Rosina Food Products Inc.

from North America Outlook - issue 08

McMaster Innovation Park

REAL ITALIAN GOODNESS

There is nothing more Italian than pasta and meatballs enjoyed with friends and family.

For nearly 60 years, this has been the beating heart of Rosina Food Products, Inc. (Rosina or RFP), a family-owned company based in upstate New York that is honoring this Italian tradition.

“As with many family businesses, you are drawn in by the natural family connection that develops within that business,” opens the CEO and President of Rosina, Russell Corigliano, whose father James Corigliano founded the Company in 1963.

Russell joined RFP in the mid-1970s together with his brother, Frank Corigliano, shortly before a new, larger facility was purchased to allow the Company to expand into new markets and make its products available across the United States.

We speak to the executive team at Rosina Food Products, Inc., whose flair for Italian food is thriving in Buffalo, NY

Writer: Jack Salter Project Manager: Tom Cullum

Following the purchase and renovation of a 90,000 square foot facility in West Seneca in late 2002, together with a select number of strategic acquisitions over the years, RFP’s brands today can be found in supermarkets, wholesale clubs, commissaries, cafeterias and restaurants in North America, and Latin America. of frozen meatballs, pastas, pizza toppings and entrées to consumers, operators and even Fortune 500 brands looking for high quality ingredients for their product innovations.

Under the Rosina, Celentano, Italian Village and Mama Lucia brands, the Company’s experienced R&D and culinary team is tasked with creating new and innovative products and recipes inspired by Italian cuisine.

Rosina Food Products Inc., Buffalo, NY

THE ROSINA DIFFERENCE

A flexible and innovative frozen speciality food products manufacturer that provides exceptional quality and service, RFP offers a comprehensive portfolio

Striving to stay one step ahead of the latest trends, the department is led by Herb Stockschlaeder, Director – R&D and Strategic Channels, a certified research chef and himself a notable culinary expert with a deep understanding of food science as well as processing.

In 2018, RFP cut the ribbon on its new 10,000 square foot Customer Focus Center, featuring a stateof-the-art test kitchen and pilot lab to support the Company’s product development efforts. The Center welcomes ingredients and foodservice partners to collaborate as well as experience the Company’s culinary creations first-hand, whilst taking a hands-on approach to product development.

“We have grown into a diversified company that services multiple divisions, including Consumer Packaged Goods, Foodservice, Ingredients, and International,” outlines John Zimmerman, Rosina’s Senior Vice President of Business Development.

“We remain committed to having a diversified portfolio of products that satisfy consumers within these divisions and are focused on meeting and exceeding expectations within the industry.

“The food industry has been, and continues to be, an exciting space to be a part of, as significant changes and innovations continue to take place,” he adds.

RFP’s food science and culinarytrained R&D staff work with customers to create custom recipes and develop unique solutions to meet their specific needs.

With an understanding that quality and consistency are critical to success, RFP’s choice of ingredients is what makes the Company different from the rest. From oven-baked meatballs made with premium meats to individually quick frozen (IQF) pasta made from high-quality flour and eggs, all products are frozen at peak freshness to ensure that they are farm-to-table fresh.

The secret ingredient, however, is what it calls the ‘Rosina Difference’. Offering the all-important personal approach that is intrinsic to the Company’s family culture, RFP is passionate about exceptional quality and service, and goes the extra mile to satisfy customers.

“Our team is truly amazing, and uniquely positioned to drive the Rosina Difference to the nth degree,” lauds Russell Corigliano.

NORTH AMERICA OUTLOOK: WHAT ARE YOUR KEY PRIORITIES FOR THE COMING YEAR?

“RFP has developed a quality, service and price strategy that is very simple but painstakingly difficult to copy. “Service means so many things at RFP; our expertise and levels of service when it comes to sales, marketing and the supply chain, we believe are second to none.

“We are considered by our customers to be a ‘low maintenance supplier’, and our sales and marketing teams take pride in working with clients and building that level of trust.

“It is our duty and responsibility to always deliver competitive pricing. We operate very efficiently at all levels of the organization and those efficiencies pass on to our customers.”

