Piscataway-based Ferraro Foods on Monday unveiled plans for a significant expansion of its Napoli facility in Cheshire, Connecticut — the company’s third major growth initiative announced in as many months.
Napoli, a specialty brand of high-quality imported Italian foods, was acquired by Ferraro in 2019 and presently operates out of a 120,000-square-foot distribution center located at 10 Knotter Drive in Cheshire. Constructed in 2008, the facility is strategically located at a midpoint between Boston and New York City.
The expansion plans, which have received approvals from state and local agencies, call for a roughly $10 million, 45,000-square-foot multitemp addition to the Cheshire facility. When completed, the addition will result in a 70% increase in storage capacity, positioning Ferraro to double Napoli’s current sales volume and continue expanding its presence in the crucial Northeast pizza market.
“This expansion will represent a significant investment in one of our key facilities supporting Ferraro’s operations in the ‘pizza power states’ of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, which are so important in our business. From an operations and revenue perspective, this will be a major step forward for Ferraro,” Michael Cipriano, corporate vice president of sales and revenue operations for Ferraro Foods, said.
Earlier this year, Ferraro announced it would ramp up its Long Island business by moving into a larger, 230,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center, followed closely by the company’s acquisition of New Jersey-based GDS Foods Inc., another Italian foods distributor with revenue of nearly $50 million.
“This flurry of expansion activity is not by happenstance. Ferraro is intensely focused on increasing our market share in critical Northeast pizza markets, where the country’s largest concentration of independent pizzerias is located. We’re on a mission to continue growing our customer base as we build our reputation as the premier provider in the specialty Italian foods space,” Dan Hill, Ferraro Foods’ CEO, said.
