Interview: Eataly founder Oscar Farinetti on building the world’s first ‘green retail park’

The first thing you notice about Oscar Farinetti, even separated by some 800 miles and the impersonal nature of a Microsoft Teams call, is his trademark moustache and broad smile. 

The son of a pasta maker from the Piedmont region in the north-west of Italy, the 66-year-old Farinetti has built a global Italian food and wine empire since opening the first Eataly in Turin 14 years ago. 

Despite the continued successes of Eataly though, it is his most recent venture that Farinetti is most keen to discuss. In December 2020, after a year in which everything was thrown into turmoil, Farinetti and his team pushed ahead with the opening of Green Pea, which Farinetti describes as “the world’s first green retail park”.

Sustainability is at the very heart of everything Green Pea does, from the products and brands it stocks through to the material the building itself is made from. With the tagline “from duty to beauty”, the 161,000 sq ft shopping centre located in the Northern Italian city of Turin generates nearly 90% of its own energy from renewables, with the outside frame built entirely of timber from fallen trees. 

Education is important too. Just as every Eataly location carries its own cooking school, Green Pea has a museum on its ground floor and numerous displays inside explaining the building’s eco-credentials, as well as the products sold inside.  

“Everything inside Green Pea is based on sustainability,” explains Farinetti. “From the 2,000 trees and plants inside it, to the products we sell: from cars to energy, from clothings to home furnishings.”

With a focus on local, Italian brands, Green Pea has pushed these labels to become more sustainable in the process. On its fashion floor for example, brands such as Ermenegildo Zegna have produced special green lines just for Green Pea. 

The recently published IPCC report demonstrated the urgency with which retail must become more sustainable, and its clear that the issue of climate change is very much is close to Farinetti’s heart.

The only time during the interview when Farinetti’s smile fades is when he’s asked to explain why it was so important to him that Green Pea was designed and built sustainably. 

“More than 90% of the scientists say that if we don’t change the way we consume, it will be a great problem for human life. Green Pea is designed to change people’s feelings,” he says, his tone hardening. 

“It’s time that businessmen enter the field: both merchants and producers. The time has come for the businessman to get into the game,” he adds. 

Despite the continuing strict restrictions in Italy on the coronavirus, it seems Green Pea’s mission to change the way customers think about how they consume is cutting through. Farinetti says that footfall has been better and more consistent than expected, and his long-term vision for the format has already switched to overseas expansion. 

“The plan is just one [Green Pea] in Italy and then one in every country in the world who can be able to hold that investment,” says Farinetti, the smile returning. “Give us a few years and you will find a Green Pea in London also.”

London calling

London is also the site of the most recently-opened Eataly location, which began a phased opening in April this year. Although its long-awaited arrival in the UK capital was delayed by more than a year due to the pandemic, Farinetti has been pleased with the way it has started trading.

“I am happy, it’s had a fantastic start. We have a few less customers due to the new Delta variant of Covid, which is terrible, but it’s normal. It will come back in good time”. 

The UK is just the latest location on Eataly’s ongoing global tour. Since 2007, Eataly has grown to more than 40 locations in far flung destinations around the world such as New York, Tokyo and Sao Paulo. Yet the brand has achieved the impossible trick of being just as beloved beloved by customers in its native Italy as it is with Italian food lovers around the globe. 

Even now, over four months after its grand opening, the 42,000 sq ft complex in Bishopgate is yet to fully open all of its offerings up to customers. Despite the restrictions, customers have been consistently queuing to socialise at its numerous al fresco and indoor hospitality areas, as well as snap up its grocery offerings. 

The final parts of the offering, Eataly’s fine dining options and culinary school, are due to finally open their doors to the paying public from September 2021. Farinetti says Eataly’s focus on using “the best local produce” for its food and wine has been central to its success, saying it has been no different in London. 

The Brexit issue

Like many UK businesses Eataly has been grappling with the twin issues of a slowdown in global supply chains and the so-called ‘pingdemic’. While Farinetti says the pandemic has a role to play in some of the issues the business has faced, he says that Brexit has proved to be far more challenging. 

“More than Covid, it was Brexit. In London it’s harder to find the staff [than in other cities]. This is the big problem. The best thing for us would be to bring people over from Italy, but now with Brexit everything is harder,” says Farinetti ruefully. “But, Eataly is still ready to welcome everyone”. 

Despite the pandemic, Farinetti has managed to not just extend the reach of Eataly into new territories, but has also potentially given the retail sector a glimpse of how its shopping centres will need to change if it is to play its part in helping the world meet its climate goals. And through it all he’s kept smiling.