LiDestri Foods
The LiDestri Foods story is of special interest because the spaghetti sauces that the Cantisano family began to produce in their Rochester, NY home in 1937 and sold door to door, have become one of the most consumed and preferred food categories in the USA, and the salsas that they began packing in the 1980’s have now surpassed ketchup to become the number one condiment consumed today by Americans.
In 1978, Mr. Ralph Cantisano together with several employees from the original family sauce business, founded Cantisano Foods. One of the company founders, Mr. John LiDestri, was appointed President of the company in March 1992 and CEO in February 1998. Mr. Edward P. Salzano, who joined the in 1982, to lead the company’s marketing and sales arm, was named Executive Vice President in March 1992. In 2002, after the company repurchased the outstanding interest of the Cantisano family, the name was changed to LiDestri Foods.
The company has three manufacturing facilities. The corporate headquarters and East Coast sauce and salsa plant is located in Fairport, NY in a 410,000 square foot facility. The West Coast sauce and salsa plant is located in Selma, CA and has manufacturing and warehouse space of approximately 150,000 square feet. Both plants are state of the art, USDA approved plants, equipped with high-speed lines, advanced process controls, fully staffed Quality Assurance departments and R&D capabilities. International Copacking, a wholly owned subsidiary of LiDestri is located on a 70 acre campus in Fresno, CA. This plant processes and packs coated and uncoated sundried raisins, kiln-dried golden raisins, and dried plums.
LiDestri’s own brands include Francesco Rinaldi pasta sauces, and Sante Fe Salsas and Chilis, which account for roughly 30% of the company’s sales. The balance of our products are manufactured under private label or co-pack arrangements with grocery and multi-national food marketing companies.
Fairport, NY
LiDestri’s Fairport operation manufactures hot filled and retorted products. With expertise in tomatoes, both low and high acid foods, cheese and high particulate products, coupled with the capability to pack products in several different styles and size containers, Cantisano is in a unique position to efficiently co-pack a variety of products to meet their customers’ needs.
In 1997, the company commissioned a fully automatic Stock 1300 Rotomat line in their Fairport facility to expand their ability to meet the need for retorted products packed in glass containers. In 1999 the Fairport facility began operating its new 16,000 pallet fully automated high-density warehouse, which is fully integrated with the production lines at the plant. In 2002 additional building space was added to house automated glass depalletizers and open room to expand packaging lines. 2003 has seen the addition of a 3rd packaging line dedicated to our retort operation, and expanded kitchen prep and ingredient receiving areas.
LiDestri’s commitment to continuously improve our capabilities and our facilities has resulted in sustained growth, expanding our family of employees to over 400 at the Fairport facility.