Frank and Russell Corigliano

Heat and Control®

Heat and Control®, a world-leading equipment manufacturer, is proud to be in partnership with Rosina Food Products.

Their family-owned company honoring real Italian goodness, pairs well with Heat and Control’s mission to provide industry leading production line equipment and support. We offer the latest technology and the highest quality equipment for processing, coating and seasoning, conveying, weighing, packaging, and inspection systems and have developed innovative solutions and solved production challenges for many of the world’s largest food manufacturing companies.

Our Heat and Control brands include FastBack® (horizontal motion conveyors and on-machine seasoning), Mastermatic (fryers), and Spray Dynamics® (coating and seasoning application systems), and we partner with other global manufacturing leaders, including Ishida (weighing packaging and inspection) and CEIA® (metal detection). We customize all our solutions according to your priorities-from a single machine to several integrated components to a complete system, and we assume singlesource responsibility. We can assist you with equipment for all types of food, pharmaceutical, and non-food products, as well as provide pre- and post-sale technical support, including applications assistance, engineering, installation, parts, service, and training to maintain peak efficiency and achieve your production goals.

Established in 1950, we are a privatelyowned family company and have 11 manufacturing facilities, 12 testing centers, and more than 30 offices around the world.

heatandcontrol.com

“Manners go a long way at RFP, and we have created an environment in which everyone pulls in the same direction, does the right things for the right reasons, feels part of the team, and works to support one another.”

To go hand-in-hand with this philosophy, the Company envisages a team of customer engagement specialists, responsible for proactively delivering the Rosina Difference to internal and external customers daily.

It comes as RFP was recognized with an Independent Marketing Alliance (IMA) Supplier of the Year award in 2021, as well as numerous other prestigious industry and customer awards, for demonstrating the Rosina Difference by meeting and exceeding the needs of its customers.

DIVERSIFICATION IS KEY

Product diversification has proven to be vital in RFP’s ability to maintain and drive growth, even in the volatile climate of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Indeed, the US market, much like the rest of the world, has gone through major upheaval due to COVID-19 in terms of supply chain disruptions and changes to consumer shopping and dining habits.

“As the industry goes through rapid transformation, RFP finds itself in a sweet spot in terms of organizational size and approach,” says Greg Setter, Rosina’s Chief Operating Officer.

“We are large enough and sophisticated enough to service the largest customers in North America, yet nimble enough to quickly develop products based off data and insights steeped in a deep understanding of our food and beverage; that generally leads to a successful outcome.”

In response to the pandemic, RFP moved decisively to launch new products, significantly increased its digital presence, opened new segments and strengthened its focus

ROSINA FOOD PRODUCTS’ PORTFOLIO – AT A GLANCE Capital Ingredients Corp

Capital Ingredients Corp. (C.I.C) was founded with the following mission: import and distribute the best food components efficiently, safely, and responsibly. We are headquartered in Doral, Florida with warehouses spread throughout North America.

C.I.C offers a wide range of ingredients and industry solutions such as hydrocolloids, natural fibers, vegetable proteins, gluten-free solutions, sugar replacers, custom blends and more.

We are proud to be accredited with IFS Broker and IFS Logistic Standard Certifications, known to guarantee the highest requirements of safety, quality and legal compliance.

Discover more on: www.capital-ingredients.com

www.capital-ingredients.com

MEATBALLS – Delivering superior flavor, texture and color in custom sizes and flavors, including beef, pork, turkey and chicken.

IQF FILLED PASTA – Using only the finest ingredients to ensure great taste, pasta products are available in a selection of custom shapes, sizes and fillings.

EGGPLANT – As the largest eggplant supplier in North America, no one offers more choice than Rosina.

PIZZA TOPPINGS – Superior flavor, texture and color in custom sizes and flavors, including beef & pork.

Mushroom ravioli

Eggplant

James Corigliano founded the Rosina company back in 1963

Frank and Russell back in the early days

Today’s Rosina Food Products promotional video on supporting the supply chain.

