Alessandro Battaglia, you are the third CEO of Bianchi AG, along­side Dario and Luca Bianchi, but you are neither rela­ted nor mar­ried into the Bianchi fami­ly. How did you mana­ge to join the inner circle? 

In recent years and deca­des, Bianchi has expe­ri­en­ced very posi­ti­ve deve­lo­p­ment. The com­pa­ny has rea­ched a size whe­re ope­ra­ti­ons can no lon­ger be mana­ged infor­mal­ly. With so many employees, a broa­der orga­nizatio­nal struc­tu­re is essen­ti­al. Luca and I stu­di­ed at the same uni­ver­si­ty. He then approa­ched me with the idea of sup­port­ing the manage­ment. I alre­a­dy had expe­ri­ence in this area. Furthermore, I have a huge fami­ly, most of whom work in some form of gastro­no­my. So, it was a good fit. I got to know the fami­ly busi­ness from the ground up and work­ed in all depart­ments: I was in the fro­zen food depart­ment, por­tio­ned meat, and fil­le­ted fish. Afterwards, I sup­port­ed the manage­ment, and for the past two years, I have offi­ci­al­ly been the third CEO along­side Dario and Luca Bianchi. Large image abo­ve: Alessandro Battaglia on the should­ers of a gaucho.

Dario is Head of Meat, Luca is Head of Fish. What is your spe­cial­ty within the company? 

The two of them open the shop in the mor­ning, and I clo­se it in the evening. While they are more invol­ved in purcha­sing, I also actively look after cus­to­mers. My main respon­si­bi­li­ties lie more in cor­po­ra­te deve­lo­p­ment. We are in a peri­od of trans­for­ma­ti­on. A fami­ly busi­ness that has exi­sted for 144 years must con­stant­ly reinvent and moder­ni­ze its­elf. I actively con­tri­bu­te to sha­ping this process.

Part of your duties as CEO invol­ves visi­ting busi­nesses around the world. Why do you do this? 

Supplier rela­ti­on­ship manage­ment is extre­me­ly important to us. There are so many cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­ons world­wi­de – and they are justi­fi­ed. But our direct rela­ti­on­ships with our sup­pliers make us uni­que. We don’t want to buy just any pro­duct; we want one from a farm we can stand behind. We purcha­se ever­ything direct­ly. This not only avo­ids inter­me­dia­ries but also gives us uni­que qua­li­ty con­trol. And if we want to chan­ge some­thing, we dis­cuss it direct­ly with the pro­du­cer, not through mul­ti­ple channels.

You were recent­ly in Argentina at Dieter Meier’s Ojo de Agua farm. What was your first impression? 

I had alre­a­dy ima­gi­ned the farm to be very beau­tiful and idyl­lic. But when I arri­ved, I was com­ple­te­ly sur­pri­sed. The sheer size, the space the ani­mals have. There’s not­hing but green as far as the eye can see. These are incre­di­ble sights. The estate con­sists of 2,000 hec­ta­res of land. The gau­chos always spo­ke of the „veci­nos“ – mea­ning neigh­bors. But we did­n’t see any „veci­nos“ far and wide.

Ojo de Agua is known for high-qua­li­ty beef. How are the ani­mals kept there? 

The spe­cial thing is that the ani­mals are out­doors 365 days a year. They have end­less pastu­res whe­re they can feed them­sel­ves. Only in the last 90 to 120 days do they recei­ve some addi­tio­nal feed. But even that is spe­cial: the corn they eat also grows on Ojo de Agua. This makes extre­me sen­se from a sus­taina­bi­li­ty perspective.

Were you allo­wed to ride out into the prai­rie with the gauchos?

Yes, we were allo­wed to ride out with the gau­chos and walk through the fields with the catt­le. The ani­mals are not afraid at all; they are rather curious and always come closer.

What exact­ly is the role of the gauchos?

They con­stant­ly dri­ve the ani­mals to new are­as whe­re the­re is fresh grass. They check for inju­red ani­mals and bring them clo­ser to the farm whe­re they can care for them. They do all of this with just three peo­p­le. That’s quite asto­nis­hing. Ojo de Agua ope­ra­tes as a suck­ler cow farm. This means the cows give birth out­doors, and the cal­ves stay with their mothers. This also gives them 100% con­trol over the breed. It’s always Hereford or Black Angus cattle.

What is so spe­cial about the taste of Ojo de Agua beef?

Argentina is world-renow­ned for high-qua­li­ty beef. The best steak­hou­ses in the world are loca­ted in Argentina. It’s not about mass ani­mal far­ming. Everything is left to natu­re’s cour­se. I am con­vin­ced that this natu­ral­ness is reflec­ted in the taste. Ojo de Agua beef appeals to a very broad cli­ente­le. The qua­li­ty deli­vers on its pro­mi­se and remains con­sist­ent­ly high. The stress-free hus­bandry ensu­res an extre­me­ly good pH value in the meat. Once you’­ve tried Ojo de Agua, you won’t switch easily.

What do South Americans do dif­fer­ent­ly when pre­pa­ring meat com­pared to us?

The gau­chos invi­ted us to a bar­be­cue one evening. They take a pie­ce of rib meat with a thick lay­er of fat. They clamp it in a grill and roast it over the fire. They call it Asado. The meat was extre­me­ly jui­cy. But this is com­ple­te­ly unknown to us. We also visi­ted „Don Julio,“ the best steak­hou­se in the world. They prepa­re the meat over the fire with not­hing else. No mari­na­de, no salt. Even the vege­ta­bles are gril­led only over the fire. Everything is very puri­stic. This requi­res some cou­ra­ge, and the qua­li­ty of the meat must be of the hig­hest standard.

Gastronomes can only get Ojo de Agua meat from Bianchi. Who are your customers? 

We have a very broad cli­ente­le. The „Bärengasse“ in Zurich is known for ser­ving Ojo de Agua cuts. But we also sup­p­ly the Dolder Grand and the „Hönggerhof“ in Zurich, the Kempinski and the „Talvo“ in St. Moritz, or the Waldhaus Sils. Ojo de Agua is a name that peo­p­le like to pro­mo­te: restau­rants even fea­ture it on their menus.

Is it main­ly fil­let and entre­côte, or does Bianchi also sell spe­cial cuts?

The pro­duct ran­ge is very broad. Of cour­se, fil­let and entre­côte, but also ribeye. The meat arri­ves who­le, and we por­ti­on it here. But many chefs also take it direct­ly who­le. We also offer pro­ces­sed pro­ducts: for exam­p­le, we pro­cess the rump into a tar­ta­re. The meat comes to us in Zufikon by ship. This means that after slaugh­ter, it matures during trans­port for four to five weeks. From week six, it goes on sale.

What is your per­so­nal recommendation?

My favo­ri­te cut is the Ojo de Agua ribeye. It’s a pie­ce that should never be miss­ing from a bar­be­cue. It has a bit more fat and is won­derful­ly juicy.