recently inaugurated center in Milan, Barry Callebaut manages a total of 20 ChocolateAcademy centers all over the world. A specialized BeverageAcademy center forms also part of the mix. The academies act as centers of excellence where Barry Callebaut concentrates chocolate knowledge in order to drive innovation and facilitate partnerships with artisans. They provide venues for training and customer demonstrations focusing on all aspects of Chocolate work and across all trade sectors from hotels, restaurants and catering (Horeca) to Pastry, Bakery and Chocolatiers. They also offer an excellent forum for customer dialogue through seminars and customer focus groups.
The inauguration was accompanied by some of our senior management members, sponsors and renowned chefs.
Massimo Garavaglia, President EMEA, said in his opening speech: “The future for chocolate is bright, whether you look at it from an innovation perspective, or from a perspective of creativity, or from the perspective of new applications. (…) The success of our recent academy openings in Moscow, Dubai and Istanbul makes me confident that our new academy in Milan will turn out to be very successful very soon too, and I am sure that with this we have created something really beautiful for Italy, and even more so for the city of Milan.”