2012 podcast andreailly philosophy

Andrea Illy, illycaffè: Philosophy of mission, passion and obsession

19 December 2012

The article at a glance

Andrea Illy talks about the driving forces behind his coffee empire One of the world’s leading coffee producers has been talking about …

Andrea IllyAndrea Illy talks about the driving forces behind his coffee empire

One of the world’s leading coffee producers has been talking about the driving forces behind his family-owned business, which was created from a dream to offer the best coffee possible.

The dream was that of the grandfather of Andrea Illy, Chairman and CEO of Trieste-based illycaffè.

In an interview for Cambridge Judge Business School’s website, he summarised illycaffè’s achievement of that dream, in 1933, which created a philosophy of mission, passion and obsession.

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“The mission is for the customer; delighting people who love quality of life all over the world with the best natural coffee that human hands can provide enhanced with the best technology and the search of beauty in whatever we do.

“The passion is for a philosophy which is made of two care values. The main one is ethics in creating long-term value for our stakeholders through growth, sustainability and transparency.

“The second is our passion for excellence – the love for beauty, for quality and for knowledge.”

Andrea Illy explained to an audience attending a Cambridge Leadership Seminar that his company, now present in 140 countries worldwide, pursues a triple ethos of sustainability: economical through the concept of shared value; social through the concept of growth; and environmental through the concept of respect.

For Illy, true quality can only be attained through sustainability across the supply chain.