Alessandro Savelli’s Pasta Evangelists bring the very finest in fresh Italian pasta and sauces to the UK
Never before have we appreciated food delivery quite as much. The present lockdown has created a boom for new and established players to enter the market and serve us delicious meals straight to our homes.
Pasta Evangelists is among the very best, delivering fresh, artisanal pasta recipe kits to homes across the UK. We caught up with co-founder Alessandro Savelli to learn more about their growing company:
Q: Tell us about the inspiration behind Pasta Evangelists:
A: I am Italian, I love creating brands…and I eat pasta every day! I was keen to create the best possible pasta in the UK!
Q: It sounds like a delicious challenge. Is educating the consumer on Italy’s culinary diversity an important drive for you?
A: Sure…we are, literally, “evangelists” at heart…evangelising real pasta. We want our customers to taste dishes from across Italy’s twenty regions … so we like putting interesting dishes on our menu that people here in the UK may not have come across before, for example our Salsa di Noce which comes from my hometown, Genova.
Q: What is the main difference in eating fresh pasta vs the average pasta in the market?
A: Fresh pasta is literally just flour (a fine 00 flour is best), eggs, water … that’s it! Or we have paste bianche (like orecchiette and trofie) which are made without egg. What sets fresh pasta apart from the supermarket stuff is that fresh is made with only natural ingredients and it isn’t pasteurised to ensure a long shelf life, which means it only lasts a couple of days.
Q: What’s your favourite dish you sell? And are there new dishes you are excited about?
A: Wow, this is a tough question! I think I would go for our fresh tagliatelle with Pesto alla Genovese… it is so simple and classic… and the sauce comes from Liguria, the best region in Italy! We are currently developing our summer menu which includes some amazing new sauces like Pesto Trapanese and Salsiccia e Finocchietto. We are all super excited for our customers to try these new flavours.
Q: How has the Covid lockdown affected your business?
A: Pasta Evangelists has experienced exponential growth since lockdown… our volumes have increased fourfold. Of course, with fast growth comes a whole new set of hurdles to overcome… we had to double our production team very quickly and our little cucina now operates as a 24 hour operation. Generally though, we are counting our blessings each day and we feel very fortunate to be able to keep operating. To be in a position to feed the nation at this time is really an honour for us.
Q: Are there any lessons from your Pasta Evangelists journey you could share with budding entrepreneurs entering the market during these uncertain times?
A: I think the main one would be … when something feels like it is not working, or it feels like a ‘failure’, don’t take it at face value. Keep going, learn from your mistakes, make those small tweaks, inch by inch, and you can transform the situation into a success. We experienced this with launching on Deliveroo, we tried in various locations, in various forms, and we couldn’t quite get it to work and it really felt at times like we should just give up … but we kept going and now we are seeing really strong performance across our locations and are excited to expand into new sites across London!
Q: Where can our readers get your service?
A: You can order our pasta online at pastaevangelists.com, on Deliveroo at four locations across London (Herne Hill, South Kensington, Battersea and Hackney), on Ocado and … when it reopens… at our fresh pasta counter in Harrods!
Getting hungry? As Don’t Die Wondering members and readers you can enjoy 25% off your first Pasta Evangelists delivery, simply enter the code TRYPASTA25 on checkout.
Want to level up even more? Pair your meal with some great wine and cheese.
NEXT: Enjoy even more of Italy from the comfort your own home