LEARNING IN THE FIELD
Interview with Luigi di Gregorio
Some professional paths follow a linear trajectory, while others are built through the opportunities encountered along the way and the ability to seize them. The career of Luigi Di Gregorio, Supply Chain Director at Caffè Borbone, clearly belongs to the latter category. His journey reflects not only the evolution of the company, but also trust in people, a desire to learn, and the ability to continuously push oneself.
When he joined Caffè Borbone in 2010, Luigi was a twenty-year-old with a diploma in accounting and a short experience in an accountancy firm. He could hardly have imagined that what began as maternity cover would become the professional story of his life. The interview remains a vivid memory even today: “While I was in the waiting room, I realised that most of the other candidates were graduates, and I was afraid I would not be up to the task.” However, he was selected and proved himself on the job, to the extent that his internship was soon converted into a fixed-term contract and subsequently into a permanent position.
In the early years, he worked in the administrative and accounting area, handling entries, reconciliations and relationships with couriers. At that time, Caffè Borbone was a small company of around fifty people, where everyone did a bit of everything. This allowed him to gain close insight into very different mechanisms and processes. “My luck was to join a small company and experience its entire growth, but I also believe I was good at being ready whenever a new opportunity arose.” Opportunities, indeed, did not take long to come.
In 2015, the company moved to Caivano, where it is still based today, and entered a phase of rapid growth and profound change. Luigi was involved in a new challenge: he gradually left accounting to support the newly established team responsible for developing the large-scale retail channel (GDO). Contracts, client acquisition, activation of retail outlets and operational management of new processes: it was a very different experience from anything he had done before. Once again, he found himself learning in the field, building skills that would enrich his professional background.
Another important turning point soon followed. In 2018, during the process that led to Italmobiliare’s investment in Caffè Borbone, Luigi was involved in preparatory activities for the due diligence and the definition of the new organisational structure. It was a period of significant transformation for the company and further personal growth. It was in this phase that an important trait of his character emerged: the ability to recognise honestly what motivates him and what does not feel right. After a few months in the finance and management control area, he realised that this was not his path and discussed it openly with his managers. This decision proved crucial: shortly afterwards, the company identified a completely new role for him — leading the supply chain. “I will always be grateful to the people who believed in me at that time.” To prepare him for this new responsibility, Caffè Borbone once again invested in his development, enrolling him in a specialised Master’s in Supply Chain Management, which enabled him to consolidate his skills and strategic vision, transforming the experience he had already gained on the job into a structured professional profile.
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Today, Luigi coordinates a team of around thirty people working across warehouse operations, logistics, planning, order fulfilment and materials procurement. “What I enjoy most about my job is its unpredictability. I dislike monotony. Here, every day is different and forces you to stay sharp.” At the same time, the company has also grown significantly and now employs more than four hundred people. Among the most important projects he has overseen, Luigi mentions the implementation of the SAP system in 2019 and the opening, in 2024, of the new logistics hub — a 10,000-square-metre facility that stands as one of the most tangible symbols of the company’s growth. “In 2022, we had a single finished goods warehouse of 3,500 square metres,” he explains, “today we have four, with a total of 18,500 square metres. Volumes have increased exponentially: in 2025, we handled nearly 500,000 pallets.”
However, behind the numbers and processes, the human dimension remains central. “For me, it is a source of pride to work in a company where you are not just a number. Over the years, I have always been given the opportunity to experiment and challenge myself.” This is a recurring theme in Luigi’s story: when he speaks about his career, he often mentions people before results — managers, colleagues, individuals who believed in him and helped him grow. “You do not stay with a company for seventeen years just for the salary. What has always remained, through all the changes, is the human relationship.”
Sport has always been part of his life alongside work. First eleven-a-side football, which he started playing at just five years old, and then futsal, a discipline in which he competed up to Serie B level. When asked what he has carried from the pitch into his professional life, his answer is immediate: “Tenacity, determination and grit.” Now that he has hung up his boots, he enjoys playing fantasy football — naturally with colleagues, building team spirit (also) through the banter in their group chat.
Looking back on his journey, Luigi smiles when thinking about that interview he was sure he would not pass: “If I look back, I see a young man with a diploma, many fears and many insecurities. Seventeen years later, being where I am today is a huge achievement. But that desire to do a little more and to keep challenging myself is still there.”