Gaggia is an Italian manufacturer of coffee machines, especially espresso machine, in addition to small kitchen appliances. The company is owned by Saeco.

History

The founder, Giovanni Achille Gaggia (1895–1961), applied for a patent (patent number 365726) for the first modern steamless

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

machine on 5 September 1938, to be used commercially in his coffee bar. The machine forced water to flow over the coffee grounds at a high pressure, producing the ' crema' that is unique to

espresso Espresso (, ) is a coffee-brewing method of Italian origin, in which a small amount of nearly boiling water (about ) is forced under of pressure through finely-ground coffee beans. Espresso can be made with a wide variety of coffee beans a ...

. The Gaggia company was founded in 1947 and formally incorporated in 1948. It first produced machines for commercial use, but shortly thereafter released the Gilda, its first home machine. Success comes when the Motta & Biffi bar in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, in Milan, installs the Gaggia machine: there is a queue among the customers. Initially the coffee machines produced by Gaggia were exclusively for professional use, in 1977 the production was expanded to coffee machines for domestic use. Giovanni's son, Camillo, with his partner Armando Migliorini, expands the business on the Navigli but encounters economic difficulties. In 1989 the company, which has a turnover of over 56 billion lire, changes ownership and is sold to the Austro-American businessman Gerhard Andlingler. Gaggia has four product lines. They market automatic espresso machines, manual espresso machines, accessories, and coffee beans under the Gaggia brand name. The company continues to produce espresso machines (as well as accessories) from classic manual machines to the innovative semi-automatic and super-automatic models recently added to the line. In 2007 the Milanese company went into crisis due to a drop in sales, with the risk of closing the Robecco plant and moving production to Romania and Gaggio Montano. Two years later, Gaggia follows the fate of its parent company Saeco, which is taken over by the Dutch multinational Philips. As of 2010, all Gaggia espresso and coffee machines are still manufactured in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

at the

Robecco Sul Naviglio Robecco sul Naviglio (Milanese: ) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about west of Milan. Twin towns * Fosses-la-Ville Fosses-la-Ville (; wa, Fosse-li-Veye) is a city and ...

factory. The 2015 Gaggia Classic was built in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

instead. The New Gaggia Classic is made in Italy again and uses an aluminum boiler. The Gaggia S.p. A company was purchased in 1999 by fellow

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

competitor Saeco International Group, which in turn was purchased by

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

manufacturer

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

in 2009. Gaggia still operates a separate line but now is using Saeco designs in some of its domestic espresso machines. Before the takeover by Philips most domestic espresso machines from Gaggia had aluminium boilers. Now they have stainless steel boilers. In 2017 Philips sold the Saeco Professional division (also with the Gaggia brand) to N&W Global Vending SpA, an Italian

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Com ...

based company leader in vending machines for drinks and snacks, born in 2000 from the integration of Necta and Wittenborg and controlled by a US fund, Lone Star. The domestic coffee machine division remains in the Philips group. In November 2017 N&W changes its name to Evoca Group.

References

External links

* {{Home appliance brands Espresso machines Coffee appliance vendors Home appliance brands Home appliance manufacturers of Italy Manufacturing companies established in 1947 Italian companies established in 1947 Italian brands Coffee in Italy Saeco

History

See also

References

External links