Ho.Re.Ca. distribution is a sector where expertise is measured in decades and reputation is built delivery after delivery.
Anyone who has operated in this market for thirty years knows this. And yet communicating this value is not always so simple.
In fact, the paradox we often see in the business world is that newer, less equipped companies are often the ones that communicate better.
The problem is that, by doing so, established companies lose positioning and struggle to convey their legacy.
In the long term, they give way to emerging players: perhaps more dynamic, and better oriented towards the public.
Doreca was in exactly this situation.
A leading operator in Ho.Re.Ca. distribution in the Rome area, the company could boast turnover in the hundreds of millions, an extensive network of points of sale and a service evolving towards delivery. And yet online, where professional buyers and consumers form their first impression, it was failing to make an impact and was being challenged by smaller companies with a more modern approach.
To revolutionize the brand’s communication while respecting the tradition and family dynamics that guided the company, Bliss had to carry out two forms of work together: respecting tradition while also innovating.
The context: a story worth more than any logo
Originally from Capo d’Orlando, Sicily, Antonino Faranda was born into a family active in commerce since the 1940s. At sixteen, he began working in the family business, handling agri-food distribution for small local retailers. It was 1984. The Italian market had not yet seen a discount store.
Ten years later, after observing the German organized large-scale retail model, Antonino Faranda chose to open the country’s first discount store under the Tuo brand. It proved to be the right bet, because within a few years the chain expanded throughout Central Italy, becoming Tuodì. In the early 2000s, the agreement with SPAR brought the Despar brand to Lazio. In 2011, the acquisition of Doreca from Birra Peroni opened a new chapter. Beverage and Ho.Re.Ca. A different supply chain, a new market.
For these reasons, in 2009 the President of the Republic awarded Antonino Faranda the title of Cavaliere del Lavoro: an honour granted in Italy to twenty-five entrepreneurs each year for their extraordinary contribution to the national economy.
Today the group is a family business in the most precise sense of the term. Massimiliano Faranda is the owner of Doreca, and other family members hold key roles in marketing and legal affairs. For this reason, every decision passes through people who built this business with their own hands, or who carry it forward as a legacy.
Working with Doreca meant working with them. And that changes everything.
In family businesses, the past is fundamental. After all, it represents the foundations of the entire company.
Any intervention that fails to recognize its value risks being perceived as a violation even before it is seen as a strategic mistake. Innovation is possible, but it requires a different approach from the one adopted with corporate managers. It requires listening before proposing, respect for what has already been built and, above all, the ability to carry something new forward without making those who created the company feel that they are losing what they built.
Bliss worked on this ground with the awareness that the most solid structure is the one built with respect for its foundations.
The Problem: how to tell your story beyond the logo
Before producing any content, we therefore started by listening.
Through direct observation of the stores and the team, market analysis and competitor analysis, the enormous distance between Doreca’s real identity and what it conveyed online became evident.
In 2022, its communication still followed the logic of an institutional campaign, based on product photos, offers and a highly visible logo. An outdated approach, already overshadowed by smaller competitors that were better positioned online.
All of this was made more complex by another challenge: speaking to two very different audiences at the same time.
On one side were industry professionals (restaurateurs, bartenders, venue managers) looking for a reliable supplier with a broad catalogue and fast deliveries. On the other were end consumers, who could purchase in stores without a VAT number and who formed their opinion of the brand through social media and advertising.
Developing a single voice capable of speaking to both audiences without fragmenting the brand’s identity was the true strategic objective of our intervention.
The Solution: one voice for two audiences
The diagnosis was clear. Doreca needed a communication system capable of unifying its identity without fragmenting it across its two target audiences.
The strategic choice was built on one premise. Stop communicating like a company that wants to prove its size, and start communicating like a company that lives that scale every day. Bring the brand closer to an audience aged 25 to 35, made up of both consumers and industry professionals. Directly, authentically, without forcing it.
The first step was an evolution in language, and the second was building a system capable of sustaining it over time, across every channel and every touchpoint.
The Value: humanity and reputation
A market leader that does not communicate loses ground every day.
Doreca dominated the Roman Ho.Re.Ca. sector with hundreds of millions in revenue, an extensive network and an evolving delivery model. Operationally, it was a benchmark. In terms of digital perception, smaller and more visible companies were building a more modern, more accessible, more memorable image. The gap was not in the numbers. It was in the minds of the audiences Doreca wanted to reach.
