How independent supermarket LaManna is redefining Australian grocery shopping

For those in Melbourne, stepping into the LaManna supermarket, in the northern suburb of Essendon Fields, is like taking the world’s shortest flight to Italy. There are no orderly lines; instead, people are gathered around a bar sipping A$2 espressos. Rows of observers are studying the pastry chefs adding the finishing touches to a cake, while a pizza al taglio vendor is trying to decide whom to serve next and a pile of trolleys awaits the return of customers carrying handfuls of pantry staples. It’s an atmosphere that leaves customers wishing they would forget something on their shopping list so they could justify coming back sooner.To the LaManna customer, a trip to the supermarket is not an errand but an indulgence. Unlike ‘The Big Two’, Coles and Woolworths, where the lighting is sterile, the aisles are difficult to navigate and the closest thing to conversation is someone asking for assistance at the self-serve checkout, LaManna has curated a 10,000sqm food emporium that puts the customer experience at the forefront of its operations. The current economic downturn has put supermarkets on the frontline of the cost-of-living crisis, as families do their best to manage household budgets. LaManna’s defiance of the industry status quo means it is only just hitting its stride.After steadily laying the groundwork for the past decade-and-a-half, LaManna is now ready to reintroduce itself to consumers as a retail destination for more than just the weekly shop. It’s looking to redefine the supermarket category and elevate grocery shopping in Australia to a world-class standard.The master rebrandLaManna is far from being considered the new kid on the block, but in some ways it is still Melbourne’s best-kept secret. Established in 2010 by father-son duo Vince and Patrick LaManna after their fresh produce delivery business failed, the business is housed in Hangar 89 at Essendon Fields Airport, making it Australia’s largest independent supermarket by size and, somewhat surprisingly, one of Melbourne’s top retail destinations. The LaMannas have gone from serving customers door-to-door to creating a shopfront that has its own cult-like following. And after unveiling a rebrand in August of this year, they are ready to shake up the grocery sector and raise the bar for what customers should expect from a supermarket. They’re bringing a love for quality and a focus on experiential retail to life with a hospitality offering for nearly every category, delivering the kind of shopping experience you can have abroad in Los Angeles’ Erewhon, London’s Harrods, or Milan’s Eataly. At a surface level, the rebrand ensures that LaManna’s logo is consistent across its signage, shopping bags, and about 500 private-label products that the company offers. But the heart of it sharpens the focus on the family story: A tale of Italian immigrants whose hard work and entrepreneurship resulted in a thriving third-generation business – the best kind of Australian story.“Our story is still very strong in our business, within our team, within our communication and the food that we make,” Patrick LaManna, CEO of LaManna, told Inside FMCG from his office located inside the hangar, 50 metres away from where his grandfather, Pasquale LaManna, landed in Australia in 1948 at Essendon Airport’s former international terminal. For LaManna, both the CEO and his eponymous supermarket, the customer experience is personal. The supermarket is as much of a family affair as grocery shopping is for Australian households. “I don’t have days off, I live and breathe what we do, it is part of who I am, who we are,” he said. The company’s success is no accident; every new product line, staff hire and store installation is meticulously calculated. LaManna’s hospitality-first approach is worth taking notes on as it continues to set a new standard for supermarkets around the country. A retail renaissance In an age when click-and-collect and on-demand delivery have removed the need for consumers to grocery shop in person, LaManna has created a hospitality mecca that brings in heavy foot traffic. Its onsite cafe, patisserie, espresso bar, florist and pizzeria have made it a food destination.“We’ve got to surprise and delight our customers – we’ve got to find ways that give them different reasons to come, other than just range and price,” LaManna explained.Amidst a cost-of-living crisis, when consumers are having to direct a greater portion of their budget to groceries, it’s not hard to see the appeal of a supermarket that will offer more than just convenience. For loyal customers, LaManna resembles something closer to a third place, a familiar and public space to connect with people that isn’t home or work. “I don’t spend a lot of time out on the floor, but when I’m out there, I often hear people saying, ‘And over here they sell this, and over here they sell that’,” LaManna shared. “People take their friends here and they tour them around the store. There is a sense of pride. It’s like they’ve discovered LaManna,” he added. “It’s really nice to hear because some people are really passionate about what we do here. And at the end of the day, we are a supermarket, right?”They can’t competeFor a long time, LaManna thought it was the product range that separated his supermarket from The Big Two but now he’s certain it’s his team. “I think it’s about the people – it’s the people here who make us better,” he stated.He admitted that it used to weigh on him when Coles and Woolworths representatives, in and out of uniform, would come to LaManna to scope out the competition. But now he doesn’t worry about it.“After a while I kind of realised, why waste my energy on this? Let them come in, let them take as many photos as they want. I don’t really care, because what they can’t do is replicate the soul that we have within our business,” LaManna shared.“At Essendon Fields, of the 126 permanent staff we have here, 61 have been here for more than seven years. How can I replicate that?…If we can’t replicate that, they’ve got no chance,” he affirmed.Both the back- and front-of-house staff are pivotal to the supermarket operation and overall customer experience. As a result, LaManna puts a lot of time into recruiting talent with the right company fit. “For the key staff like the managers, they’ve got to have those skill sets already but they need to have alignment to our culture as well, which can be hard,” LaManna explained. He has “brought in a lot of really good people who have the skill sets and who I thought had the culture”, only to find out later that it was a mismatch. “In the interview,” he noted, “everyone’s got the culture.”Grounded in family values, LaManna’s company culture has not gone unnoticed by its loyal consumers. This has also become part of the attraction for new customers looking for alternate experiences to The Big Two.“The most important thing is making teammates happy, It’s not customer service,” LaManna confessed. “Because if you’re not happy at work, and you hate being there, customer service is not really real – it’s kind of forced.” The next frontierWith the recent scrutiny of The Big Two following allegations of price gouging, independent supermarkets like LaManna are gaining an influx of new shoppers who are looking for alternatives to the major chains. “I think that we probably have picked up some of those customers, and I know they would definitely subsidise their shop. They wouldn’t be doing their full shops [at LaManna] but come in for those really good things that make them feel better,” LaManna said.“I think that people just want to find a place they can trust and you can trust family businesses in most cases, right? We’ve got a good reputation for that.”LaManna’s industry recognition and customer base are growing as it continues to build a grocery store experience that doesn’t parallel anything else in the Australian market. The blueprint, or more accurately the floor plans, have already been designed – now all that’s left is for management to give the go-ahead.“It’s taken us a while to get here, but I feel like I’ve got a very clear vision for what the future looks like for us,” LaManna concluded. “We’re now ready to take another leap forward and really separate ourselves from everyone else and not look back.”The future for LaManna, as its CEO describes it, is not to streamline the shopping experience into a supermarket of impersonal convenience. Instead, it’s to double down on the quality service and warm hospitality that originally put it on the map.LaManna is a one-of-a-kind supermarket – quietly working to raise the bar to curate a world-class food shopping experience right here in Australia.This story first appeared in the October 2024 issue of Inside FMCG magazine.