When Prada opened a Prada Caffè at Harrods in London earlier this yr, it didn’t take this extension into hospitality frivolously.

“We tried to be as credible as possible,” Prada Group chief executive officer Andrea Guerra told the WWD Apparel & Retail CEO Summit in Recent York, noting it deployed historic Italian pastry shop Pasticceria Marchesi, founded in 1824 and now the group’s food and beverage platform. “Yes, those places are Instagrammable places. But those places also should be filled with experiences and emotions. You go there and also you eat well, and also you eat the way in which Prada sees Italian food. So it’s not only a gimmick — there may be culture in it.”

In his opinion, “you may have to be credible in all of the stuff you do. If those things are related to the DNA of the brand, nothing is not possible in 2023.”

The Prada Caffè is slated to stay open on the bottom floor of the London department store until Jan. 7, serving breakfast, light lunches, pastries and evening cocktails, as reported.

During a wide-ranging conversation with WWD’s Milan bureau chief Luisa Zargani, the manager extolled how he pertains to the way in which Prada “has all the time crafted this industry from a cultural viewpoint…not only as a fashion and luxury brand.”

“Its brands have all the time had an enormous perspective on culture, from architecture, to music, to theater, to cinema, to food and beverage today as well,” he explained.

Guerra noted this unique orientation stretches back greater than 20 years, when Prada established its first Epicenters, including one in a bespoke Herzog & de Meuron constructing in Tokyo’s Aoyama district that appears as vividly recent today because it did back then.

“The group has all the time been wishing to expand the role of the brand in our lives. It’s not only a tag, it’s being a part of a community. It’s being a part of a club,” he explained. “Every part starts with an mental base and I believe that is the explanation why every little thing is completed with a unique perspective.”

For example, he noted Prada’s recent jewelry expansion hinges on recycled gold.

“It’s a progressive company. They’re concerned about culture,” he said.

Prada recently reentered the sweetness business with licensee L’Oréal, and Guerra has pointed to the addition of bijou in stores, in addition to art de la table and residential collections, as future vectors of growth.

“Our foremost focus today is to maintain up with expectations,” he said, stressing the necessity to keep nurturing the desirability of its brands, which also include Miu Miu, Church’s and Automotive Shoe. “But on the opposite side is an issue of scale. I mean, we’re not in a distinct segment game, we’re in a worldwide game…so we want to proceed to grow.”

“And today our greatest strategy to grow is like-for-like, so which means working with our communities, expanding our communities, ensuring that they find recent things in our stores,” he said.

Guerra allowed that 2023 might be an “awkward” yr for luxury players as post-COVID-19 euphoria ebbs.

“We’re living in a world of black swans; we’re living in a world where anything can occur every single day,” he said. “Even when people speak about normalization, by default, something will occur, positive or negative.…What could be very critical is that your objective could be very clear.”

The chief declined to make specific projections concerning the group’s business prospects amid slowdowns in China and the U.S., plus geopolitical turbulence. As an alternative, he stressed the critical role of emotions, experience and feel-good aspects in making consumers reach for his or her wallets.

Before taking the helm of Prada Group last January, Guerra held quite a lot of roles, including CEO of LVMH Hospitality Excellence, executive chairman of high-end food emporium Eataly, and strategic adviser to former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Guerra’s experience leading Eataly was formative. “What I loved concerning the Eataly experience in food is that each two meters there was something recent, something that catches your eye.…Unfortunately, we only have one stomach,” he said to a round of laughter.

The lesson for fashion corporations is to guarantee they provide “constant surprises and constant experiences. So you may have to renew your [content] feeds; you may have to upgrade your digital tools. It’s really about surprising and allowing our consumers to essentially breathe experiences and emotions with us.”

Guerra had long dealings with Prada when he was CEO of Luxottica, where he took the licensed Prada eyewear business from zero in 2003 to at least one billion euros at retail. When Lorenzo Bertelli, son of Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada, was confirmed as the longer term leader of the Italian fashion company, “that to me was the turning point,” Guerra noted.

“We were saying similar things, we were considering similar things,” he said of the younger Bertelli. “So I said, ‘I’m coming to assist.’ I really like this concept of entrepreneurs. I really like first-generation corporations. Italy has a variety of those.”

Referring to Miuccia Prada and Patrizio and Lorenzo Bertelli, Guerra enthused that “they’ve an enormous energy today, an enormous curiosity because that’s the place to begin.”

Asked about widening speculation that Prada, which went public in Hong Kong in 2011, will seek a secondary listing, Guerra said, “There isn’t any plan.…We’ve got other things to be done first.

“It might make sense someday,” he allowed, while stressing the group takes a long-term perspective on all things.