Salvatore’s creative solutions
Spending the morning with Salvatore Malatesta looks like a scene out of The West Wing. Inside the engine room, meetings are held back to back and some intertwine with each other, from a menu consultation to a discussion on solar energy. Salvatore brings out hard-hitting questions, evidence of his law background and efficiency to just “get to the point”. Occasionally, he pauses to reply to a text message or buzz his PA for a contact. No two days are the same for the owner of one of the county’s most iconic coffee roasters. Salvatore’s role is not about bean selection or the inner workings of roast profiles. His job is to take his business from a roasting brand to a creative agency.
“The original intention of ST. ALi was to get people drinking better quality coffee,” Salvatore says. “I think the quality of coffee in Melbourne is incredible. That was not the case a decade ago. Absolutely we’ve made it better, but Melbourne is a very mature market. It has led the global coffee renaissance. Now in order to
