To look beyond, think of the future, and leave the beaten path — the actions of those who don't let difficulties prevent them from setting the bar higher and higher both for others just as much as themselves.
If the world forces us into uncomfortable situations, the first thing a visionary does is roll up their sleeves. Francesco Panella, an Italian television personality and owner of the restaurants Antica Pesa in Rome and Brooklyn and Feroce in Manhattan, has created “Hospitality for the future by John Cabot University & Antica Pesa,” a training project in partnership with Rome's John Cabot University.
The initiative also has an ecological implication thanks to Treedom, the platform that allows you to virtually plant a tree and follow its growth online while directly funding local farmers worldwide and bringing environmental, economic, and social benefits.
A project for the future
Francesco Panella, a lifelong restaurateur and Italian cuisine ambassador, recognizes that the new generation is the future, and this collaboration marks the first time a restaurant and a university work together to create a model of sustainable and advanced hospitality to signify a restart.
With his heart in Italy and his mind on the other side of the Atlantic, Francesco Panella said, "Young people are our main interlocutors and new consumers, so we want ideas, answers, and solutions from them. With Beclay Agency, I chose to involve John Cabot International University because its students come from all over the world, so they represent our ideal case study. They
are the starting point for our future."
Always on the lookout for new solutions and concrete actions, Francesco Panella supports this special initiative to create new business models and sustainability for catering activities, which are suffering a severe economic setback due to the crisis linked to the pandemic. The Roman entrepreneur is convinced that technology and sustainability are the keywords to create new cutting-edge business models as well as respect for the environment.
According to Panella, the restart can only take place with a forward momentum full of energy – one that can only come from the new generations."Young people are the future, the roots for a sustainable and virtuous life," Panella says. "For these reasons, the best projects will be implemented in my companies, which have always been attentive to everything concerning the environment, development, and innovation. Our family has adopted a forest through the Treedom platform, so we want the winners of the challenge to be able to take care of the tree that we will give them, as a symbol of birth, growth, and future."
The Challenge
The challenge involves John Cabot University students creating plans to make a restaurant sustainable, involve stakeholders, and communicate virtuous actions of contemporary catering through the media. The courses involved in the project are Advertising Management, International Marketing, E-marketing, Brand Management, Public Relations Management, and Made in Italy. At the end of the year, Francesco Panella himself, together with the teachers' commission, will decide the winners. In addition to working with the Roman restaurateur and getting to name a tree in Treedom's "Antica Pesa" forest, Beclay Agency will award them an additional prize.