From Door-To-Door To Major Private Label Supplier
As we reach the quarter pole of the 21st century, Catania Oils is celebrating its 125th anniversary.
Starting from humble beginnings when founder Giuseppe Basile was selling products door-to-door, the Ayer, Mass.-based company today has about 260 employees with annual revenue upwards of $500 million. Weekly, Catania produces about one million gallons of various cooking oils through its manufacturing facilities with much of its assortment part of retail private label assortments.
Today, Giuseppe’s great-grandchildren, Joseph and Stephen, serve as Catania’s president and chief revenue officer, respectively, and are focused on future growth for a company that in many respects remains family-run.
Recently, Store Brands spoke with the Basile brothers about the company’s history, current operations, and what the future holds.
STORE BRANDS: Catania Oils has been a family-run company throughout its history. What are your thoughts and reflections as the company celebrates its 125th anniversary?
JOSEPH BASILE: It’s a significant milestone and one that makes you think about the company’s long history and the things we have had to endure over the multiple generations that have run the company. There were many different times during the early years when people could have easily thrown in the towel and given up. For Stephen and I, we were fortunate to join the company when it was an established business. It’s also a good time to reflect back and think about the incredible journey the company has gone through. I also wonder what it would be like to go back and have a conversation with our great-grandfather and tell him about today’s company.
STEPHEN BASILE: When we look back at the evolution of our business, our great-grandfather started selling oil from house to house. He didn’t know a word of English and our grandfather took over the company at a young age. Other family members were also involved and the company started selling other items such as tomato sauce, salt and pepper, napkins, and other food items. In 1979, the company was doing about $10 million in sales, but it was decided to focus only on oil, which was about half the business, and stop selling other products. The idea was to give us economies of scale and continue to grow. After Joe and I graduated college and got involved in the business and had leadership roles, our focus has been on technology, automation, and investment in our employees.
STORE BRANDS: Going back to the early days, was the company selling only olive oil or other types of oils as well?
JB: The company sold a variety of oils, and in those days having a wide range of products in your portfolio was uncommon. Things such as soybean oil, corn oil, and some olive oil were popular. Over the years, our product portfolio has drastically changed. Back in the day when we were teenagers in the plant we dealt with upwards of eight different oils. Today, we have a core of about 15 or 20 oils that we sell at serious volume levels and there are many more we offer at smaller volumes.
STORE BRANDS: Catania Oils sells a good amount of product to retailers for their private label selections. Has this always been the case?
JB: Years ago Catania was a brand that was pretty well established and our products were available at a number of regional grocery stores. But with the consolidation we’ve seen in retail over the years, private brands also evolved. In the early 2000s, our branded business had diminished and we made the conscious decision to focus more on private brands. As we focused on private label products, we saw our total volume explode. Today, branded products don’t register at 1% of our retail volume.
SB: Our brand continues to be strong on the food service side of the business. On the retail side, it’s important for us to set ourselves apart from our competitors. We do that by offering great education, working with our customers, helping them with risk management problems, along with other services we provide.
STORE BRANDS: There has been strong growth of private brands in recent years. From your point of view, how have retailers evolved in their thinking of private label?
JB: There’s more alignment and more strategy, and they’re treating their own brands more as brands. We would always hear these brands referred to as generics or products that were inferior. But these are now private brands that are no longer viewed as generic or inferior products.
STORE BRANDS: How has this evolution changed how Catania Oils does business?
SB: It definitely presents new challenges. This type of conversation has often included discussion about private brands following the market leader. When you look at the penetration levels of private brand products today, do own brands start becoming the innovators and provide consumers products they want? We need to have strong partnerships with retailers, which will allow them to continue to innovate. And we’re the ones that will ultimately help them get there.
STORE BRANDS: We talked about the moment in the late 1970s when the company decided to focus only on oils. Is there another time in company history when a major decision was made that helped the company grow to another level?
JB: Sometime around 2010, Catania was still what I would call a closely held family-run company and we wore many different hats. We didn’t have an HR department, a comptroller, or a CFO. No one besides a family member had the alarm code or key to the building. But we recognized that in order for us to move the company forward, we needed to build a senior leadership team. We added a financial comptroller and someone to oversee HR, which moved us toward building that leadership team. This allowed us to accelerate our growth.
STORE BRANDS: From a product standpoint, what are some of the more notable changes you have seen in the oils business, and how does it continue to evolve?
SB: For us, it’s continuing to have good relationships with our import and domestic partners to continue to be forward thinking and make sure we’re able to meet the needs of our customers. Looking back to the 1990s when non-GMO and organic was a big thing. We started to bring in organic and non-GMO products and were one of the first oil providers to be certified as a non-GMO provider. While things are constantly changing, we need to stay ahead of the curve to know what’s coming, what the trends are, and then how we position ourselves. It’s vital to meeting the wants and desires of our customers.
STORE BRANDS: What is on the horizon for Catania Oils?
JB: We’re not done putting our mark on the company. We have invested heavily in growth and we don’t want to become complacent. We want to continue growing and know that means expansion into other areas, which can be new categories or expanding our manufacturing efforts. Nothing is off the table.
