We at Alpi Empanadas
Turin, 24 June 2019
On March 16, 2015, an idea was born in Turin: to bring Argentine Empanadas to the tables of the Turinese.
A path that would have proved anything but simple and that would have led an Italian-Argentine family to knock many doors before being able to fulfill a dream.
It all began in a family reunion in the historic Brek restaurant in Piazza Carlo Felice, it is there that the foundations of an idea are laid that Gris, Daniel and Ger, Argentines by birth but Turin by adoption since 1993, for the creation of a business family that can combine the socially useful and the encounter between cultures, with an Argentine artisan gastronomy of the highest quality. A physical education teacher turned cook, an engineer turned commercial and a near graduate in international relations turned freelancer who want to make a virtue of necessity without giving up their dreams of starting a family business.
For over four years successes and frustrations have followed one another, on the one hand since February 2016, the support of the Osteria Andirivieni of the Cooperativa Raggio, Roccafranca farmhouse located in the southwest of the Santa Rita district, for the preparation of Empanadas in their kitchen, on the other hand, the effort of finding a way to open one's own place given the lack of family economic resources.
It is a continuous knocking on the doors of foundations and local authorities until, in 2017, thanks to the "Il Trapezio" Project, in the person of Dr. Angela Marinelli, and to the Ufficio Pio of the Compagnia di San Paolo, Griselda and Daniel, and wise hands of Marco Cabiati who since 1999 has been dealing with cooperatives, companies and startups with the role of "vocational trainer". It is with him that, after a journey aimed at understanding the different possibilities and the best way to transform the idea into something specific, thanks also to the advice of comm. Laura Carossia, the Italian-Argentine family arrives at the gates of Banca Popolare Etica with a top-level business plan, which leaves both officials and accountants outside the banking entity impressed. Finally, after several years, Alpi Empanadas is able to afford a place of its own in Turin. Finally the Empanadas with the traditional recipe of the grandmother will be able to arrive in the tables of the Turinese.
With a lot of commitment and willpower, Griselda, Daniel, German and Thomas begin in February 2019 the development of what is the first venue of Alpi Empanadas. A project in which numerous friends participate who each contribute in their own way, some by lending a hand in the design of the website, some with photo shoots, some by helping economically, some by giving hours of their time to set up the place as you see it today .
Alpi Empanadas wants to be not only a family business, Alpi Empanadas aims, given the experience of the family members, to be a vehicle to play in the near future a role that can be defined socially useful starting from the use of supplied raw materials. from small local realities as gratitude to a territory that has been able to adopt and help a family with dreams and hopes. It also aims to be a meeting place between two cultures united for more than a hundred years, an Argentine experience seasoned with high-quality Piedmontese ingredients, all in an environment that takes you back to the origins. Making you feel at home, making you feel like us on Sundays with the family between empanadas, wines and laughter is our mission.
In this journey that has been of ups and downs, we are finally able to open to the public to provide something unique and that is not yet present in Turin: a gastronomy entirely dedicated to the preparation of real Argentine Empanadas.
In the month of Argentine independence, Alpi Empanadas opens its doors with full gratitude to a city that has been able to welcome a teacher, an engineer and a young man full of hope who came from a small village on the western outskirts of Buenos Aires.
Welcome to Alpi Empanadas and thank you for being here with us to write this new chapter of our life,
German Kurt.
ps: three years after this open letter telling you about us we take stock of this time together on our blog!