The secrets behind the all-Italian recipe of "Miscusi", by Alberto Cartasegna.
Behind a chain of restaurants dedicated to the tradition of pasta is the mind of a young visionary economist, Alberto Cartasegna. Thanks to his economics studies and a great strength of spirit, only two years ago together with his partner Filippo Mottolese, he launched “ Miscusi ”: the first Italian restaurant brand totally dedicated to pasta with already several restaurants throughout northern Italy.
The symbolic dish of Italianness par excellence , becomes the center of a new philosophy of catering, which puts the well-being and happiness of the customer first. The traditional hospitality of the Bel Paese, here is enriched with new fun interpretations. The project as a whole is conceived as a real center of research and ideas on Made in Italy products, thanks also to the imminent opening of the “ Farm ”, an unprecedented space for experimentation and training.
Where does “Miscusi” come from?
Talking about pasta 3 years ago was counterintuitive even for investors, but I managed to find the first fund that believed in the project thanks to my previous work. The pasta issue is not at all obvious, especially in Italy where there is a wide choice of this product.
It was competitive to decide to start right here where on every corner there is a place that normally offers a product of this type, of medium-good quality at a good price. The idea started from a German franchise of Italian restaurants, which offers a rather poor product without Italian raw materials, but managing to exploit our heritage and culinary tradition.
So we opened the first “Miscusi” which was good for lunch but struggled for dinner. After a few months we opened the second one in the Stazione Centrale area and in the last year we opened three more in Milan, four in Bergamo and one in Turin.
You're not alone on this adventure, right?
I had this idea of “Miscusi” for a while and I met Filippo Mottolese who was following a similar path, so we decided to work together. Then there are our financial partners who supported the project.
It may be a cliché, but we Italians are good at intuition and less so at business. Do you think this is really the case?
In Italy it seems that family-run companies are the only approach for the average entrepreneur, a formula that hardly allows the entry of external partners. The inability to open up mentally makes it almost impossible to foresee an organizational complexity that goes beyond the classic 100% or 50% +1, while there are many other possible formulas.
There is no culture of doing business, in fact investors in Italy are few and not very institutional. There is no idea of thinking big, there is a mental and cultural closure. The truth is that Italy compared to London, Tel Aviv, London, is a country where you live well even without the “billion dollar company”. 93% of the restaurants here are family-run and there are very few chains.
Why?
I think it's a question of ambition. I took inspiration from Starbucks, thinking about how an all-Italian ritual like coffee, thanks to an international company, has become a concept exported all over the world, which now, finally, also arrives in Italy.
What is your background?
I got my bachelor’s degree in economics at Bicocca, and then – thanks to a loan – I managed to finish my studies at Bocconi, then I finished in the United States. I had my first work experiences in Berlin, where I worked in a large company, before returning to Milan.
I wanted to create a concept that could speak to everyone: pasta is happiness, sharing, spontaneity.
Alberto Cartasegna
The idea we started from was to give the right value to this Italian product so popular all over the world.
Why this name “Miscusi”?
When I was studying in America, my American friends used to tease me with this nickname and one day I understood why: in an episode of Family Guy the protagonist goes shopping in an Italian grocery store and addresses the shopkeeper in this world, expecting him to speak our language like this.
"It seemed to me like a perfect expression to convey that concept of the Italian stereotype that does catering abroad and that I wanted to change in some way. Then, it was easy to remember."
Alberto Cartasegna
How did your winning formula come about? Was there the intervention of a chef or a consultant?Without any chef or consultant, we experimented ourselves for months and months by tasting at our home with hundreds of friends and relatives: we collected lots of notes and ideas.
"The basic idea is to use very simple but high-quality ingredients and condiments."
Alberto Cartasegna
We planted our tomatoes in Sicily to make our sauce, as well as our pesto which is always in season and if we are out of season it is chilled to maintain its aromas and quality. We worked on classic pasta recipes, with the addition of ingredients that are still part of the tradition such as buffalo mozzarella, goat ricotta.
What is your best seller?
Definitely the tricolor pacchero with tomato sauce, burrata and Bronte pistachio cream. The reasoning behind our menu is always the same: classic Italian dishes revisited with special additions that make them special and fun, without distorting their origin.
Your next project is a special “Farm”...
It is a large stable still to be renovated in a 1500 hectare park between Milan and Pavia, owned by the neo-rural company of the Natta family, famous for the only Italian Nobel Prize winner for chemistry. About 25 years ago the family purchased this large plot of land to reconstruct the original rural environment, replanting woods, rice fields, wet meadows: now there are 3 universities in the area that study this ecosystem, because it seems to have returned to how it was a thousand years ago.
In this incredible context of sustainable agriculture we want to create a more agritouristic Miscusi where we can experiment and train. We will work on the concepts of agrifood and agritech: we also try to educate our customers on quality and awareness.
Can we say that “Miscusi” is sustainable?
Sustainability is intrinsic in the model and the product. FAO has declared that the Mediterranean diet is the most sustainable agri-food system in the world: a type of diet that leads to dialogue with others and provides psychophysical well-being.
We talk about talent, what could be yours?
More than talent, you need a lot of dedication and perseverance, talent is lost and found. The idea of imagining something and then managing to carry it forward, going through great difficulties, always with a " drive " approach. However, I believe that the real secret is to do something you like.
For me, these are two elements that are very easy to understand, but difficult to practice. My focus is first on the guys who work with us and then on our customers: my goal is to make both happy. The main lever is the product that transmits values of sharing and joy.
"We're trying to create places where the climate is happy and people always want to come."
Alberto Cartasegna
What do you think about the importance of social media also in the food field?
They are nothing new, they are a medium, like TV was a few years ago. A true story to tell interests everyone: the content is the fundamental aspect that makes the difference.
"The Talent of Mr." is a project by Paolo Pecora Milano that investigates, through a series of interviews, Italian talent at 360°.
We have selected different stories that represent the excellence of Italian craftsmanship: from communication to creativity, to architecture, to cinema and the world of food. To tell a lifestyle that is unique in the world. The project in collaboration with the curator and journalist Alessio de'Navasques, was born with the idea of focusing on that ineffable element of Italian talent, difficult to define and describe, an expression of a DNA and a cultural background that is lost in time.
Architecture, a passion for life: Stefano Belingardi and his talent
The multifaceted figure of Cristiano Leone