The Company
HISTORY
The Quarta Caffè company was founded in the 1950s with a small coffee roasting company located inside a bar in the historical center of Lecce. Since the beginning, the coffee roasting company has distinguished itself in terms of high quality of coffee which is destined to become a coffee symbol for a territory, known as Salento.
The famous Avio blend is born and dedicated to the color of the uniforms of the officials of Galatina’s airport who would often pass by to taste their beloved coffee.
Quarta coffee’s fame continues to grow and thanks to its product’s success, requests increase together with sales. And that’s how the first packages of blends dedicated to the family were born; Quarta coffee conquers hearts with its inimitable aroma and flavor and is established as the most beloved and consumed coffee of the territory.
Industrialization will then begin in the 1970s when the business moved from the center of Lecce to the industrial area, investing in the best technologies and state-of-the-art plants. The old coal-based roasting machine is replaced by bigger and more modern machines, necessary to face the sudden growth of the brand. The company, in fact, has grown in all these years, innovating through continuity and with great focus on the product’s quality, under the wise guidance of Antonio Quarta.
MISSION
Being a coffee roasting company par excellence and up to date with the times in terms of technology, ensuring the quality of the product, the processing and all the distribution chain aiming at sustainability and preservation of the territory, needs a complex organization able to interact with the system; an open system and integrated with the territory.
The company follows guidelines, protocols and specifications, becoming national reference points in the market of top quality coffee. From its constitution, Quarta Caffè has aimed at the sense of belonging of the employees and management giving continuity to the ideals of the founder, putting together modesty, knowledge and training; still today, every component of the company is seen as a member of a real family.
The connection with Salento is intimate and reciprocal; for this reason Quarta Caffè is engaged in social programs and environmental themes connected to the sustainability and safeguard of the territory, finding its practical evidence in the energetic actions brought forward by the company itself.
With “Progetto Natura”, the company has created activities that are coherent with the company’s mission, integrating a wind-plant and photovoltaic system in the sources of energetic supply to ensure, even if just in part, the company’s needs.
VISION
Quarta Caffè looks trustingly towards the future: Antonio Quarta and sons together with all the collaborators follow in the footsteps of the Cavalier of Work, Gaetano Quarta. In an ever more dynamic market in which coffee culture becomes more and more open, the consumers appear to be more informed, in search of excellence, more careful about the sustainability of the company’s production, traceability and respect for the environment.
It is in such a vision that the company proceeds along its path, reinforcing its commitment towards sustainability and the development of the territory, the spreading of the company’s values which today are conveyed through a fast 2.0 communication, essential for the disclosure of values for the new generations. Salento is the soul of Quarta coffee and Quarta caffè would have not existed without Salento.
Strong in their know-how, the company continues investing to confirm itself as a coffee factory par excellence, modern in terms of the technology used and to always ensure the best product for its clients. It is for this reason that a new research and development lab has been created with the duty of studying and experimenting new coffee origins and extraction methods, thanks to the competence of Q-grader-certified experts.
SUSTAINABILITY
Quarta Caffè has always been engaged in environmental themes linked to sustainability and safeguard of the territory. Finding its practical evidence in the energetic actions brought forward by the company itself, such as “Progetto Natura” which has integrated to the energy supply, new renewable sources: wind-plant and photovoltaic system; ensuring most of the energy needs of the company.
