CURRENT ISSUE
| Cover Story |
| Columns |
| MaMa Rosa’s LLC: Slice of Success |
| Profile | |||
| By Alan Dorich | |||
| Friday, 28 March 2008 | |||
 President Bill Mackin and Senior Vice President Patty Phlipot – both food industry veterans – are helping grow Mama Rosa’s, a retail pizza company.
The Sidney, Ohio-based company produces its pizza products under the MaMa Rosa’s, Mama Angelina’s and Our Old Italian brand names, which are sold in grocery stores across the United States. Founder Michael Gilardi started the company as Gilardi Pizza in 1979. Initially, Gilardi Pizza’s products were carried by grocery stores such as Kroger. Under Gilardi’s leadership, the company started in its current location in Sidney and built itself around the “made-to-order business,” Senior Vice President Patty Phlipot says. These involved customer specific skus that exceeded 400, and resulted in changeover at the company’s bakery and finish lines. In 1998, ConAgra Foods Inc. acquired Gilardi Pizza and created a better focus on the operational end of the business. ConAgra streamlined the operation by consolidating several plants around the country and relocated the production into the Sidney plant. Today, the Sidney facility has grown to 158,000 square feet with three finished-product lines and three bakery lines. In addition, the company has reduced its number of skus from 400 to 35, Phlipot says. In 2006, the company was acquired by Plaza Belmont Management Group LLC, a private equity firm, based in Shawnee Mission, Kan. A driving factor in the acquisition, Mackin says, was the experience of MaMa Rosa’s management staff. MaMa Rosa’s has done an excellent job of retaining senior associates whose experience exceeds 10 years. “[We have a] loyal and dedicated team that operates both our production facility and our ever-growing sales department,” he says. Under Plaza’s parentage, MaMa Rosa’s continues to be in a strong position, Mackin says. He explains that Plaza gives the company “a good procurement position – the best we can [have] in the difficult commodities market.” This is managed through several Plaza partners who carry experience in flour milling and procurement. These partners will examine historical trading and take positions that allow MaMa Rosa’s to have the best price. Today, “We are the largest branded refrigerated pizza in the United States,” Mackin adds, noting that the company is also a key supplier to Wal-Mart, Kroger, Food Lion, HEB, Meijer’s, Publix’s and Wakefern, and produces 80 million pizzas a year. MaMa Rosa’s “claim-to-fame” products, he says, are its Mini pizzas, which it sells in four, five and seven inch crusts. Mini pizzas separate the company from the rest of the competition in the marketplace, he states. The hand-held size creates a “moveable feast” for today’s consumers who are always on the go. Although the pizzas are carried in major supermarkets, “We’re trying to get as much diversification as we can throughout the marketplace,” Mackin says. He explains that the company has recently sparked the interest of drugstores, including Walgreens, who is considering carrying the Lean Lifestyle pizzas. Alive and Kicking Both Mackin and Phlipot are longtime veterans of the food industry. Mackin, whose previous experience includes ITT Continental Baking Co. and Ralston Purina, says the industry has always held excitement for him. “It’s alive [and] it’s kicking,” he raves. “You create fresh new products that our consumers eat every day.” Phlipot, who has 20 years with MaMa Rosa’s, agrees that the food industry is never boring. “There’s always a lot of change,” she says. “When the economy gets a little rough out there, generally our business remains pretty stable.” Filling Needs MaMa Rosa’s offers a product that fits the needs of consumers who do not always have the time to prepare their own food, Mackin says. More families, he says, are turning to it as a home meal replacement item. “Pizza fills that time need for Mom, for Dad, for kids [and] for everybody,” he says. A new product from MaMa Rosa’s that fills a different niche is its Lean Lifestyle pizza line, which is geared towards health-conscious consumers and diabetics, Mackin says. “Lean Lifestyle is one of the few pizzas in the United States that carries American Heart Association [AHA] certification,” he adds. “Most pizzas can’t comply with it.” An Efficient Operation As it grows, MaMa Rosa’s driving force will continue to be its products as it targets traditional and non-traditional markets. Although it has yet to introduce organic products, “We’ve done a tremendous amount of research [to learn] what we need to be certified,” Mackin says. In addition, the company will stay focused on its key capabilities, which include maintaining a safe workplace that is USDA-certified and HACCP-compliant, as well as a “low-cost, high-speed efficient operation,” he says. “That is our mission statement.” |
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