Bologna – Granarolo S.p.A. announces the acquisition of 100% of Calabro Cheese Corp. a U.S. enterprise based in Connecticut, 130 km north of New York, which produces and markets fresh dairy products, in particular ricotta, mozzarella and burrata.
In 2020, Calabro Cheese Corp.’s consolidated turnover amounted to approximately $25 million, a result in line with previous years, despite the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Calabro Cheese Corp. is an American enterprise founded in 1953 as a distributor of Italian dairy products by Joseph Calabro and his father Salvatore. It boasts a modern production facility of over 5,000 square meters and a distribution platform serving the areas of New York, New England, New Jersey, as well as the southern and western areas of the United States.
Calabro is currently recognized as one of the best fresh cheese producers in the United States, with 4 of its products ranking among the top positions of the American Cheese Society. The acquisition of Calabro will also allow Granarolo to build a strategic platform to distribute a wide range of typical and PDO products from Italy and, therefore, also to enhance an Italian raw material, at a time when there is a significant stagnation of the domestic market.
For Granarolo, foreign sales in 2020 accounted for 33% of the total, a percentage that is increasing year by year. The company has established itself as one of the leading exporters of Italian dairy products worldwide, with an average growth of 0.4 points in volume, which corresponds to 8.8% of total Italian dairy products worldwide. The United States has been a target country for quite some time, but the pandemic slowed the scouting operations and the finalization of an acquisition that was essential to managing such vast territories.
The 2021-2025 strategic plan includes other acquisitions with a focus on dairy producers in strategic markets.
“The consolidation of Granarolo in the USA is an important step in the Group’s foreign growth policy,” said Gianpiero Calzolari, Chairman of Granarolo S.p.A. “The goal is to replicate the positive performance achieved in other markets, such as the French market, where we have grown significantly, reaching a volume share of 18.5% of the total Italian dairy segment. The United States will be the target country of 2022. We have found a fantastic company, with operations focused on quality, high standard levels and excellent management skills. We will aim to strengthen our productions, by adding the hard cheeses to a well-established distribution platform and to boost the knowledge of our superior products on the US market.”
“We have decided to place Calabro Cheese in the arms of a great and well reputed Italian company with long tradition on dairy, with a well-established international presence both in and outside Europe. We are convinced that working together we can increase the business in the United States by counting on wide portfolio of high quality PDO products produced in Italy that could be added to the successful fresh dairy products produced in the US, as well as counting on a strong innovation power that is extremely important to satisfy the needs of US consumers”, said Frank Angeloni, Chairman and CEO of Calabro Cheese.
“Rita Calabro and I are pleased to announce that after 68 years of our family producing and selling a quality line of fresh cheeses to place Calabro Cheese in the arms of Granarolo, a well-respected Italian company with a long and storied tradition in the dairy industry both in and outside of Europe. We are convinced that with our two teams working together we can increase the business in the United States. Granarolo has a wide portfolio of high quality PDO products manufactured in Italy, which complements Calabro’s fresh cheeses produced in the US. Granarolo has repeatedly demonstrated an innovative strength which is critical and vital in today’s US market. We want to express our gratitude and appreciation to our loyal customers who contributed to our success for almost 7 decades and are confident this acquisition will continue to benefit them in the coming years.” Frank Angeloni, President Calabro Cheese Corp.
The Granarolo Group
The Granarolo Group comprises two distinct yet complementary areas: the agricultural consortium of milk producers, Granlatte, which collects the milk, and the joint stock company, Granarolo S.p.A. – which processes and sells the finished product and has eleven production facilities across Italy, two in France, three in Brazil, one in New Zealand, one in the United Kingdom and one in Germany.
The Granarolo group represents the most important milk supply chain in Italy, with producer cooperatives as its major shareholders. It brings together over 600 dairy farmers, an organisation for milk collection from farms with 70 vehicles, 720 vehicles for distribution delivering 850,000 metric tonnes a year and every day serving some 50,000 points of sales where almost 20 million Italian families buy Granarolo products.
The Granarolo Group’s mission abroad is to export the tradition and know-how of Italian-made products. The Group outsources quality control to international certification bodies, which are qualified and guaranteed by the International Food Standard (IFS), the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the EU organic food certification (CCPB – Consortium for the Control of Organic Products). The production process has been ISO 9001 quality management certified since 2002.
As at 31/12/2020, the Granarolo Group employed 2,454 workers. The Group is 77.48% owned by the Granlatte Consortium, 19.78% is held by Intesa Sanpaolo, and the remaining 2.74% by Cooperlat.
In 2020, the Group’s revenue was 1.280 billion Euros.
