The company
Alivini was founded in 1975 to meet a demand for quality Italian food and wine in the UK. At Alivini, quality and choice are given equal standing and to this day the Company’s ethos remains the same. We take great pride in the huge array of products we provide to the UK market and our passion extends from the irreplaceable classics to great, largely undiscovered Italian produce and many lesser-known and obscure regional specialities.
Italy is undeniably amongst the most exciting wine-producing countries in the world. The enormous variety means that there is a wine to suit everyone’s palate. Alivini’s portfolio has been carefully constructed and refined over several decades to contain some of Italy’s most famous producers alongside smaller, unsung heroes from the Italian wine world to perfectly marry the diverse and delicious food products we import.
The Company is not content with simply catering for conventional Italian cuisine but takes pride in seeking out new delicacies – those currently popular in Italy, and those particularly well-suited to the British market. We aim to provide up-to-date products whilst ensuring that the great traditions on which Italian cuisine was founded remain alive, creating a new image for Italian produce across the UK.
Whilst others may lose their heads over prices, constantly striving to find the cheapest the market has to offer, we believe that quality and fair pricing must always win the day – this is why we have been considered as the leading Italian specialist in the UK. Had this not been the case then Alivini would be doing a disservice to the rich gastronomic legacy of the country we are dedicated to representing.
Over the years Alivini has seen major pendulum effects between food and wine sales throughout the UK. In the 80s and 90s, due to the popularity and dominance of Italian wines in the UK, wine sales represented at least 70% of the Company’s annual turnover. Today, these represent in the region of 40% of the annual turnover with food sales representing the remaining majority.
The restaurant trade has always formed a large body of Alivini’s list of customers, along with the independent grocery/delicatessen sector. Other developments that the Company is now undertaking includes the hotel, bar and off-licence sectors and private individual sales, the latter through an all-new e-commerce portal.
In recent years the Board of Directors has managed to turn the Company around in an attempt to bring the running and company image up-to-date with the current times. This has entailed many changes both in the individual departments within the Company and in all things technological, including the much-anticipated introduction of Alivini’s new website. This will, in turn, allow us to be more efficient as a business, by streamlining more office procedures and to become more interactive with all of our customers.