Innovation and research

Innovation and research are indispensable for the growth and competitiveness of our Group. The Innovation Center, opened in 2010 following a major conversion of the old Turin plant’s management building, is now home to all our research and development functions and an emblem of our industrial evolution. Covering over 4,000 m2, it contains laboratories, training facilities and offices where over 130 people work.

Our R&D strategy is based on four pillars: sustainability, innovation, focus on quality and high competitiveness on markets. Together, they guide our product development, from coffee to packaging and the design and engineering of coffee machines. Our approach is one of continuous improvement and powerful innovation, focussing on both short/medium term and long-term planning. These extremely dynamic activities enable us to develop numerous new patents (including design patents) every year.

Of the 170 patent families developed since our foundation, nearly half were registered in the last ten years as a result of ongoing investments in research & development. They are mostly patents for coffee machine innovations that improve efficiency and sustainability or enable hot and cold drinks to be dispensed at the same time. Many are design patents that have not only made our machines more functional and efficient but have also won prestigious international awards.

A key focus across all our activities is on Quality, a major concern in all stages of brand and product development – from green coffee to packaging and from the design of coffee machines to final production – to guarantee top quality at the right price. To this end, we have a rigorous centralised policy for the management of preventive quality control along the entire chain, including external suppliers. Over 100,000 checks are performed on the coffee and over 1.5 million throughout the numerous stages involved in coffee machine development. For the purposes of continuous improvement in sustainability performance, we team up with Ecovadis, an internationally recognised ratings provider that assesses supplier performance in terms of respect for the environment and human/labour rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. In 2023, in particular, we received for the first time the Gold Medal,  setting ourselves amongst the top 5% of the best companies evaluated by the team of EcoVadis experts: a recognition made possible thanks to the sharing of values and the joint commitment of all our employees and collaborators, together with the representatives of our supply chain.

Set up in Turin in 1989 and now operating worldwide with over 55 locations, the Lavazza Training Center treats coffee as a cultural factor, an object of constant study, and is the biggest international training network in this field. Its two main pillars are the “Coffee School”, which provides professional training on coffee and coffee making systems, and “Coffee Design”, which focuses on researching and developing recipes and tools to offer a unique coffee experience. Training programmes are specially tailored according to the level of expertise of the participants, from baristas to the sales force and from distributors to coffee lovers.

The Lavazza Training Center has developed prestigious partnerships over the years, such as with Politecnico di Torino, an international centre of excellence in its field, with Università di Scienze Gastronomiche of Pollenzo, set up and promoted by the international association SlowFood, and with famous Catalan chef Ferran Adrià’s El Bulli Foundation. It was our 20-year co-operation with Ferran Adrià, the “alchemist revolutionizing culinary art” according to Le Monde and the “creator of the new Nouvelle Cuisine” according to The New York Times, that led to èspesso, the first solid coffee in history and a series of other coffee design products that have transformed the way we enjoy this drink.

Since 2018, our Training Center has also been a Premier Training Campus for the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association), meaning that it is authorised to provide all the training courses developed by the most authoritative and respected international association in the world of coffee.

Factory 1895 is a unique production site where expertise in the art of coffee processing, accumulated in over 125 years, is used to create superlative blends and at the same time reveal to the public the secrets behind the creation of a finely crafted espresso: all the know-how, the latest machines and the most sustainable procedures that transform the green beans into a steaming cup of coffee. An innovative platform designed not only to produce prestige limited-edition coffees for select partners and super-premium home consumption but also to tell the world the story of fine coffee by engaging visitors in an immersive journey through all the stages in the production process, from tropical forests to our tables at home.

The Settimo Torinese site is the beating heart of the 1895 Coffee Designers by Lavazza brand and an experiential hub that promotes coffee culture. Inside, it’s possible to watch the machines at work – from roasters to optical sorters – as well as to learn more about the processes and backgrounds of the entire industry thanks to digital content and multisensory stimuli. The entire experience culminates in the Coffee Cave, a tasting area where visitors can enjoy the distinctive aromatic notes of 1895 coffees.

The quality of our products depends on our expertise and meticulous selection of raw materials but also on our equally excellent production system, which guarantees food safety and the efficiency of our plants.

All our facilities have a quality and food safety management system that meets the requirements of FSSC 22000 and ISO 9001 standards, as well as benefiting from high levels of automation, sophisticated quality control procedures and flexible management systems designed to respond rapidly to market demand.

While our Italian manufacturing plants concentrate on Lavazza brand products distributed all around the world, those in France, the UK, the United States and Canada mainly produce products destined to local markets.

One of the key elements on which our industrial system is based and in which we invest significant time and resources is the professional development of our People, who are a strategic success factor, indispensable in the successful management of modern, reliable and efficient plants.

Our Turin site was Lavazza’s first major industrial facility and remains one of the world’s largest coffee roasting and production plants. It makes ground coffee, coffee beans, ESE coffee pods and coffee capsules.

Our Gattinara (VC) plant, similar in size to the one in Turin, produces ground coffee, coffee beans, coffee capsules for all Lavazza systems and instant products.

The Pozzilli (IS) plant specialises in coffee decaffeination and caffeine re-purposing. The extraction method used is highly selective and leaves the coffee’s organoleptic profile unaltered. It is also a natural method, because the only substances that come into contact with the coffee are carbon dioxide and water.

The Group’s other manufacturing plants are in Lavérune in France, where the main product is Carte Noire coffee, and Invermere in Canada, which makes Kicking Horse brand products. The Basingstoke plants in the UK and the West Chester plant in the US both specialise in production for the Lavazza Professional business area.

In addition to having food safety certifications, our production facilities are authorised to process certified Halal and Kosher products and can also guarantee the production of sustainable coffee (UTZ, RFA, Organic).