STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 13 NEWS STiR: GIMA has established a strong position in the coffee industry since becoming part of IMA in 2010. Where do you see the company today? Lorenzo Maldarelli: We have to say GIMA coffee has been able to pull together all the technologies available within the IMA Group. The president of the company, [IMA's] Mr. [Alberto] Vacchi, is our main sponsor to make the coffee division one of the leading suppliers in the world. Our target today is to complete the process of making the division fully compliant with the customers' requirements. What does it mean? For us, the target is to approach the coffee roasters and provide them whatever they need to process and pack the coffee. It doesn't matter where they want to put the coffee. It can be in a capsule, in a paper pod, in a bag. Our strategy is to complete the full range of technology for primary packaging, secondary packaging, and end-of-line [services]. This is an area of strength because if you look at the market several of our competitors are not able to supply turnkey solutions. Some of them are leading in one specific technology but none of them are in the whole range of technologies. Where do we stand? We are almost at the end. Through our recent acquisitions we are covering the [roasting] process with Petroncini. GIMA is the umbrella under which there is the primary and secondary packaging and now with Mapster we are able to enter and penetrate the entry-level segment of coffee roasters. With this said, I think we almost doubled our sales in the last year. This year, the coffee division is going to total about €50 million [$59 million] so we are a relevant IMA, a division of the IMA Group in Bologna, Italy, is a leader in primary and secondary coffee packaging. It plays a key role in the single-serve coffee and tea markets. With the recent acquisitions of Parma-based Mapster packaging machines and coffee roaster manufacturer Petroncini in nearby Ferrara, GIMA coffee has further solidified its position in the industry. STiR interviewed GIMA c.e.o. Lorenzo Maldarelli in October at the company's Bologna offices to discuss the company's growth, the recent acquisitions, and the future of single- serve coffee. GIMA's Lorenzo Maldarelli Q A By Dan Shryock G

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