Special brew: Hot takes on the future of coffee from the leaders of La Marzocco and Hagen

And Accademia is a funny story.

One, uh, when we were talking about the 100 years, the last, uh, big wow moment we had, that was in 2009.

Back in the days, La Marzocco was already growing, uh, but all the investment was funded by growth.

And in 2009, uh, with economic crunch, we basically stopped, uh, from selling, uh, overnight, especially because La Marzocco was still kind of new, although it was already 90 years old.

Was kind of new, but all the machines were going into new cafes.

We didn't have, uh, that many machines outside that there was a replacement business.

So for us, uh, if you remember, for six months, uh, everybody stopped from making investment.

For us, uh, was, uh, like zero.

And, uh, we just moved ourself into a bigger factory, northern of Florence, with the idea to fund, uh, the new investments, uh, with the, the old factory and turn into residential.

The economic crunch has also been a real estate crunch, so we couldn't sell anything.

Uh, and the, the company was really, was really in a bad situation.

I remember, I think, uh, back in those days, we had to invoice 35 machines a week to stay in business, and we were desperate, uh, because was not that easy-

Mm

... back in the days.

So luckily, the crisis disappeared, uh, and things, uh, continued to grow for La Marzocco, so we decided that we didn't need to sell the space anymore.

So we decided to use, uh, that space as a way to basically give back, uh, to the industry what we got through the industry.

So it, it, it's a weird place, uh-

[laughs]

... because, uh, you know, I keep believing, I don't know if you can say it or not, but it's like a, a Willy Wonka, a, a chocolate-

[laughs]

... factory for coffee.

But definitely, I think, uh, that when people, uh, from the industry that really take, uh, the time, uh, to reach Accademia, because it's not that easy to reach, uh, and to spend time, time there, I think, uh, they go back fascinated about-

Mm

... uh, what, uh, coffee in general can reach you.

Well, I mean, it's such a personal thing, isn't it? I mean, we were laughing about your choice of coffee, and people who care, really care.