Paolo Dalcò, founder of Gruppo Food, has passed away

Paolo Dalcò, founder of Gruppo Food, died on Monday 17 August 72 years old (he was born on 11 July 1954). The company announced the news.

Dalcò devoted his career to economic and specialist publications. He began in the Eighties with Business, a management magazine, before founding in Parma – 35 years ago – Food, the first B2B magazine dedicated to the agri-food supply chain.

Over time, he built other publications around Food: Dolcesalato, founded 26 years ago and aimed at pastry, bakery and ice-cream professionals; Food Service, aimed at commercial catering; Italianfood.net, aimed at international retailers.

He also founded Dalcò Edizioni, which publishes food-related works and children's books, collaborating with Italian and international publishing houses and developing projects with authors such as Umberto Galimberti, Alessandro Baricco, Renzo Piano and Oscar Farinetti.

Dalcò was one of the founders of Confimprese, the association of modern retail businesses, established in 1999 together with Mario Resca, then managing director of McDonald's Italia. In 2006 he created the Consorzio Italia del Gusto with Giovanni Rana, the first private consortium of companies in Italy's food and wine sector, dedicated to developing Italian Food exports.

In 2021 he had handed over the leadership of Gruppo Food to his son Davide Dalcò, who now continues the company's work.

The editorial team at Distribuzione Moderna extends its condolences to the family and Gruppo Food.

I personally knew Paolo Dalcò from 1999. The most vivid memory was probably in 2002 or 2004, when I was an ordinary editor and going through a difficult time, and he offered to take me with him to the Alimentaria trade fair in Barcelona. We left Parma at four in the morning in a van loaded with magazines and food products intended for his son Davide, who was then studying in the Spanish city. While I slept, Dalcò took a detour through Liguria towards the coast: he wanted me to taste what he believed was the best focaccia in Italy. When I woke up, there was the sea and an entire tray of hot focaccia. He was a generous and optimistic man. It was his way of saying that difficult times are just moments, nothing more. In editorial meetings, he brought ideas and a certain productive disorder, which remain the most vivid memory of those years. With the publishing crisis of 2008 his way of being changed, and I believe it affected him in some way.

The funeral will be held on Monday 24 August at 10 at the Church of the Santissima Annunziata, at Via Massimo D'Azeglio 8 in Parma. On Sunday 23 August, at 19.30, the rosary will be held in his memory in the same church. Messages of condolence can be found in Gazzetta di Parma and Corriere della Sera.

This content was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.