Economic Development Partnership Assists with Expansion of Giovanni Food Co., Inc.

Giovanni Food Company, Inc. (GFC) is a manufacturer of tomato-based products and specializes in pasta sauce, pizza sauce, tomato puree, bruschetta and salsa. The company was started in Oswego, New York nearly 70 years ago as a neighborhood business, selling its popular spaghetti sauce to customers. They began by manufacturing spaghetti sauce and expanded slowly into other tomato-based products over the years. Mary DeMent is the owner of the corporation, and in 1979, GFC was organized as a NYS “C” corporation.

GFC has almost tripled their sales over the past five years and required a larger facility. In May 2006, they moved to a 60,000 sq. ft. building in Liverpool, New York. The building was modified to accommodate the company’s production line, warehousing and administrative needs. It is divided into a 5,000 sq. ft. area for the production line and processing, 3,600 sq. ft. for administrative offices and 51,400 sq. ft. for warehousing and storage. Production and staff were transferred to the new facility over the summer and fall of 2006 and the company has been completely operational at the new location for just one year.

In partnership, The Central New York Enterprise Development Corporation (CNY EDC) and the Greater Syracuse Business Development Corporation (GSBDC) were able to provide $200,000 in additional working capital to support the company’s recent expansion. According to Lou DeMent, “We plan to continue our growth at a comfortable pace over the next couple of years and continue to strengthen our capabilities and profitability.”

GFC currently employs 40 and is projecting to create 17 new jobs over the next three years.