Ferraro Foods Announces Expansion Plans for Napoli Facility in CT

45,000 sq ft addition will create 70 percent capacity increase at critical distribution center

PISCATAWAY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ferraro Foods, one of the country’s largest specialty distributors of food and foodservice supplies to pizzerias and Italian restaurants, announced 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 multi-temp addition to the Cheshire facility. When completed, the addition will result in a 70 percent 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,” explained Michael Cipriano, Corporate Vice President of Sales and Revenue Operations for Ferraro Foods.

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,” said Dan Hill, Ferraro Foods’ CEO.

Ferraro Foods

Headquartered in New Jersey since our founding as a family business nearly 50 years ago, Ferraro Foods is America’s leading distributor of specialty Italian foods and foodservice supplies to pizzerias and Italian restaurants. With a concentration in the critical pizza markets of the Northeast and customers spanning 26 states serviced by distribution divisions in Upstate New York, Long Island, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, Florida and Indiana, Ferraro Foods now boasts annual sales revenue of nearly $1.3 billion. Working every day to earn and build trusted relationships by delivering an unrivaled menu of authentic, top-quality offerings, unmatched specialized category expertise and consistently exceptional value and service, Ferraro Foods is pizza.