[avatar user=”stanwilliams” size=”160″ align=”left”]Stan Williams
Managing Director of the European Packaged Ice Association[/avatar]
Let me start off by saying “Wow, what a ride.” How many of today’s EPIA members remember those first days during mid-January 2008 in Frankfurt when fifteen packaged ice manufacturers and five ice industry equipment and supplies manufacturers came together to discuss the future of package ice in Europe? That exploratory meeting consisted of ice producers from ten countries; Italy-4, Germany-2, Romania-2, and one each from San Marino, Hungary, Spain, UK, Poland, Croatia, and Denmark. The equipment and supplies companies consisted of two ice making equipment manufacturers, a cold room manufacturer, a packaging film manufacturer, and a factory design consolidator providing multiple equipment brands.
Most of us did not know one another, but the ice was broken (pun intended) when Charlotte Maginnis of Leer LP hosted the first evening cocktail “get to know you” party on Wednesday evening 16 January 2008 at 5 pm CET. Can that be our beginning, or should it be looked at as the first date before the actual birth that took place in Seville nine months later when the association documents were made official and we held our first official annual convention hosted by Miguel Angel of Procubitos S.L? We can all be proud of the progress made by those founding members and for the foresight displayed at that time.
Allow me to tell a personal story about my initial involvement with the ice industry in Europe. During the summer of 2005, Jenise and I were vacationing in Venice, Italy and we were sitting on the veranda of our small hotel about midnight having a nightcap and reliving our adventures of the day. As we were attempting to enjoy a nice adult beverage, we were informed that we could not have ice cubes in our beverages because the hotel did not have any. Obviously, that was not a desirable situation and I complained. Jenise, always the level heading one, stated that rather than complain whenever we travel around Europe and cannot get ice cubes, I should do something about it. After all, I was retired, had no diversions that took up my time, and was somewhat bored. I sort of bowed my head a little petulantly and changed the subject, but did not forget it.
Shortly after returning to the Washington DC area in the US where we lived at the time, I read an article in the New York Times about a Matt Meredith in Frankfurt, Germany and how he had just started an ice company so he could get ice cubes when he needed them to chill his beer kegs for parties. I thought that was a novel idea and maybe I could do something about the lack of ice cubes in the places I wanted to travel to in Europe. Not two months later, I contacted the Commercial Attaché at the Italian Embassy in Washington DC, not eight miles from my home as the crow flies, and spoke to him about the lack of ice in Italy. The timing must have been right because he invited me to sit with him and present how a fresh opportunity to employ Italians could help Italy’s economy. We met on two occasions at his office at the Embassy and he put me in touch with a company in Rome that works closely with the Italian government to encourage economic expansion in lesser developed areas in Italy. The company was Sviluppo Italia Campania SpA and offers local development services for economic expansion.
I quickly polished my business plan and hopped a plane to Rome. I met with Antonio Arcese in his office and we discussed the value of new industry employment in some of the lesser industrialized areas in Italy. We hit it off from the beginning. He is a photography hobbyist and had recently returned from a vacation in Washington DC. We spend much of the time looking at his photos and talking about his hobby and what he photographed in Washington. After meeting two of his staff and continuing our discussion about ice production and the lack of it in Italy, he took us all to lunch for a traditional extended Italian mid-day meal. The end result was that after returning home to the US, I received a proposal from Sviluppo Italia to fund with grant money and a matching low-interest loan to build a factory to produce packaged ice in Italy. During lunch was when the name “qb” was proposed as a cube of ice that was the same however it tumbled out of the ice bag.
It is very meaningful for me that the EPIA 10-year celebration convention will be held in Venice where the idea to become part of the ice industry was first conceived.
We will hold this convention as a celebration of ice and the ten productive years of the EPIA helping to form and refine the package ice industry in Europe. The Board of Directors took direction from the general membership to hold the convention in Venice. One of the most unusual places in the world.
Venice has been known as the “Queen of the Adriatic,” “City of Water,” “City of Masks,” “City of Bridges,” “The Floating City,” and “City of Canals” and soon to be the “City of the Celebration of Packaged Ice in Europe.” Well maybe to just a select few of us. There will be serious discussions of topics crucial to the packaged ice industry not only in Europe but to the world such as the use of single-use plastics. Think how much plastic we use in the production, distribution, and sale of ice cubes and its impact on the planet.
We will continue through personal and association communications to provide the platform for a fertile exchange of ideas between our producers and our suppliers. One of the most important and productive purposes for the EPIA is to provide the opportunity for ice producers to be better at what they do and for the suppliers to introduce world-class products to meet the needs of ice producers. No one can imagine all the advances that have come and will come to the industry in the near future, but together we can each keep aware of these changes as they develop. How better can we be preparing for the future of our industry?
There is the age-old saying, “all work and no play will make Jack a dull boy” and we take that to heart. As always, we still have time for fun. This convention will include gondola rides to places that cannot be found anywhere else in the world, mask making like in the glory days of Venice, the memorable and inexpensive eating during a Cicchetti pub crawl while hanging with the locals in small intimate bacari. Venice’s bacari will be enjoyed by all as we pop into each for a cicheto and partake of the accompanying Ombra (small glass of wine). The best part is that nobody must be the designated driver—there are no roads in the part of Venice where we will be. Just remember life jackets may be recommended for some.
As always at our annual convention, the final celebration this year will be during the hosts, José Ramirez & Federico Servadio tour of their newly completed state of the art Ghiaccio Facile factory and the final luncheon while we enjoy and laugh during the now almost world-renowned ice bag throwing contest, which I plan to win this year if Phillip Marr (perennial champion since the initial games in York) will stand down from the competition.
I for one am looking forward to the celebration of “Ice You Can Trust.” See you in Venice.