View source for Luigi Lavazza

{{Short description|Italian businessman}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2021}}
[[File:Luigi Lavazza.png|thumb|Lavazza]]
'''Luigi Lavazza''' ({{IPA|it|luˈiːdʒi laˈvattsa}}; 24 April 1859 – 16 August 1949) was an Italian businessman. In 1895, he founded the [[Lavazza]] coffee company in [[Turin]].

==Biography==
Lavazza was born in [[Murisengo]], a small town in the [[province of Alessandria]] ([[Piedmont]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.treccani.it//enciclopedia/luigi-lavazza_(Dizionario-Biografico)|title=LAVAZZA, Luigi in "Dizionario Biografico"|website=www.treccani.it|language=it-IT|access-date=2019-11-19}}</ref>

The origins of the Lavazza firm go back to 1895, when Luigi Lavazza purchased a little [[grocery]] store, Paissa Olivero, in the old commercial section of [[Turin]] (Northern [[Italy]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bluepod.com.au/view/history-of-lavazza/496|title=History of Lavazza|website=www.bluepod.com.au|language=en|access-date=2019-11-19}}</ref> The purchase was made for 26,000 Italian Lire, or about US$20.

In those times such stores operated as both [[retail]] and production outlets. The [[coffee]], sold of other products, was bought raw, and then [[Coffee roasting|roasted]] and blended according to very personal [[recipe]]s depending on the customers' requests. This activity soon attracted the interest of Luigi Lavazza, who had already demonstrated considerable knowledge and skills in the processing of blends, including both the quantities of the ingredients and the degree of roasting.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imprese.san.beniculturali.it/web/imprese/protagonisti/scheda-protagonista?p_p_id=56_INSTANCE_6uZ0&groupId=18701&articleId=36287&p_p_lifecycle=1&p_p_state=normal&viewMode=normal&articleIdPadre=36287|title=Scheda Protagonista - Imprese|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> The firm's expansion from retailing to [[wholesale]] trade (1910), the joining of Luigi's three sons Mario, Beppe and Pericle (during the [[First World War]]), and the progressive narrowing of the production range marked the first steps of an irresistible commercial growth, which enabled the company to acquire a notable position at regional level. The little grocery store became, in 1927, the modern Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. that, after the forced stop caused by the [[League of Nations|League of Nations']] [[economic sanction]]s, by the prohibition on the importation of coffee, and by the outbreak of the [[Second World War]], finally came to specialize in the production of coffee. The first Lavazza [[logo]] was then created,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.museodelmarchioitaliano.com/route1/lavazza.php|title=The Lavazza logo - History and evolution|last=Ruta|first=Francesco|website=Museo del Marchio Italiano|language=en|access-date=2019-11-19}}</ref> and the annual production reached 1,000 tons.

In 1936 Luigi Lavazza retired and left the company to his children. He died in 1949.

Since his death his family, from generation to generation, has devoted its energy to coffee and today [[Lavazza]] is claimed to be the market leader of [[espresso]] in Italy (with almost 45% of the total coffee market in 2004) and is present in over 60 countries. It is still based in Turin and is controlled by the fourth generation of Lavazza's descendants.

==See also==
* {{Portal-inline|Biography}}
* {{Portal-inline|Coffee}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050823000619/http://www.lavazza.com/default/channel/index_eng.jsp www.lavazza.com]

{{Coffee in Italy}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavazza, Luigi}}
[[Category:1859 births]]
[[Category:1949 deaths]]
[[Category:Italian drink industry businesspeople]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Turin]]
[[Category:Businesspeople in coffee]]
[[Category:People from the Kingdom of Sardinia]]
[[Category:Lavazza]]


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