Granarolo announces acquisition of two cheese producers

Granarolo has announced its acquisition of Calabro Cheese Corp., a US company that produces and markets fresh dairy products, including ricotta, mozzarella and burrata.

Based in Connecticut, Calabro Cheese recorded consolidated turnover of around $25 million last year. The company’s distribution platform serves New York, New England and New Jersey, as well as the southern and western areas of the US.

Granarolo’s foreign sales accounted for 33% of its total sales in 2020, and the company has identified the US as a key target export market. Granarolo says that its acquisition of Calabro Cheese will allow it to build a “strategic platform to distribute a wide range of typical and PDO [protected designation of origin] products from Italy”.

“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,” said Frank Angeloni, chairman of Calabro Cheese.

“Granarolo has a wide portfolio of high-quality PDO products manufactured in Italy, which complements Calabro’s fresh cheeses produced in the US.”

Gianpiero Calzolari, chairman of Granarolo, added: “The consolidation of Granarolo in the USA is an important step in the group’s foreign growth policy. The goal is to replicate the positive performance achieved in other markets, such as the French market…. The United States will be the target country of 2022.”

Granarolo has also announced that it plans to purchase 100% of the shares in Mario Costa from the PDO Gorgonzola producer’s sibling owners, Federica and Davide Fileppo Zop.

Mario Costa recorded turnover of around €15 million in 2020 – primarily from the Italian market – and processes around 20,000 tons of milk each year in Lombardy.

Commenting, Calzolari said: “The acquisition allows Granarolo to process more Italian milk, enter the Gorgonzola market with an epic brand, a high-quality product and a state-of-the-art factory plant”.

“Gorgonzola is a primary entry [in] the catalogues of the world’s leading retailers and we are sure that we can contribute to strengthening the presence of the Mario Costa brand in the countries in which it already operates, and also expand the range of action to those countries where Granarolo has been operating for longer or [which] have been identified as target countries.”