Luxury and sustainability

Fashion and luxury are more and more closely connected with the food&wine world and want to be more and more sustainable. We met Mauro Benincasa, Ceo of the HQ food&beverage group, who knows a thing or two about luxury-and food.

Let's face it, private jets are not only extremely expensive but also extremely polluting. For a few sure, but they pollute so much that even if only a few people use them it is enough to feel the need from the press and the public to raise this kind of issue. The super rich pollute with their habit of luxury and exclusivity, that is a fact. But if our goal on Earth is to become a little more sustainable every day, even in those fields considered hopeless, wouldn't we still be doing our part? After all, even an ocean is made up of drops. 

"Every day more sustainable" is part of the philosophy of Mauro Benincasa, Ceo of the HQ food&beverage group. A group dedicated to catering to the luxury sector with four specialized brands and an ever-accessible spotlight on sustainability, whether environmental, economic or social. Why did I mention private jets? Because Benincasa's experience with luxury starts with Hi Fly, a company that catered on private jets to be exact, and that meets in every way the sometimes exaggerated and bizarre demands of its high-spending and exclusive clientele. 

Established in 1999, with more than 4,000 flights and 20,000 passengers a year, Hi Fly hosts movie stars, distinguished business personalities, CEOs and Founders of multinationals from around the world, heads of state and royal families. The offerings are limitless, and what with feet planted on the ground might be an ordinary meal, at high altitude becomes a real challenge in terms of technology. Forget mushy sandwiches reheated as best you can; goodbye steaming trays of food with confusing ingredients, hello risottos with perfect mantecatura. Far from child's play because in the air there is no chef but the cabin crew who are properly trained and put in a position to properly regenerate the preparations devised by the HQ team. The challenge within the challenge then is to accept each request and then proceed to turn it into reality. 

In getting to know Mauro Benincasa, I did not miss a few curious anecdotes... and so I discovered that the shortest flight (which was also the one with the most important load of delicacies and drinks) was the so-called "catapult flight," Milan - Venice, a total of 10 minutes of cruising, but a lot of preparation beforehand and above all, demanding customers to satisfy. That the demand for Dom Perignon outstripped that of Cristal, credit perhaps to the investment in super popular influencers and testimonials? Boh! And finally that the most expensive Italian wine ever sold was a bottle of Masseto, 100/100 and so once again... the best! If you're wondering who Hi Fly sources its wine from, here's the answer, the suppliers are high-end specialized wine shops, including Pec and WineTip. 

But HQ precisely is not just Hi Fly, alongside limitless exclusivity there are strong social values and a vocation for sustainability. All this takes shape under the name BioQitchen, the catering company that uses organic and short-chain products whose first and exclusive partner is Alce Nero. (Also part of the group are DreamEat, catering for fashion and film productions, and HangarQ, a crazy and unimaginable venue for private and corporate events as well as a base for experimentation and innovation.)

So I echo the points made in the opening, can one be more sustainable with each passing day? The answer is yes, you just have to start. And Mauro Benincasa's answer is precisely BioQitchen. 

This brand was recently a food partner and supplier during MFW (Milan Fashion Week, September 2022) at the White Show, a veritable fair and showcase for designers from around the world. In Milan, BioQitchen refreshed the fashion world with dishes and products that are organic, sustainable, and from integrated production. Such as SQNPI-certified Prosecco doc, water that promotes wells in drought-stricken areas of Africa, and Women's Coffee from IWCA, the International Women in Coffee Alliance, a global network supporting women throughout the coffee supply chain in 29 locations around the world.

From this meeting I took home the knowledge, and the hope, that fashion and luxury are not only closely connected with the food&wine world, but that they can and will be increasingly sustainable. The concept of taylor made becomes inseparable from that of organic, ethical and sustainable, and this heartens us and should also push us to do our part more and more. Benincasa and HQ's vision is long-term. Today, HQ makes concrete environmental, territorial and social commitments by "guaranteeing employment contracts for the dining and kitchen brigades and shifts that respect the quality of life. Finally, it supports gender equality, with a 50 percent presence of female staff both at management level and in the various kitchen and dining brigades," CEO's word.