From its roots as a small store-front sausage business to international prominence and a status as a manufacturer and marketer of frozen meatballs, pasta and eggplant cutlets, Rosina Food Products Inc. is beginning the celebration of its 60th year on March 9, 2023 — appropriately, National Meatball Day.
The Buffalo, New York-based, family-owned business was founded in 1963 by James Corigliano. The business primarily serviced neighborhood meat markets, supermarkets and restaurants. James named the business after his wife Rose, which in Italian translates to Rosina.
Sixty years later, in an era of corporate takeover and private equity, the company remains family-owned and -operated. Since 1997, James’ two sons, Russell and Frank Corigliano, have taken the reins and accelerated business success, while third-generation family members also call Rosina their home.
“Our father taught us the importance of [...] treating everyone with dignity and respect, [making] quality products and [ensuring] you deliver on customer expectations – those simple thoughts remain the foundation of our business today,” said Russ Corigliano, Rosina Food Products Inc. president and CEO. “That commitment, along with the knowledge, expertise and innovation of our ever-growing team, has helped to establish Rosina as a recognized leader.”
Today, Rosina is an Italian frozen food products innovator and manufacturer. The company has four different divisions — Consumer Packaged Goods, Foodservice, Ingredients and International.
Rosina Food Products currently produces more than 100 different frozen Italian specialty products under several brand labels, including Rosina, Celentano, Italian Village and the recently added Mama Lucia. Most notably, Rosina’s portfolio of products can be found in more than 100,000 retail freezers, restaurants, military commissaries, colleges, universities and corporate cafeterias around the world. Celentano and Italian Village are the number one and number four brands, respectively, in the frozen filled-pasta category across the United States and Latin America.
“Rosina’s product portfolio is inspired by old neighborhood Italian traditions that have been carried on for three generations. We create innovative, authentic Italian cuisine with consistent made-from-scratch taste that we know your customers will love,” said Frank Corigliano, executive vice president.
Rosina has three manufacturing locations in the Buffalo area, including a new state-of-the-art highly automated protein manufacturing facility, which became fully operational in 2022. In 2018, to support its commitment to staying ahead of the latest culinary trends and creating new and innovative products and recipes, the company opened a 10,000-square-foot Customer Focus Center that features a state-of-the-art test kitchen and pilot lab where the team works with customers to develop products to satisfy their needs.
In 2020, the company established Rosina University — a 7,000-square-foot building where they offer courses designed to onboard new associates on product offerings and provide professional development to company leadership.
“Our associates are our extended family. They are at the heart of our success. Without them, Rosina would not be where it is today,” Russ Corigliano continued.
Rosina will acknowledge its 60th anniversary with a company logo adaption to appear in promotional materials, on select meatball packaging and across its wide-reaching social media network. Also, as part of the year-long celebration, Rosina will add Grande Italiano Meatballs, which are dinner-sized meatballs, to its retail products portfolio beginning in June. At the same time, Rosina’s Foodservice Division will launch a Buffalo-Style Chicken Meatball — available through Rosina’s network of foodservice distributors nationwide. The company is also planning employee celebrations, as well as customer and supplier events.
For more information about Rosina Food Products, visit the company’s website at rosina.com, or follow Rosina on its Consumer Facebook, Consumer Instagram, Foodservice Facebook, Foodservice Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.
Source: Rosina Food Products Inc.
