Opening Berlin for an Italian Artisan Food Brand

An Italian food brand known for its artisan ingredients and strong regional identity was preparing for its first move into the German retail market. The production, culinary direction, and commercial leadership were all still based in Italy. The premium mall environment in Berlin was seen as the right point of entry for the brand’s international debut. The idea was to have several locations in the large shopping centers around Berlin, but that required a local operator on the ground with the genuine authority to execute consistently, day to day.

It was important to keep things confidential while the trademark registration process went ahead in Germany.

The position required more than just managing ongoing site operations: the selected candidate would also need to build a team and supply network from the ground up while protecting the brand’s first impression in a foreign city. The brief called for a candidate with a proven track record of running multi-site openings for a single brand with operational precision and commercial accountability.

The candidate also had to be based in Berlin, comfortable with an Italian operational culture and aesthetic standard, and able to adapt that standard to the German market .

Keller’s market approach to the Berlin launch was to place emphasis on operators active in the local food and hospitality sector. We favored candidates who had opened sites, managed multi-location teams, and protected brand standards in structured, high-traffic retail environments.

It was not just about the site-management experience. Launch experience was equally as important for the desired outcome. The successful candidate had over twenty years’ experience in structured food service environments, opened more than forty restaurant locations, managed approximately one hundred staff in multi-manager teams, and held area-level accountability within international food brands. He was based in Berlin and knew the European brand frameworks that require operational discipline and strong presentation standards.