Pasticceria Sartori, located in Erba, a town in the province of Como, Italy, presents a remarkable example of how a nearly seventy-year-old family business can reposition itself through generational change. According to a profile published by Gambero Rosso on August 25, 2026, the business was selected among the finalists for illy Bar dell’Anno in the I Migliori Bar d’Italia 2027 guide.

At the center of the news is the second-generation representative of the business, pastry chef Anna Sartori.

According to the official history of Pasticceria Sartori, the family story began in 1956 when Francesco Sartori started a small dairy and ice cream production. In 1958, Francesco Sartori and his wife Carolina Rigamonti established Pasticceria Sartori. The management of the business passed to their daughters Anna and Roberta Sartori in 2000; in 2013, the pastry shop moved to its current larger location on Via Volta.

Gambero Rosso's current profile addresses Anna Sartori's role in the business not only as a second-generation manager continuing the family legacy but also as a pastry chef reshaping the product development approach.

From Agricultural Sciences to the Pastry Laboratory

Sartori’s professional journey did not begin directly with pastry school.

According to profiles published by Gambero Rosso and previously by La Cucina Italiana, Sartori studied Agricultural Sciences; then she pursued training in pastry, naturopathy, and traditional Chinese medicine. Drawing from these different disciplines, she defined her own product development approach under the name FEIS.

FEIS stands for “Fisico, Emotività, Intelletto e Spirito,” which translates to physical dimension, emotionality, intellectual approach, and spiritual dimension.

Here, an important editorial distinction is necessary. FEIS is not an independently verified nutrition or health protocol; it is a personal framework developed by Anna Sartori to describe her approach to pastry and food. Therefore, health or metabolic outcomes related to the method should not be presented as scientific facts.

In contrast, the more tangible aspect from a business perspective is Sartori’s application of this approach at various points in the business, from product selection to recipe development.

According to Gambero Rosso, the business offers classic pastry products alongside whole grain and vegan brioche options, savory products made with their own baked goods, mignon pastries, single-serving desserts, ice cream, and aperitivo products.

The Pastry Shop is Not Limited to One Time of Day

One of Pasticceria Sartori's strongest aspects from a StaffMag perspective is its management of different times of day rather than just its products.

The business does not operate solely on morning coffee and pastry sales. Its official website outlines a service flow that spans different consumption moments such as breakfast, pastry, ice cream, coffee, and aperitivo. Gambero Rosso also confirms various times of day, from morning brioche service to lunchtime toast and panini options, and the aperitivo offerings later in the day.

This structure is particularly important for independent pastry shops.

In the traditional pastry model, a significant portion of customer traffic can concentrate in the morning hours, on weekends, and during special occasions. Operating at low capacity during lunchtime or in the afternoon can limit revenue per square meter.

In the case of Sartori, the same production capability is extended to different consumption moments: bread made with lievito madre is linked to lunchtime, production in the pastry laboratory is connected to breakfast, ice cream is for daytime consumption, and savory products are associated with aperitivo time.

This approach is different from randomly expanding the menu. It creates a product architecture aimed at utilizing the same production infrastructure across as many different service moments as possible.

After the Generational Change, the Brand Reshaped Itself

In family businesses, generational change is often discussed through the dilemma of “preserving tradition or changing it?”.

The history of Pasticceria Sartori shows that both approaches can be pursued together. After Anna and Roberta Sartori took over the family business, instead of closing the brand and creating a new concept, they focused on expanding the existing business's production knowledge.

Moving to a larger and more modern location in 2013 was one of the significant milestones in this process. The local publication La Provincia di Como reports that the business has previously grown through product development, training, and investment in the new location.

This situation reminds us that generational change in independent restaurants and pastry shops is not just about ownership transfer.

With the new generation joining the business, the product portfolio, store design, customer profile, production system, and the way the brand is communicated can also be redefined.

However, this transformation must be done without completely undermining the customer trust that the business has built in the past.

