![]() |
|
Coffee products | |
Industry | Coffee |
Founded | 1933 |
Headquarters | Trieste, Italy |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Key people
|
Andrea Illy (Chairman); Massimiliano Pogliani (CEO) |
Products | Coffee, espresso machines |
Revenue | €437 million (in 2015) |
Number of employees
|
1,177 (in 2015) |
Website | Official website |
Illycaffè (branded as illy) is an Italian coffee roasting company that specializes in the production of espresso. The company was founded by Francesco Illy in 1933 and was later led and expanded by his son Ernesto Illy. Today, Andrea Illy is the Chairman, representing the third generation of family leadership, and Massimiliano Pogliani is the CEO. As of 31 December 2015, the company has 1,177 employees, 8.6% more than 2014. The company is present in 140 countries. At the end of 2015, the company's revenues totaled $437.1 million, an 11.8% increase over 2014. Illy produces one blend in three roast variations, those being normal, dark roast, and decaffeinated. In addition, illy offers Monoarabica, single-origin arabica beans from six different countries: Brazil, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Colombia, Costa Rica, and India. Seasonally, the company offers Idillyum, a low-caffeine arabica that is grown in the rich, volcanic soils of El Salvador.
Illy coffee is packaged as whole beans, pre-ground coffee, Easy Serving Espresso (E.S.E.) pods, and iperEspresso capsules.
The history of illycaffè is inextricably linked to the lives of the company's founder, Francesco Illy (known as Illy Ferenc in Hungarian), and his family. Born in Temesvár in Empire of Austria-Hungary (since 1918 Timişoara, Romania), Francesco later went to Trieste, Italy, during World War I as an officer in the army. After the war he remained in the city, which had recently come under Italian rule, and in 1933 set up a business in the cocoa and coffee sectors, eventually deciding to concentrate exclusively on coffee. From the beginning, Francesco was interested in espresso coffee. In 1935, he invented the first automatic coffee machine which substituted compressed air for steam: the illetta, the predecessor of today's espresso machines.
Francesco also devised a new packaging system for preserving coffee in which the cans were filled with inert gases instead of air pressurization. Illy coffee was soon "exported" outside the immediate Trieste area, and was eventually sold all over Italy.