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Italy-Georgia Innovation Exchange: Food, Factories and the Future
September 22, 2025
Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, Atlanta
Italy is known globally for quality, taste and excellence, but operating in Georgia, the purveyors of these fine commodities don’t always get their due recognition.
In its debut “teaser” year, the Made in Italy Expo sought to close this knowledge gap, launching a weeklong celebration of the strong intersections between the state and the world’s eighth largest economy, a powerhouse in fashion, food and factory automation.
Bolstered by the presence of some 90 Italian subsidiary companies and a healthy diaspora, the program highlighted the city’s Italian culinary elite, who introduced special dishes for the expo week, while talented designers flaunted furniture, eyewear and threads at activations around town and Italian cinema played at the Plaza Theatre.
If the swanky capstone dinner and fashion show at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center offered a taste of Italian excellence, the industry talks session the next morning represented the recipe that helps create it — and what can be done to preserve that flavor in a competitive global economy.
Global Atlanta joined with the expo’s organizer, the Italy-American Chamber of Commerce Southeast’s Georgia Chapter, to dissect why and how Italy came to embody excellence and precision — and how international investment, entrepreneurial entwinements and educational exchanges are bringing its advantages to bear for the state.
The considerable executive firepower at the event was indicative of the quality these brands are striving to represent in the U.S. market.
Key Takeaways:
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Workforce is a challenge for manufacturing companies and restaurants alike, with cross-cultural issues arising even well into their U.S. journeys. A key reason for the clash? High rates of turnover and labor mobility, and a difference in their commitment to craft. AI’s impacts on factories so far remain muted, with automation and digital twins playing a more immediate role in transformation. “In the United States, there is not that much of a concept of crafting and owning a profession for the lifetime and trying to be the best at every single day, which is a very European concept.” —Marco Rebuffi, JAS
Italian companies readily cross-innovate between their US operations and the home base, especially when it comes to sustainability moves that may be old hat in Italy but have not been instituted broadly in the U.S. Being green should not be performative, but performance-based, Italian manufacturers agreed. “We took a policy that recyclable tires or green tires … that it has to be better than the original product,” says Ian Coke of Pirelli. Franco Rossi of Aquafil said his company learned much of its approach from Interface’s Ray Anderson, and that its fully recycled nylon fibers used in the carpet industry are not just a key selling point and a branding win, but also a competitive advantage.
In the food and hospitality space, companies are working to retain the quality and family orientation that Italy is known for, while innovating around the edges. Experience and authenticity must blend with efficiency. Yeppa is leveraging AI in the back of the house, investing in commissary kitchens to scale across multiple locations, even as it curates experiences at a villa In Italy from which it imports much of the wine sold in its restaurants. Rosetta Bakery is aiming to become a gathering place for Italians and a stamp of Italian quality in the Southeast. And La Regina has leveraged logistics to grow its market share, setting up an operation in Alma, Ga., to make 120,000 jars of sauce per day.
Tariffs are a major source of stress, but overarching uncertainty is worse than the headline rate. Fixed costs like logistics, packaging and other factors like exchange rates can also hinder Italian investment in the U.S., but the overall transatlantic trade tensions haven’t helped, particularly when they’ve added costs to imported inputs for U.S.-made products.
Panels and Speakers
Building the Future Factory: Automation, Workforce and Sustainability — A Conversation with Italian investors in Georgia
Filiberto Calascibetta, Honorary Consul of Italy in Atlanta
Introductions
Franco Rossi
CEO, Aquafil USA
“We are a manufacturing company. We work 24/7, 365 days a year. So we need a certain kind of labor — people who are ready to work nights and work weekends. And that is becoming more and more scarce and hard to find. The challenge of finding the right labor and keep the right labor has become more manifest.“
Marco Cencetti
CEO, Cassioli
“With the simulations that are now more and more accurate, we can analyze different scenarios and see what can happen in the real life thanks to digital twins. So in this way, we can maximize the investment, reduce the risk.” -On how Industry 4.0 and AI are being interconnected on the factory floor, with preventive maintenance being a key use case.
Marco Rebuffi,
CEO, JAS Worldwide
“We already had a network. And I thought to myself, if we could come to a certain ranking in this market, we will automatically become bigger everywhere. And this exactly what happened.” -On why JAS moved its global headquarters from Italy to Atlanta, making a big bet on the U.S. market’s unique size and strength.
Ian Coke
CTO, Pirelli USA
“We came to Rome because of the name, I guess,” Mr. Coke said, joking about why the Italian company ended up in Rome, Ga., which had more to do with Georgia’s logistical network than the city name. Pirelli broke ground in 2000 and now makes 350,000 tires a year in Georgia with about 200 employees, 140 of them on the floor in a completely automated tire plant.
How AI Can Empower Next-Generation Scaleups
Franco Denari
Co-founder of Eataly, U.S. rep for Longino & Cardenal and expert in startups and investment in food, hospitality and beyond
Add the panelist bio
“It’s the only country where you can see the famous hockey stick, and there are cycles in the economy, so now we know that t’s winter, so you have got to be tough, go to be conscious.” -On scaling Eataly in the U.S., and why the U.S. market is still a good bet for investors even during this time of uncertainty.
Enrico Cimador
Consultant at Siemens Advanta and Director of the IAACSE Young Professionals
-Moderator
Feeding Ambition: How Atlanta Food Entrepreneurs Found Their Appetite for Success
Pietro Gianni
Entrepreneur, Yeppa and Yeppa Villas
“Through AI, now we use pretty much every platform that’s available, so AI is scheduling, payments, split payments, answering the phone, robotic machinery in the kitchen. I have no more fry, no more grill, everything’s smart ovens, as that just the reduces the number of stations that you have to staff.“
-On the use of tech and commissary kitchens to scale up output and reduce back-of-house staff. Yeppa employs about 350 people but is investing most in those who affect the customer experience at the front of the house.
Emidio Rinaldi
COO La Regina
“It’s a long journey and this is just the latest chapter.” Mr. Rinaldi recounting the history of La Regina, its partnership with Rao’s, the best-selling U.S. marinara, and its introduction of its own brands in the United States in part thanks to a Georgia facility.
Carolina Rosini
Entrepreneur and Owner, Rosetta Bakery Atlanta
“We have a lot off Italian restaurants, but from a person who lived most of her life in Italy — I moved here when I was 26 — I don’t see the Italian quality, and even the recipes, they are changed to make it more appealing for American tastes. I do agree with that, because we have to sell, but I do think also that we have to maintain what we have, making Italy just a statement for quality.” –On making Rosetta a gathering place for Italians but also Americans who want to experience Italian quality.
Dr. Chris Cornelison
Assistant VP of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, Kennesaw State University
“I think we could take a lot of lessons from the history and the adherence to the tradition that exists, versus scaled, mechanical, factory-based foods. But so far, to get that full experience, you’re going to have to cross the pond.” -On how he helps teach students about the provenance of their food through a study-abroad to KSU’s Montepulciano campus. Upon arrival, they miss Chick-fil-A; they leave as wine connoisseurs.
(Re)live the Moment: Multimedia
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