Rosina also opened the doors of its brand new Rosina University in 2020. The university and its courses are designed to onboard its many new associates, develop and support leaders, train associates to have deep understanding of its products, and generally foster the Rosina Difference.

As well as integrating new systems and processes such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM), the Company has invested in a new $73 million, 105,000 square foot state-ofthe-art automated protein manufacturing facility, located adjacent to its pasta facility in West Seneca, NY.

“With our continued growth and the need for product innovation across all our divisions, we believe that our investment in this facility will set the course for even further expansion,” an upbeat Setter affirms.

“Phases two and three of the protein facility are already in the works, and Rosina has also completed multiple stages of a pasta expansion with another phase to be executed in mid-2022, adding even more capabilities to the Company.

“Moving forwards in the postpandemic era, we believe the demand for our products will continue to remain strong and that there will be a full resurgence in the food and beverage industry we participate in, with foodservice and entertainment most likely to lead the way.”

BRAND GROWTH

RFP has placed major emphasis on the growth of its branded business over the past three years and is making solid progress across all divisions.

Respectively, the Celentano and Italian Village brands represent the number one and number four brand of frozen filled pasta in the United States and across Latin America. RFP has recently launched five new frozen filled pastas under the Celentano brand, three of which are key line extensions and two that are based on a new toasted pasta platform that was designed to reach all divisions.

“Our line extensions include a Four-Cheese Ravioli developed by our chefs, who created a product that features a delicious blend of cheeses targeted at millennial and Gen-Z shoppers that are looking for more flavorsome, interesting filling combinations,” shares Chris Tirone, Rosina’s Vice-President of Marketing, International and Customer Engagement.

“This was followed by Spinach, Roasted Garlic and Cheese Ravioli, Four-Cheese Lasagna Rolls, and most recently our Toasted Cheese and Beef Ravioli’s, which takes us into the snacking food and beverage segment.

“These new items are currently being rolled out across North America and are expected to penetrate Latin American markets in late 2022 and into 2023.”

Meanwhile, Rosina has emerged as

Rosina Food Products’ pasta plant

“WE REMAIN COMMITTED TO HAVING A DIVERSIFIED PORTFOLIO OF PRODUCTS THAT SATISFY CONSUMERS”

– JOHN ZIMMERMAN, SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

the second-leading meatball brand in the US over the past four years. Rosina produces a wide variety of meatballs, including a traditional Italian Style meatball range, as well as classics like Swedish and Angus. Most recently Rosina has a created a new range of breakfast-flavored meatballs such as Western Omelette and Bacon, Egg and Cheese also designed to cut across multiple channels and into such segments as C-Store and National Account Chains where easy prep is required.

To complement the Rosina brand, RFP has also seized the opportunity to acquire and drive another brand of meatballs in the market.

“Mama Lucia rolled out of Rosina’s new manufacturing facility in late 2021 and currently has high penetration in the markets that RFP was looking for expansion in,” says Frank Corigliano, Executive Vice-President and Co-Owner of Rosina. “Acquiring Mama Lucia was a natural next step for our continued growth in the meatball category and was born out of a great relationship between Rosina and Quaker Maid Meats, Inc.” adds Frank Corigliano.

COMMUNITY FOCUS

Be it staff, customers, suppliers or business partners, all are of equal value to RFP, who long ago recognized the vital importance of each to the Company’s success.

“We would not be able to thrive or survive without them, so we all get along well with each other and know exactly what to expect from one another,” Russell Corigliano shares.

“What makes us most proud is that, as an organization, we have evolved into something that is very meaningful to everybody involved.

As such, RFP takes the time to celebrate its successes, grow from the challenges it has faced, and enjoy the relationships it has developed, with this community spirit also reflected by its support for local and national organizations.

“I believe that we qualify as an outstanding corporate citizen. Many of us devote our time to various notfor-profit groups, and we represent RFP as a welcoming organization that is good for the community and worthy of people’s time.”

Inspired by Italian neighborhood traditions for over 50 years, communities are at the core of RFP, to whom the Company say: “buon appetito!”