The value to be built was clear. Make the existing solidity visible. Transform operational leadership into perceived leadership. Reach an audience aged 25 to 35, both consumers and industry professionals, with a tone capable of being remembered without shouting. Build one voice for two different audiences, without fragmenting the identity.
And do so while respecting the structure of a company with its own roots, its own communication habits, its own way of telling its story. Value was built through method. With respect for history.
The Action: building a system
One of the most significant interventions involved outdoor communication.
Instead of relying on the usual traditional billboards, we chose to cover North Rome with different messages. Phrases in Roman dialect, close to everyday life, with light humour designed to capture attention without sounding like advertising.
In this way, Doreca’s communication could finally move away from the constant reference to its own identity or products, and focus instead on messages that were more relatable and human.
One of these ads read:
“Bet we deliver in less than three hours? Loser buys the drinks.”
No price. No brand. Just a line capable of sticking in people’s minds, while indirectly communicating one of Doreca’s most important values: speed. A service that at the time was evolving towards an on-demand delivery model that was still a genuine innovation in the beverage distribution sector.
The internal reaction was not unanimous. A board accustomed to a certain type of communication initially struggled to recognize that positioning could be built without putting the brand front and centre. Bliss worked with the respect a family business requires: bringing data, building trust progressively, proving the method before asking for trust. The results did the rest. Also because the logic of authenticity soon resonated with the public, both offline and online.
Digitally, every new Doreca store opening was treated as a brand moment. Dedicated kits, content produced on site, local campaigns planned to generate memory in the neighbourhood and surrounding area. Recurring events such as tastings and in-store initiatives were transformed into anticipated appointments and amplified digitally. A community capable of building loyalty among both B2B and B2C audiences.
The TikTok presence was built from scratch. Instagram was repositioned with a new tone, consistent with the company’s identity but oriented towards contemporary audiences.
The legacy of presence
In a market where emerging players build visibility quickly, the real challenge for leaders is not to surrender positioning to those who communicate better, regardless of what they actually produce.
Together with Bliss, Doreca closed the gap between what it was and the way it appeared, reclaiming its positioning through effective storytelling.
The numbers that followed confirm this. In 60 days, 6.3 million views on TikTok, built from scratch. 30,200 organic followers in just a few months. On Instagram, followers grew from around 1,000 to 10,100: +910% during Bliss management. In October 2023 alone, the profile reached 625,000 accounts, with 1,574,810 total impressions.
The story of the Faranda family, the Cavaliere del Lavoro who at sixteen worked in Sicilian distribution and at twenty five opened Italy’s first discount store, is now part of Doreca’s communication capital. And this demonstrates that authenticity is the most powerful multiplier of business solidity.
And if Doreca stands out today, this is part of the reason why.
New Connections (FAQ)
I have to manage the communication of a family business, but the founders are very attached to tradition. How can I propose new ideas without making them feel threatened?
With more respect and less speed than in a corporate environment. Someone who founded a company does not manage the brand as an abstract asset: they manage it as a personal story. Any intervention that fails to recognize this weight is perceived as a threat before it is even evaluated as a proposal. The method is to build trust progressively, prove before asking, and bring data as evidence of the process rather than as a sales argument. Brand governance in a family context requires the same methodological solidity as any other context, applied with a different sensitivity towards the existing foundations.
We work in B2B and would also like to become known to end customers. How can we explain what we do simply, without using overly technical language?
By stopping communicating technical expertise using the language of industry insiders. Catalogue depth, logistical reliability and continuity of presence are real assets. The problem is that they are presented in a register that speaks only to those who already understand them. Translating that expertise into accessible language means respecting the audience enough to build communication for them, rather than simply describing yourself.
How do you prove the method to a board that has never worked this way?
With patience and data. In a family business, trust is not requested: it is built operation after operation. The first intervention must be measured enough not to create alarm and significant enough to produce visible results. The data that follow become the foundation for the next intervention. It is progressive governance, which respects the existing decision-making structure without giving up strategic direction. The Bliss method, applied to a family context, is exactly this: building without overturning, moving forward without losing those who have already travelled the road.
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