Adriatic Ship Supply & Trading Company was founded in 1970 by Renzo Reffo, who was later joined by his sons, Maurizio and Roberto Reffo. The principal activity of the company was to supply ship-store to the foreign vessels calling at the port of Durban, which was the largest port in Africa.
The company operated from its own business premises at 10/14 Davenport Avenue in Durban with a bonded warehouse; and was the exclusive supplier to many important shipping lines.
Due to the introduction of containerization and the decline of the number of passenger ships calling at the port of Durban, the company decided to diversify its activities by moving into the importation and distribution of Italian food and wine products to the South African market. This met with great success. The principal philosophy of only supplying high-quality products from leading Italian companies was established.
In 1983 the Reffo family decided to open a warehouse in Johannesburg to provide a more immediate service to what has become the most important market sector for the company. Adriatic now operates from its own premises at 88/89 Newton Street, Meadowdale.
Adriatic also operates in the Western Cape and Durban with a distribution warehouse and sales force in each region.
Adriatic Catering’s first venture was the importation of the La San Marco coffee machine range, which was prompted by the relationship that Adriatic shared (and still shares) with Segafredo Zanetti -- one of the leading producers of espresso coffee in the world. This endeavor proved to be very successful, and was consequently followed by the importation of IGF Pizza equipment. This was proceeded by the Sirman range, whose extensive series of restaurant, bar and butchery equipment concluded another significant milestone in the Adriatic history. The catering equipment offering has subsequently grown, and Adriatic now offers a wide range of these products.
Adriatic supplies professional catering equipment fully backed by its company principals and values. We offer specialised after-sales technical assistance from our trained technicians and a complete range of spare parts.
