What is your background?
To be honest, I'm not the best student at school. I took some vocational courses at university, but never found the right field of study to meet my needs.
What jobs have you had in your life?
My best teacher was the street! When I was 17, I was already working part-time for a small business that produces plastics. From that time, I have never stopped working. At 22, I opened my first pub music, Jazz Pub, near the Basilica of St. Peter at a time when the pubs were popular in Rome. After a few years, at the urging of my family, I decided to work for a government agency. I do not regret the experience, but I was never made for this kind of work. In my free time, I am always looking for other opportunities in the food and beverage sector.
When did you visit Bali?
Whenever the father of an Italian friend who married an Indonesian woman returned to Italy, he always spoke enthusiastically of Indonesia and its people. In 1991, I decided to visit this beautiful country which I knew nothing. When I arrived in Bali, I fell in love with the island. From 1991 to 1996, after several visits, I dreamed of going there, but it was a difficult decision to make. Finally my mother, seeing my agony, I was told to just follow my feelings. Within three weeks, I resigned from my government job, bought a ticket and arrived in Bali to start a new life!
How did you get the idea of producing pasta? [Ilya
few years, a dear family friend Luciano Armezzani came to me on vacation. After several visits over several years, he convinced his son Carlo to come here on vacation and during one of these holidays, talking about this and that, they decided to make a business investment in Bali. After knocking around some ideas, we came to making pasta on a commercial basis. Today, the father and son are my business partners, without whom Alfred Pasta was never realized.
Alfredo was the leader who started with us and made some of our original recipes. One night after a few beers Alfredo became Alfred, so why not call our brand "ALFRED"?
Considering large population of Italian expatriates in Bali, not any other Italian ever tried to start production pasta business here?
Good question! I have heard of a few others in the past who have tried, but have not gone away. I guess some of the reasons why they failed are the same reasons why it was not easy for us! The licenses are not easy to obtain. We had to import all production machines and dryer Italy. We learned that the change in temperature and climate affect both the preparation and the success of mixtures of pasta. For a whole year, we worked on getting flour and mixes just before starting actual production.
Why the type of flour used in pasta and drying method so important?
For dry pasta, flour and drying method are crucial to maintaining stability during cooking. Even with our imported pulp dryer, that is numerically calibrated temperature, sometimes we do not achieve the desired results. For ravioli and other pasta that is not dry, the process is much simpler, though we still use the same flour and specially selected local ingredients.
Do you produce other products in addition to pasta?
fettuccine, fusilli, ravioli, lasagne, cannelloni and other traditional pasta and various sauces are our main products, but we also produce pre-cooked products that are ideal for those with space and the limited time.
What is special about your food
All are purely natural without preservatives and dyes ?; cooked, packaged and frozen at elevated temperatures to maintain freshness.
Where are your Alfred Pastas sold?
You can find our products in most supermarkets and some fine dining in Bali. We also provide five star hotels, restaurants, small cafes, private villas, schools and small boats for tourist excursions. For two years, we have distributed our products in Jakarta, Surabaya and Lombok. Some people even find our pasta in Kalimantan, but I honestly do not know how!
My grandmother often makes its own dough by hand with flour and eggs - the times were wonderful! But the generation of my mother, she was already making homemade pasta less often. Times have changed and people's needs are different. Now if you do not have one of those little machines homemade pasta, no more time.
What better taste, boiled or microwaved pasta pasta?
100% boiled and fresh pasta! We produce precooked lasagna and some other precooked foods that you only need to warm in the microwave or drop into boiling water. Of course, it is not fresh lasagne comes out of the oven, but the wise taste almost the same.
Tell me, do your pasta sauces have a secret ingredient?
Go! Secrets are secrets! I can not make public the chief of secrets, but I can say that passion and good ingredients are key to our success.
What is the best way to contact you?
My email is director@busybeefood.org and my office phone is 62-0361-878 -4379 .