Forno Brisa, the start-up of bakers "gets big" with crowdfunding

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They make 5 types of bread, 5 of panettone. Then desserts and pan pizza. Every Monday they meet for a meeting. Then they go to work: to knead, put in the oven, serve the customers. Strictly during the day, though. Because they rediscovered an ancient craft but then they revolutionized it, making it more than attractive to many young people. So much so that when it came to hiring, as the business grew, they were spoiled for choice among the over 600 curriculum arrived from all over Italy.

Expansion plans
They are the young bakers of the Forno Brisa of Bologna, which in reality is already a small chain, with three sales points in the capital of Emilia, 16 hectares of agricultural land and an ambition: to expand more and more, with two other bakeries in Bologna and one in Florence, with a large 250 square meter laboratory, a training school and even a research and development center to make innovation. There are 32 of them, including the two founders Pasquale Polito and Davide Sarti, have an average age of 29 and now rely on an equity crowdfunding campaign on the Mamacrowd platform (from November 15th to January 15th) to collect, through the search for new members, a minimum of 200 thousand to a maximum of 800 thousand euros, and thus support the aspirations. All born from the passion of Pasquale Polito for homemade bread. "I was a geography student and I prepared it myself – he remembers – after learning the secrets of the dough from an old neighbor of mine. I started like this: and in the end I sold bread to the whole neighborhood ”.

A case of success
Pasquale and Davide met at a university master's degree in Gastronomic Sciences. The first had a degree in Geography, the second was a graphic designer and videomaker. A spark and so, just opened the first oven in the center of Bologna. It was December 2015, a year later they had already tripled the old manager's turnover, opened two more kilns in Bologna and hired them. All young. And more or less all with a degree in your pocket – some in Literature, some in Philosophy, some in Communication Sciences – and the desire to try something new in an old way. "Now we are going to close the year with a turnover of 1.7 million”, Says Pasquale Polito. Which together with the partner also cultivates a dream: to buy a mill. Much will depend on how many investors you will find. Meanwhile they put the cards on the table. "We believe – Pasquale and Davide say – in agricultural, social, economic and nutritional sustainability. Bread is not just a food, it is the symbol of the table and of sharing. And the Forno Brisa, which has become attractive to many investors, is ready to open up to those who share our founding values ​​". A march to the sound of loaves. And, in view of Christmas, panettone. They are preparing seven thousand, in these days, of which three thousand already booked.

Between research and coworking
With the equity crowdfunding campaign, the Emilian company proposes investment bands that start at 240 euros and two types of quotas, A and B, the first reserved for those who invest at least 20 thousand euros and who will have in addition to the expected administrative and property rights for all, the right to vote in the meeting and preferential liquidation. First step of the development project, a new, large laboratory, to allow the whole team to work in conditions of greater well-being. The current laboratory, just over 50 square meters, will become a space for research, development and staff training. Among the future plans there is also Casa Brisa, a place of training and coworking for a new generation of bakers. "A sort of knowledge house – explains Davide Sarti -, where start-ups, nutritionists, the training school, a communication studio, a laboratory and a shop can live together".

TO KNOW MORE

●The courses to learn how to make the baker: a job for those with head and strength