Food and Beverage Company Consultancy Project: insights from inside

An interview with Federica Trombetta, Costadoro Financial Controller and IFBM Alumna, about the CCP

The Master in International Food & Beverage Management provides it's students with an interesting challenge thanks to the Company Consultancy Project: a research study that deals with a real business problem proposed by leading companies of the F&B sector.
Before the final presentation of the Costadoro Caffè Company Consultancy Project, we met Federica Trombetta, one of the company tutors and ESCP Alumna who just one year ago experienced the same challenge during her Master in IFBM.
We had an interesting chat with her about the Company Consultancy Project and the Master.

You attended the MSc in International food & beverage management last academic year. In a few months, you went from being a student to a manager involved in the company project with the new class. What are your feelings about this?

Everything started in September when Regina and Elena invited me to the event that kicked off the beginning of the course. That was my first time standing in front of new students with there hopeful expressions. And I was so excited to be there in this new role that at the end of that day I didn’t go back to work.  Now, with the company project, all these feelings have multiplied. I know all the effort that groups put into these projects, last year I did the same. When you do this type of project you feel a part of the company you are working for. And that’s why when Regina proposed this project to me, I immediately accepted. So, I’m grateful and look forward to seeing the results.
 
How important was it to participate in a CCP during your Master, in terms of personal and professional growth?

Being involved in the CCP means working days and sometimes nights with our classmates, managing the stress and anxiety and, of course, the most difficult part: being able to work efficiently with your group to reach the goal. The skills I learned are what I now apply to my working life.
 
 What were your expectations regarding the CCP as a student?

I wanted to be useful to the company and present them with a new and different point of view.
 
Now that you are living this experience from the point of view of the company, what are your expectations about the CCP as a manager?

Today, I notice that when you are involved in a full-time and very scheduled job, time is very difficult to manage and it’s almost impossible to find a quiet moment to focus on one topic. Thanks to the CCP, we hope to have a new point of view on e-commerce and also be able to really find out if our brand awareness is what we think it is.
 
The Company Consultancy Project is a key element of the IFBM programme and allows students to put into practice the concepts acquired in the classroom. Can you please describe the consultancy project and objectives proposed by Costadoro to ESCP students?

We decided to split the project into two parts: e-commerce commercial strategy and brand awareness. These are two topics that, in this moment, are extremely important for Costadoro. As a small-medium sized company these types of topics were always “second step” projects but now we are late and need to hurry. That’s why we asked for help from the students.
  
How has this Master programme affected your current job?

In a small or medium sized company, you never do just your job. I’m carrying out different duties every day. On the same day I could work for the finance department, as social media manager, as supply chain consultant or event director. All these were tests and tasks for projects that we did in class. Thanks to that it has been much easier to be flexible and adapt to each department.
 
How did ESCP help you to achieve your goals?

ESCP gives you countless tools to help you reach your goals, you just have to be able to understand and use them. In everyday work life the same is true: you can have many opportunities presented to you but you have to be able to recognise and take advantage of them.
 
What are your suggestions to the current and future students of the Master in IFBM?

Be humble and open to listening and learning. At the same time don’t be shy to express yourself. This applies to the work place too.

The Costadoro Caffè Company Consultancy Project was successfully carried out by Noemi Bosco, Yuxuan Du, Maëliss Russo, Rakhi Singh, and Paola Torre Bru. During the final presentation they impressed the CEO, the company tutors Federica Trombetta and Paola Voghera, Export Manager, and Assistant Professor Francesca Pucciarelli with the great job they had done.