The career trajectory for Luca D’Angelo, CEO of Fratelli La Bufala’s parent company, M6 USA, points to the moon from wherever he launches.
Naples, Italy – Luca D’Angelo has made a name for himself consulting for big name automotive and aerospace companies throughout the world, but he just couldn’t resist taking a piece of Fratelli La Bufala’s (pizza) pie in early 2004.
“I didn’t have any plans to get involved in the restaurant business,” D’Angelo explains. “Out of a friendly courtesy, I met the people behind Fratelli La Bufala and realized I had good chemistry with the founder. So I joined on.”
As he describes it, the concept of franchise eateries was foreign to the Italian market. “People are skeptical that good food can come from a restaurant chain,” he says. “Using the nationwide brand was a concept that came from the U.S.”
When he joined on, he says, the company was growing very fast. But it needed to define its priorities and gain structure, and D’Angelo was just the man for the job.
The 42-year-old bachelor, who spends most of his time between apartments in Naples and Milan, had already helped companies such as Daimler-Chrysler, Boeing, Caterpillar and Abbott Industries with their strategic development. He says his challenge was taking those experiences and applying them to Fratelli La Bufala with patience and common sense.
Additionally, he helped the company get funding, once he explained to the founders that self-financing wasn’t going to help the company grow. “Now it’s no longer a ‘mom and pop shop’,” he proudly adds. “We generated $40 million in revenues during fiscal 2006. And we’ve been received by the Italian press as a successful restaurant business. We’re looking to go public in the next three years.” The company has multiplied tenfold since it began in 2003.
Though it would seem a mammoth responsibility for most, D’Angelo says helping Neapolitan pizzeria Fratelli La Bufala develop is “just a hobby” and he only spends about 20 percent of his time with it.
Most of the other 80 percent is spent flying around the world consulting for other companies owned by Mosaic Group, in which he serves as partner. Its investments include another regional restaurant chain, a digital production company focused on eno-gastronomy, and a fast-cruisers shipyard.
Previously, he had served as principal for A.T. Kearney, a company that employed a client-consultant team responsible for assisting one of the largest global car manufacturers. The team helped with developing a comprehensive alliance strategy, developing a strategic framework, product and brand integration, and footprint restructuring. He had also been a principal for Booz, Allen & Hamilton, where he led multi-million dollar projects for global automotive, aerospace and industrial clients in Europe and North America.
Prior to receiving his MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management in 1994, D’Angelo spent his time managing space programs. His focus from 1990 to 1992 was the International Space Station. MARS (Microgravity Advanced Research and Support) Center was his home office. In 1992, he became a member of the Alenia Honeywell Space Controls management start-up team, where he was responsible for bid preparation and technology transfer.
Always with his eye on the sky, D’Angelo has held his private pilot’s license since 1987. He is a native Italian who speaks English fluently, has proficiency in French, and speaks and understands basic German. But even these skills, he says, aren’t enough to make a slew of Neapolitan pizzerias successful.
“You have to start with passion,” he explains. “The winning combination is passion and applying very basic business sense. And do one thing at a time. That’s how you build a dynamic company.”
###
Media Contact:
Media Contact Information:
Quantified Marketing Group
407.936.1010
|
