Text: Cathy (Kexin) Chen
Before Filippo came to Wageningen, he was working at the Bulgari Hotel in Italy, a world leading hotel. ‘I was doing my job very well and the manager offered me a permanent contract shortly after I started working there. This job could’ve brought me a decent income that assured me of a nice living and a nice future career’, says Filippo proudly. However, he still quit this job and decided to pursue further education in food science. ‘I had the urge to study and gain more academic knowledge about food science and management. So I made the decision to come to study at Wageningen University. I resigned from my job without hesitation after I got accepted at the university. Now that I have almost finished my degree, I can see that my decision was absolutely right. After completing my Master’s in the field of food science, I felt that I could do much better than before.’
I want to open my own restaurant soon
Filippo’s goal now is to open his own restaurant soon after graduation. ‘I chose the entrepreneurship track especially to learn more about the mindset of an entrepreneur. I want to open my own restaurant one day. This has been my dream since I was 16 years old. My sister was really ill then and she was psychologically unstable. I wanted to make her feel better by making her nice food. I wanted to learn to treat illness with food, and I felt the “inner me” encouraging me to study the mystery of food that can make people feel better. Food is so important and so closely related to human life. And if possible, I want to merge this idea into my future restaurant business. So soon after my internship, I will closely look at the market trends and take a chance on opening my own restaurants soon.’