In a complicated historical moment, presenting your company on the web and on social media can have a fundamental impact. For several years now, presence in the digital world has been an essential factor for every professional reality, and in a very competitive scenario, increasing one’s visibility, having a website accessible at all times and creating mobile friendly solutions has become an essential principle for any activity. Increasing your transparency, building your brand identity, implementing cutting-edge promotional and sales strategies, based on a system that allows easy identification of well-defined products or services, has become the first step in expanding your pool of users, communicate their corporate values and restart in the best possible way.
And so even the great pastry chefs have landed on the internet: even the most reluctant to come to terms with social networks have had to contend with them, just as the need to set up online sales and home delivery services has prompted many businesses to reorganize the own presence on the internet. For this reason, FB wanted to honor and reward two craft businesses that stood out over the year for their commitment to building a digital identity that respects that of their store. As sponsor of the Gambero Rosso Pastry and Pastry Guide, last November 30th FB met in Rome the two winners for Best Digital Communication, Michel Paquier of the Douce pastry shop in Genoa and Andrea Besuschio of the Besuschio pastry shop in Milan, on the occasion of the official presentation of the Guide, now in its eleventh edition.

It’s difficult to talk about a restart for Douce Genova. Because she never really stopped. Also thanks to the use of social media and what Michel Paquier, maître pâtissier and Genoese by adoption, calls “good communication on the web”. That’s right, even a professional who has entered the establishment of the most refined Italian pastry, gaining notoriety and greater awareness, has begun to become passionate about the new phygital communication rules, discovering how to make up for forced closures in times of lockdown thanks to alternative sales tools. And it is no coincidence that Michel, on the occasion of the presentation of the Pastry Chefs & Pasticcerie d’Italia 2022 by Gambero Rosso, received the award for Best Digital Communication. A well-deserved and heartfelt award for those who are committed every day to creating careful and accurate communication, calibrated on photos of great emotional impact and pleasant and delicate stories like their specialties.

A communication that plays with taste, harmony and balance, but which also knows how to speak to the heart without too many rounds of words or catchphrases. Stories that reach people with sincerity and that convey all the passion that Paquier puts into his work. Through simple but never banal contents, Michel focuses on what he has most precious: his product, made with love and respect, leading to know the essence of his pastry. Also known to the general public for his participation in various broadcasts for pastry enthusiasts, he has transformed his site into a real e-commerce, increasing revenue and awareness of the Douce brand.

“Digital communication is essential. The lockdown period has accelerated our communication through social media, on which we talk about our products without mincing words, with photos and descriptions. Certainly social networks represent an excellent training ground for developing communication, also for our home delivery, which if it was not once considered, now represents a valid ally.”

The lockdown first and then the restrictions have therefore demonstrated, even for pastry shops, the importance of digital communication, convincing everyone to update sites, organize online sales in the best possible way, develop delicious take-away and delivery boxes. After the most critical phase, we returned to the laboratories with the awareness that everything has changed and that it is necessary to give space to inventiveness, without ever abandoning tradition.
Even Andrea Besuschio knows something about it, a complete professional in the art of pastry, firmly rooted in his origins and in his territory, yet able to constantly renew himself through a daily work of study, research, experimentation. Faithful to the long family tradition, made up of classic recipes, travel desserts and large leavened products, Andrea has been able to innovate by creating recognizable web and social settings every day and in line with the lines of a historic and prestigious business, so much so that he too deserves the Best Digital Communication award. All the characteristic features of the Besuschio pastry shop, from the careful selection of raw materials to the care of techniques, from the passion and respect for the legacy of tradition to the careful study and research, are contained in the refined choice of images on the web page. Images that describe all the commitment to guaranteeing the ancient pastry art and that represent the mark of an Italian authenticity made up of wisdom and experience, but also of continuous study and the desire to experiment.

How important do you think digital communication is for your business today?
Digital communication is very important in every sector, especially in ours, directly addressed to the customer who is often curious and wants to know more about the products. Through digital communication, the customer base that can be reached and to which one can communicate one’s passion and tradition is certainly greater.

What services do you offer via digital channels and with what feedback? What other services would you possibly like to introduce in the future?
The website, the online shop and above all the Instagram page, where we offer product information services, photos and videos on our working method and on how our products are made. And then the online orders, both through direct messages on Instagram and through the online shop.
In the future we would like to expand shipments to more perishable and fragile products that require special storage such as pastries, cakes and single portions.

How has the situation we are facing changed your digital communication strategy, if it has?
When the pandemic broke out and the lockdown began in March 2020 we didn’t have an online shop yet, and it was thanks to the Instagram page and the requests of our customers that we organized home deliveries. The online shop started in November 2020 and we were able to satisfy every request more easily. We have always planned to create the online shop, but the advent of the pandemic made it particularly necessary, having given up table service for months and having to satisfy the requests of people who lived out of town or far enough away to not be able to come and buy products. Thanks to sponsorships and publications on Instagram we have achieved excellent results.

What elements did you want to include on the site and in digital communication in general to best reflect the image of your restaurant?
First of all we are a family, and one of the things we hold most dear is our history. This is particularly highlighted on the website, and we have also tried to do the same on the Instagram page, in which we have told our story in serial form, starting from the book that tells about our shop and our family.

Who follows digital communication within the pastry shop? Do you rely on an external agency in whole or in part?
Federica, my son Anselmo’s girlfriend, takes care of our communication. She mainly follows our Instagram page and the making of everything that is posted. She and my son, together with a programmer friend, have taken care of the creation of the online shop and still follow it, updating it with new products and following the shipments of parcels and the relationship with the customer. We have always liked doing things as a family.