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| Industry | Food Manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1914 |
| Founder | Vincenzo La Rosa |
| Headquarters | Warminster, Pennsylvania , United States |
| Products | Pasta |
V. La Rosa and Sons Macaroni Company was founded in 1914 by Vincenzo La Rosa, a Sicilian immigrant. [1] [2] The company eventually became one of the largest regional brands in the United States producing over 40 varieties of pasta.
Starting in the United States as a butcher, Vincenzo noticed an increased demand for macaroni during World War I, so he started making it in the back of his shop in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The company opened a pasta factory at 473 Kent Avenue in Brooklyn using an extruder made by I. DeFrancisci & Son, now called DEMACO. As the company grew, additional plants were added at 40 Jacksonville Road, Warminster, Pennsylvania, and 90 Wauregan Road, Danielson, Connecticut.
Vincenzo La Rosa was considered an innovator in the development of the packaged foods industry in the United States as he was an early pioneer in food packaging and distribution. Prior to V. La Rosa, pasta was distributed in bulk throughout the neighborhoods of New York. V. La Rosa introduced packaged pasta into these markets.
American Italian Pasta Company eventually acquired the La Rosa brand.
In 1959, La Rosa purchased Tharinger Macaroni Company, makers of White Pearl brand, and acquired their factory at 3372 North Holton Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Tharinger started about 1916. The White Pearl brand was trademarked in the US in 1924 by Tharinger, but was started about 1869.
Tharinger was the successor to Lorenz Bros Macaroni Company, the original makers of White Pearl brand.
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Pasta is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are sometimes used in place of wheat flour to yield a different taste and texture, or as a gluten-free alternative. Pasta is a staple food of Italian cuisine.
Spaghetti is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta. It is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine. Like other pasta, spaghetti is made of milled wheat, water, and sometimes enriched with vitamins and minerals. Italian spaghetti is typically made from durum-wheat semolina. Usually the pasta is white because refined flour is used, but whole wheat flour may be added. Spaghettoni is a thicker form of spaghetti, while spaghettini is a thinner form. Capellini is a very thin spaghetti, sometimes known colloquially as "angel hair pasta", while Vermicelli refers to intermediate widths, varying between the United States and Italy.
Kraft Dinner (KD) in Canada, Kraft Mac & Cheese in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, Cheesey Pasta in the United Kingdom and internationally, is a nonperishable, packaged macaroni and cheese product. It is made by Kraft Foods Group and traditionally cardboard-boxed with dried macaroni pasta and a packet of processed cheese powder. It was introduced under the Kraft Dinner name simultaneously in both Canada and the U.S. in 1937. The brand is particularly popular with Canadians, who consume 55% more boxes per capita than Americans.
Macaroni and cheese is a dish of cooked macaroni pasta and a cheese sauce, most commonly cheddar sauce.
Birds Eye is an American international brand of frozen foods owned by Conagra Brands in the United States, by Nomad Foods in Europe, and Simplot in Australia.
Romano's Macaroni Grill is a casual dining restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine. As of October 2023, the company operates 33 locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
Rice-A-Roni is a boxed food mix that consists of rice, vermicelli pasta, and seasonings. It is based on the Levantine pilaf dish rizz bi-sha'riyya. To prepare, the rice and pasta are browned in butter, then water and seasonings are added and simmered until absorbed. It is a product of Quaker Oats Company, a subsidiary of PepsiCo.
Barilla G. e R. Fratelli S.p.A. is an Italian multinational food company. It is the world's largest pasta producer.
Borden, Inc., was an American producer of food and beverage products, consumer products, and industrial products. At one time, the company was the largest U.S. producer of dairy and pasta products. Its food division, Borden Foods, was based in Columbus, Ohio, and focused primarily on pasta and pasta sauces, bakery products, snacks, processed cheese, jams and jellies, and ice cream. It was best known for its Borden Ice Cream, Meadow Gold milk, Creamette pasta, and Borden Condensed Milk brands. Its consumer products and industrial segment marketed wallpaper, adhesives, plastics and resins. By 1993, sales of food products accounted for 67 percent of its revenue. It was also known for its Elmer's and Krazy Glue brands.
Domino Foods, Inc. is a privately held sugar marketing and sales company based in Yonkers, New York, United States, that sells products produced by its manufacturing members. DFI distributes sugar to retailers under four brand names across the U.S: Domino,C&H,Florida Crystals, and Redpath. Its namesake product, the Domino Sugar brand name, whose products are generally sold in two-tone packaging with blue labeling text, is the best known. Domino Foods is the largest sugar company in the United States.
Ebro Foods, S.A., formerly Ebro Puleva, is a Spanish food processing company. Ebro Foods is the world's largest producer of rice and the second biggest producer of pasta. The company's head office is in Madrid.
Giovanni Rana is an Italian pasta maker and founder of the Giovanni Rana brand of Italian food products including refrigerated pasta, sauces, and ready-made dishes. The brand started in 1962 with homemade tortellini and has since expanded, distributing products in 38 countries.
Campbell Soup Company, doing business as Campbell's, is an American company, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however through mergers and acquisitions, it has grown to become one of the largest processed food companies in the United States with a wide variety of products under its flagship Campbell's brand as well as other brands including Pepperidge Farm, Snyder's of Hanover, V8, and Swanson. With its namesake brand Campbell's produces soups and other canned foods, baked goods, beverages, and snacks. It is headquartered in Camden, New Jersey.
A. Zerega's Sons, Inc. was a privately owned pasta company with plants in Fair Lawn, New Jersey and Lee's Summit, Missouri. The company was founded by Antoine Zerega in Brooklyn, New York in 1848 making it the first pasta company in the United States. Antoine's son Frank was a pasta maker for 83 years and served as the company's president. Both Zerega Avenue in the Bronx and the elevated train station on the New York City Subway's Pelham Line were named after Antoine. The company moved from Brooklyn at 28 Front Street to Fair Lawn in 1952.
Gold Pure Food Products Co., Inc. is an American food-manufacturing company located in Hempstead, New York all of whose products have OU Kosher supervision.
The C.F. Mueller Company was founded in 1867 and built one of the biggest and most-advanced pasta factories in the United States at 180 Baldwin Avenue in Jersey City, New Jersey. At one time, Mueller's Macaroni became the largest selling brand of pasta in America. It is owned by TreeHouse Foods.
The Continental Baking Company was one of the first bakeries to introduce fortified bread. It was the maker of the Twinkie and Wonder Bread. Through a series of acquisitions and mergers it became part of the former Hostess Brands company.
Demaco was founded in 1914 making it the oldest pasta equipment manufacturer in the United States and the only one that makes industrial capacity machines in America. In the 1960s, Demaco pioneered the sanitary extruder for washdown food plants.
Velveeta Shells & Cheese is a shell pasta and cheese sauce food product that debuted in the United States in 1984, as part of the Velveeta brand products. Its ingredients, texture, and flavor are very similar to macaroni and cheese. The product is a shelf-stable food.
The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. As Quaker Mill Company, the company was founded in 1877 in Ravenna, Ohio. In 1881, Henry Crowell bought the company and launched a national advertising campaign for Quaker Oats.
