Why We Don't Put Our Name on The Products We Sell

A few days ago, I was chatting with one of our long-standing customers. He is one of those customers every business hopes to have: love Italy, passionate about quality, curious about food and wine, and someone who genuinely appreciates what we do.

We first met many years ago at a food and wine fair. Back then, Italyabroad.com was still relatively young, travelling the country, introducing people to small Italian producers and sharing products that were often impossible to find elsewhere in the UK. Since then, he has remained a loyal customer, buying everything from Italian wine and artisan food to Christmas hampers.

During our conversation, he asked me a question that I have been asked many times over the years:

"Why haven't you created your own private label products yet, you have been around for long enough and have a fantastic reputation"

At first glance, it seems like a logical step. Many retailers do it. Supermarkets do it. Specialist food companies do it. Even some wine merchants do it. Putting your own brand on products can increase recognition, simplify marketing and often improve margins.

My answer, however, has always been the same.

We are not interested in replacing the producers behind the products. Italyabroad.com was never created to become the star of the show. It was created to help tell the stories of the people behind the food and wine we sell. When customers buy a bottle of wine from Calabria, a jar of pesto from Liguria or an olive oil from Sicily, they are not simply buying a product. They are buying years, sometimes generations, of experience, passion and dedication. They are supporting families who wake up every morning to work their vineyards, olive groves and farms.

Those stories matter.

In many ways, Italyabroad.com is simply the bridge between those producers and our customers.

Of course, our role is important. We spend countless hours travelling across Italy, tasting thousands of wines and food products every year. We select what we believe represents the very best of Italy, the authentic, the real. We reject far more products than we import. We build relationships with producers, market their products and share their stories. But we are still only one side of the story. The producer is the other half and possibly the main one.

Once a product is repackaged under a private label, something changes. The quality may remain exactly the same. The ingredients may be identical. The product may still be exceptional. Yet part of its identity disappears. The producer's name becomes smaller or disappears completely. Their history becomes secondary. Their story becomes irrelevant.

For many businesses that may not matter. For us, it does.

One of the things I enjoy most about Italyabroad.com is introducing customers to the people behind the products. Without those stories, food and wine become commodities. With those stories, they become experiences. That is why, for more than twenty years, we have preferred to promote the producer rather than ourselves.

The only situation in which we would consider putting the Italyabroad.com name on a product is if we were the ones making it. In that case, we would not be replacing somebody else's story. We would simply be adding another chapter to our own.Interestingly, this is something we are now beginning to look at with olive oil.

As some of our readers may already know, I inherited my grandparents' olive grove in Abruzzo. The grove had been abandoned for more than forty years. Over that time nature slowly reclaimed the land. Grass, shrubs and wild plants grew freely between the trees, turning the area into something resembling a small natural oasis. The grove contains century-old olive trees, many of which were planted long before I was born.

Until recently, I could do little more than visit occasionally, remembering the stories my grandparents used to tell me and the countless hours I spent there as a child. Some of my fondest memories are of running between the trees while my grandparents picked olives or pruned the branches, preparing them for another season.

Recently, I decided it was time to bring the grove back to life. Not simply as a business project, but as a way of preserving a family legacy, honouring my grandparents' memory and ensuring that these remarkable trees continue to thrive for future generations. The process is not easy. Decades of abandon cannot be reversed overnight. The land needs clearing, the trees need attention and significant work is required before regular harvesting can resume. If you think you can help, this is the link to know more. However, we have already conducted some initial tests and the results have been extremely encouraging. The quality of the olives is very good.

Because the grove has remained untouched for such a long period, it is naturally organic. No chemicals have been used for decades. Wildlife has flourished and biodiversity has returned. The surrounding hillside has become a thriving ecosystem that feels very different from the intensive agricultural environments often seen elsewhere. More importantly, the project means something deeply personal to me.

I grew up surrounded by vineyards and olive trees. My passion for wine and olive oil was shaped during childhood. Restoring this grove is not simply a business project. It is a way of honouring my grandparents and preserving a small piece of family history. If one day we produce olive oil under the Italyabroad.com name, it will not be because we decided to hide somebody else's identity behind our brand. It will be because we have become producers ourselves.

And even then, we will continue doing what we have always done: telling stories. Because that is what our food and wine are really about. They are not just products on a shelf. They are people. They are families. They are traditions passed from one generation to the next. They are stories. They are memories.

At Italyabroad.com, we believe that every great bottle of wine or food product deserves to have its story told. Not just our story, but the story of the people who dedicate their lives to creating them.
That is why you will continue to see the names of our producers on our website. It is why we talk about them in our newsletters, at tastings and in every occasion. Because while Italyabroad.com may be the bridge, they are the destination.

And their stories deserve to be heard.