95. Pasta Evangelists

Founders: Alessandro Savelli
Founded: October 2016 (launched March 2017)
Website: www.pastaevangelists.com

Pasta Evangelists founder Alessandro Savelli describes himself as an “Anglo-Italian entrepreneur with a background in finance and luxury retail”. And he has recently added expertise in the UK’s best pasta to this description…

During a pasta making class abroad, serial entrepreneur Savelli thought “why aren’t we providing this?” and so sought about devising a service which would enable us Brits to taste the best Italian pasta from the comfort of our own kitchens.

Pasta Evangelists takes fresh artisanal pasta and sauces straight out of Italy and delivers them straight to people’s homes.

Savelli is on a mission to show that there’s more to pasta than meets the eye including “a world of craftmanship, centuries of artisanal tradition and some of Italy’s finest dishes”.

Mastering fresh food logistics was a challenge, admits Savelli, but the business has now settled on a top delivery partner after trialling a number of options. This delivery partner means that all of its pasta is stored at no greater than 8°C in insulated packaging to comply with food safety regulations.

Having amassed 3,000 customers already, Savelli says Pasta Evangelists’ target audience is London-based affluent foodies with disposable income to spend. However, longer-term, the business intends to pitch to the mass market and spread its reach outside of the capital.

Its successful customer acquisition strategy has been partly fuelled by partnerships with companies such as Ginger Pig, not to mention its trio of big name ‘evangelists’ including Times food critic Giles Coren, Great British Bake-Off star Prue Leith, and Masterchef judge and food critic William Sitwell.

Piggy-backing off the fresh pasta revival to great success, Savelli wants Pasta Evangelists to do in the pasta fresca market what Fever Tree did for tonic water so when someone asks “Where can I find the best pasta?”, Pasta Evangelists is the first brand that comes to mind.