Colavita facts for kids
| Private | |
| Industry | Food processing |
| Founded | 1938 |
| Founder | Giovanni and Felice Colavita |
| Headquarters |
Pomezia, Rome
,
Italy
|
|
Area served
|
Italy, United States |
|
Key people
|
Enrico and Leonardo Colavita |
| Products | Pasta, Olive Oil, Tomato Sauce, Soup, Vinegar, Wine |
Colavita S.p.A. is a well-known Italian company. It is most famous for its delicious olive oil. This company has a long history. It started as a family business.
Contents
About Colavita
Colavita S.p.A. is an Italian company. It is best known for its olive oil. The company also makes other food products. These include pasta, tomato sauce, and vinegar.
How It Started
The Colavita family has been involved with olive oil for many generations. They lived in a town called Sant'Elia a Pianisi. Many families there grew and pressed their own olive oil. In the 1930s, the father of Enrico and Leonardo Colavita started a business. He began packaging olive oil for sale.
Today, Enrico and Leonardo Colavita lead the company. Enrico is the President. Leonardo is the General Manager. Other family members also help run the business. For example, Leonardo's son Giovanni was the President of Colavita USA. The company has a packaging factory in Pomezia, Italy. This factory also packages olive oil for other brands.
Colavita in the USA
Colavita USA was started by John J. Profaci. He met Enrico Colavita in 1978. Enrico had come to the United States. John Profaci was already in the olive oil business. They decided to work together. John became the main distributor for Colavita in the US. He helped create the idea of "extra virgin olive oil" in America.
Growing the Business
At first, the business in the US grew slowly. John Profaci offered samples at local grocery stores. Then, he started selling to Italian restaurants. He also sold to special food shops. Within five years, Colavita became a famous brand. In the mid-1980s, a newspaper called The New York Times wrote about olive oil. The article talked about how healthy olive oil is. It even showed a picture of a Colavita olive oil bottle. This news helped the business grow very quickly.
Helping Future Chefs
In 1991, Colavita USA made a big donation. They gave $2 million to the Culinary Institute of America. This is a famous cooking school. The money helped build a new building on the school's campus. The building opened in 2001.
Later, in 2008, Colavita S.p.A. bought Colavita USA. This meant the main Italian company now owned its American branch.
See also
- Colavita/Bianchi, a women's cycling team sponsored by the company
