illycaffè Appoints Green Michelin Star Chef, Chantelle Nicholson, as UK Chef Ambassador for 2023

TRIESTE, Italy, June 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- illycaffè, the global leader in high-quality sustainable coffee, is delighted to announce the appointment of multi-award-winning, Michelin Green Star chef and owner of Apricity in Mayfair, Chantelle Nicholson, as illy's first UK Chef Ambassador.

With a mutual passion for the finest gastronomy alongside spearheading environmental innovations within the hospitality industry, illy and Chantelle will partner across a number of exciting initiatives across 2023. The partnership will launch at Taste of London, with an exciting program of delicious cooking demonstrations and panel discussion around the future of sustainability in hospitality.

"Chantelle has long impressed with her creativity and commitment to progressing sustainable practice alongside the finest gastronomy. Without compromise, Chantelle and illy aim to maintain a best-in-class gastronomic experience whilst working with nature and championing regenerative agriculture" said Cristina Scocchia, illycaffè CEO. "We are delighted that Chantelle joins our Ambassador Chef family, as the company's first UK Chef since we launched the programme in 2015 and are looking forward to an exciting year ahead."

A producer of 100% sustainable coffee and with a commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2033, family-owned illy has long led on environmentally responsible innovations within the industry. Committed to supporting, investing and celebrating the coffee communities it partners with, illy enjoys a direct trade model across its full supply chain, ensuring transparency, consistency and collaboration.  In 2011, illy was the first coffee company to be awarded a certification for its entire supply chain, in 2021, it was the first Italian company in its sector to be certified as BCorp and is proud to have been celebrated as A World's Most Ethical Company for the last 11 years, consecutively.

Awarded a Green Michelin star this year, Chantelle Nicholson is one of the UK's leading female names in the hospitality industry. An advocate for seasonality, sustainability and championing veg-forward cooking, Chantelle is a source of inspiration to hospitality professionals across the UK. Symbolising regeneration, warmth, generosity and light, Apricity continues Chantelle's commitment to running a socially conscious endeavour with her team of innovative and like-minded people.

Chef Chantelle Nicholson comments: "I'm delighted to be partnering with a like-minded brand that's committed to quality, taste and striving for better practices. To have the opportunity to create a bespoke illy blend is an exciting prospect and will make for a unique addition to our coffee offering at Apricity." 

Within the partnership, Chantelle and illycaffé's master blenders will collaborate on a bespoke personal coffee blend that combines illycaffé's nine monoarabica blends at the illy University of Coffee in Trieste, according to Chantelle's own style, sensory preferences and taste. This bespoke blend will be available for consumers to enjoy at Apricity alongside the restaurant's seasonal menu, highlighting the synergy between the two companies as they showcase excellence in gastronomy and sustainability.

illycaffé's Ambassador Chef Partnership initiative, which launched in 2015 is a unique and distinctive project within which, illy is proud to collaborate with some of the world's most exceptional chefs. Chefs are invited across two categories; the illy Masters of Excellence, of great starred Chefs and since 2021, where illy was the first company to support Michelin's new Green Star initiative, Sustainable Chefs, to whom the Michelin guide has awarded a Michelin Green Star.  The project has created a series of personal blends, each one unique, styled by the taste profile of each Ambassador.

For more information please contact illy
[email protected]

Chantelle Nicholson

Born in New Zealand, Chantelle Nicholson very quickly learned to love food and cooking, being surrounded by local, seasonal, tasty produce. After earning her law and business degrees, whilst working part time as a cook, she worked briefly in the field before following her passion of cookery, enticing her away from NZ to a job at London's Savoy Grill in 2004. Following time both in and out of the kitchen, working in operations, Chantelle opened Tredwells in 2014, taking sole ownership in 2017. In 2021, Tredwells was one of the first restaurants in the United Kingdom to be awarded a Michelin Green Star. Returning to her roots of seasonal, low-waste cooking, and a circular approach to all she does, Chantelle opened Apricity, in London's Mayfair, in 2022, focusing on 'conscious cooking and joyful dining' with a regenerative ethos. In its first year of operation, Apricity was awarded a Michelin Green Star for its full-circle approach to sustainability.

illycaffè is an Italian family-owned company, founded in Trieste in 1933 which has always set itself the mission of offering the best coffee to the world. It produces a unique 100% Arabica blend composed of 9 different ingredients. The company selects only 1% of the best Arabica beans in the world. Every day 8 million cups of illy coffee are served in over 140 countries around the globe, in the cafés, restaurants and hotels, in single-brand cafés and shops, at home and in the office, in which the company is present through subsidiaries and distributors. Since its foundation, illycaffè has oriented its strategies towards a sustainable business model, commitment that it strengthened in 2019 by adopting the status of Benefit Company and in 2021 becoming the first Italian coffee company to obtain the international B Corp certification. Since 2013 the company is also one of the World Most Ethical Companies. Everything that is "made in illy" is about beauty and art, the founding principles of the brand, starting from its logo, designed by artist James Rosenquist, up to illy Art Collection cups, decorated by over 125 international artists, or coffee machines designed by internationally renowned designers. With the aim of spreading the culture of quality to growers, baristas and coffee lovers, the company has developed its Università del Caffè which today holds courses in 25 countries around the world. In 2021, Rhône Capital became a minority shareholder of illycaffè with the aim of contributing to the company's international growth plans. In 2022, the company had 1230 employees and a turnover of €567,7 million. The illy single-brand network has 190 points of sale in 34 countries.

SOURCE illycaffè