The Importance of a Strong Team to Support Your Vision | Ximena Pastor and Alexander Zeleniuch | Coffee Retail Summit
Specialty coffee thrives on big visions, but successful retail coffee businesses thrive on more than vision alone.
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Alexander Zeleniuich, Chief Operating Officer of Ditta Artiganale, and Ximena Pastor, Director of Activities and Co-Founder of Director of Activities and Co-Founder of L'Atelier Barcelona (and Ditta Artigianale investor) will discuss how Ditta approaches and elevates coffee through gastronomy, standardizing operations without sacrificing quality, and what’s in store for Ditta’s future.
About the Presenters
Ximena Pastor, Director of Activities/Co-Founder
L'Atelier Barcelona
Investor
Ditta Artigianale
Ximena started culinary school in her native country Costa Rica, she later came to Barcelona to continue her studies in creative gastronomy and pastry arts in the recognized Bellart, Gremi de Pastelería, and Hofmann schools.
She worked in several Michelin starred restaurants as pastry chef, including world renown Albert Adriá's Tickets Bar and Enigma, appearing in many documentaries, Chef's Table, and other features.
In 2019 she opens L´Atelier in the middle of Example neighborhood in Barcelona with her partner Eric Ortuño, where pastry shop, school and kitchen unite in an avantguard space.
In 2020, L’Atelier Barcelona receives the "Fava de Cacau" recognizing them as top 5 in Catalonia. That same year they win Best artisanal cookie in Spain.
Ximena is also an investor in Ditta Artigianale Florence, winners of awards in Baristas, Roasters and Cuppers in Italy. She cooperates with Francesco, Patrick and the team to find ways to improve and offer a great food compliment to the already amazing coffee.
Alexander Zeleniuch, Chief Operating Officer
Ditta Artigianale
Alex joined Ditta Artigianale as Chief Operating Officer in July 2020. Studying liberal arts at NYU, he began his career working for a consulting firm in both New York and San Francisco. He then moved to Paris to pursue a degree in cuisine and pastry from Le Cordon Bleu. Upon graduating, he worked in a Michelin 2-star ** restaurant in Paris. Following this, he moved to Chicago to join the operations team of a fast-growing meal kit startup. Before joining Ditta, he co-founded an online specialty marketplace for chefs called Orderve. He is passionate about all things concerning food, beverage, coffee, technology and business.
Find all of the presentations from this event in the freely available Coffee Retail Summit Resource Library or learn more about our upcoming Coffee Retail Summits at retail.sca.coffee.