It's Founder Friday! Today we are going to be exploring the story of a ground breaking and standard setting Italian coffee roaster and cafe. Our guest on this last Founder Friday of 2021 is the founder of Caffe Artigianale, Francesco Sanapo! From learning the classic Italian way of coffee working for his fathers coffee bar at age 14 - to discovering specialty coffee eventually becoming a 3 time Italian Barista Champion and WBC finalist, Francesco wanted to take his knowledge of Italian coffee history and make it beautiful again through a progressive specialty lens. Since founding Ditta Artigianale in 2013 as a roastery the company now has 3 cafes and a 4th coming soon internationally and is regarded as one of the best cafes in all of Italy.   In our conversation with Francesco we will be exploring his ounrey into coffee, the values and philosophy he developed over his career, and the ins and outs of how he founded and grew this wonderful coffee business.  We cover: Working at his fathers cafe Italian coffee culture Respecting history and making it beautiful again Studying daily as key to success Success in competition and beginning the company First steps, challenges, and expansion philosophy Selecting staff, training, and delegating Making it all work between stores and scaling Sticking to your values  How to introduce customers to specialty   Links: http://dittaartigianale.it Francesco IG Ditta Artigianale IG Francesco's 2013 WBC performance    Related Episodes: 205 : Inside Caffe Florian, the World’s Oldest Coffee Shop ! | Venice, Italy 308 : A Conversation w/ Italian Brewers Cup Champion, Alessandro Galtieri 198 : The Evolution of the Coffee Shop w/ Prof. Jonathan Morris 252 : Founder Friday w/ Klaus Thompson of the Coffee Collective, Denmark   Visit our awesome sponsors! Ground Control : Revolutionary Batch Brew Coffee! www.groundcontrol.coffee   The Barista Series: Best Plant Based Beverages on Earth! www.pacificfoodservice.com