Then and Now: An Interview With Everli's First Ever Employee

Then and Now

You know they’ve been with the company a while when their email address doesn’t include a surname, but in Manuel’s case, not only were there no other Manuels, there were no other employees! Manuel was Everli’s first ever hire and, seven years on, he’s still here, having gone from shopper to the Northeast Operations Area Manager for Italy. He’s sharing his Everli journey with us, which includes change, growth, and accidentally causing havoc in Rome.

How did your career journey lead you to Everli?
Back in 2015, I saw a job advertisement on a well-known Italian portal looking for Shoppers. At that point, the company was still a start-up with only one person in it, the founder Enrico Pandian.   At the time I was working as an area manager for major national and international couriers GLS / DHL, but I was getting a bit tired of the usual tasks, so I was looking to completely change company and role. I got the job and, after about two months as a shopper, I was asked by the founder if I wanted to shift internally to develop the Supermercato24 network throughout Italy.  

What was it like to be employee #1?
Employee number one is just a title really, but for sure seeing the company being born means I am deeply in love with it. For me, it’s like a child!

Over all these years, Everli has not only given me food by paying my salary, it has also given me the opportunity to grow professionally. It has taught me how to use different tools as well as how to extract data or do a deep-dive analysis on topics I didn’t even know existed before.  

What have been some of the biggest changes you’ve seen over the years?  
The company has changed a lot over the years. It has gone from small, family management to the naturally more complex management of larger numbers.



In the first years of the business, for example, there were no welfare programs for employees, no excel courses, programming, data analyses. These are all very appreciated things that arrived after the company started to grow.

Seven years on, what has kept you at Everli?  
It’s the opportunity that the company gives you to grow professionally in a very varied role that never allows you to get bored.  

As someone who has been there from the beginning, what does the future look like for Everli?
Having seen all the changes since day zero, in the future I see Everli at the top, because there is no one else who offers our service. We are unique, hard working, and we care.  

What has been your favourite Everli moment so far?
It was probably when, during a recruitment drive for shoppers in Rome back in 2016, I collected so many applications and around 300 people showed up. Outside the building where we were doing the training, the line of people was so long that passers by thought it was a demonstration!
If you’re interested in joining Everli, a human-first employer who is shaking up how people do their shopping, check out the careers page for our current vacancie