We met Francesco Bianco, the founder of MoleCola, in the centrally located box at ilNewyorkese, inside the Italian pavilion at Summer Fancy Food 2025. MoleCola is a project that combines agricultural tradition, short supply chain and national identity, created to propose a credible and authentic alternative to the giants of the global market.
Francesco, tell us what’s behind this important business project.MoleCola is the Italian cola, a project born about ten years ago, based on five fundamental concepts that go somewhat against the beverage world, and in particular the world of cola.
The first point is Italianity: MoleCola is a 100% Italian product. Our flavor base is extracted entirely in Florence. To this we add Italian certified sugar, a very important element. In Italy, for about 15 years, we had no nationally certified sugar: sugar beets were no longer grown and farmers had lost their jobs.
Today, thanks to the Bologna-based Coprob cooperative, this production has been reborn. They reactivated two sugar mills abandoned by the Ferruzzi group in the 1980s and put them back into operation together with all the farms that are part of the cooperative and also own them. Coprob currently consists of 7,500 farms, so more than 80,000 people are farming the land.
We take these two elements – flavor base and sugar – and bring them to Cuneo, where there is San Bernardo mineral water, a very important water: we are the only cola in the world made with natural mineral water. So MoleCola was born. Even bottles, caps, labels, cartons…everything is made in Italy. And that really makes a difference.
How important is your presence at Fancy Food in terms of internationalization? And what is your goal?We came here three years ago without having either importers or distributors. Today we can count on a good number of partners, including very important ones, who are doing a very good job on both the East and West coasts of the United States.
Of course, it’s a long road, because we’re looking at two sacred monsters in the industry, and it’s not easy. But every day we acquire new clients, especially in the restaurant world. Our task is to accompany good Italian food around the world. MoleCola, little by little, is becoming a symbol of Italianness, and this for us is a source of great pride.
The idea that a great Italian restaurant or pizzeria can also offer an Italian cola is a sign that we are going in the right direction.
The article Francesco Bianco: “MoleCola is the symbol of Italianness in the world” comes from TheNewyorker.