Lievito Madre Became the Business's Second Area of Expertise

Anna Sartori's professional activities are not limited to Pasticceria Sartori.

Founded in 2022, the Consorzio per la Tutela del Lievito Madre da Rinfresco aims to preserve the use of lievito madre, traditionally maintained through regular feeding and renewal processes, and to enhance technical knowledge. In the news from ANSA during the consortium's founding period, Sartori is mentioned as the president of the consortium. In current consortium resources, Anna Sartori is also listed among the member professionals alongside Pasticceria Sartori.

Pasticceria Sartori's corporate page states that Anna Sartori established the consortium in 2022 and considers the use of lievito madre in the business's large leavened products as one of its fundamental techniques.

This work is an example of an independent pastry chef carrying their expertise beyond their own showcase into the industry network.

From a business perspective, institutionalizing expertise can lead to outcomes such as education, professional visibility, and strengthening product identity.

However, it is also necessary to separate technical claims from marketing discourse. “Lievito madre is used” can be a verifiable production fact; however, associated digestive or health benefits require scientific evidence.

What Does Being a Finalist for Bar dell’Anno Mean?

Pasticceria Sartori's inclusion among the finalists for the 2027 illy Bar dell’Anno is the direct reason for the business's renewed attention.

According to Gambero Rosso's past award announcements, illy Bar dell’Anno is not just an award that evaluates the technical quality of coffee or pastry products. Sustainability, product sourcing, energy use, business approach, and overall offering also play a role in the evaluation. The winner is determined by an expert jury.

Therefore, Sartori's finalist status should not be presented as “selected as the best pastry shop in Italy.”

As of August 27, 2026, the business is in finalist position; the winner of the Bar dell’Anno 2027 award has not yet been announced.

Interestingly, the business was also among the finalists for Bar dell’Anno in Gambero Rosso's Bar d’Italia 2026 evaluation the previous year.

Being featured in consecutive finalist lists suggests that the business is being evaluated with a longer-term business model rather than a one-time product launch.

Implications for Independent Pastry Shops in Turkey

The example of Pasticceria Sartori does not provide a recipe to be copied product-wise for businesses in Turkey. Italy's breakfast and bar culture, pricing structure, and consumption habits are different.

However, the operational side of the model contains applicable lessons.

A pastry shop can examine which hours of the day are underutilized instead of merely increasing the number of products in the display. It can consider how morning production can be linked to lunchtime, aperitivo, or packaged sales.

The second important area is specialization.

Instead of a pastry shop trying to produce everything, developing deep technical knowledge in lievito madre, chocolate, viennoiserie, ice cream, or a specific local product group can facilitate the brand's differentiation.

The third area is generational change.

In a family business, the new generation's role is not only to maintain the existing system but also to determine which knowledge and products will be preserved and which will be redesigned.

According to Stafflink

The most valuable element in the story of Pasticceria Sartori is not the “70-year-old business” label. For long-lasting businesses, the main issue is being able to change enough to respond to the customer's current usage patterns while preserving the past.

In our view, the success of generational change in family businesses should not be measured by the new generation completely eliminating old products or changing nothing at all. A stronger model is one that identifies which knowledge truly creates value for the business and carries it into new products, new service times, and new customer groups.

In the case of Sartori, production knowledge extends from breakfast to aperitivo, while expertise in lievito madre spans from the pastry laboratory to industry organization.

This also has an operational cost. Operating for more hours of the day creates more revenue opportunities, but it can increase the complexity of production planning, shift scheduling, inventory, and service training. For the pastry, café, and aperitivo model to work well under the same roof, each time of day must be monitored with separate sales and profitability data.

Moreover, businesses developing products along the axes of “health,” “wellness,” or “naturalness” must be particularly careful with their communication language. A personal gastronomic approach is not the same as proven health outcomes.

Therefore, the strongest business lesson that can be drawn from Sartori is not a specific recipe: Systematizing the craft knowledge passed down from the family and transforming it into a business model that generates economic value at more moments of the day.