Successful family businesses have a reputation of prospering in the first generation, then being run into the ground by the second generation. But, the Scaramelli family, running the Paesana brand foods in Farmingdale has shattered that negative image as it pushes well into its fourth generation of family ownership.
L&S Packing Company, Inc. on Central Avenue, also known as Paesana brands, was founded in 1902 by Luigi J. Scaramelli, Sr., who began Scaramelli & Company, a wholesale grocery business in Boston and New York. While the young Italian immigrant Luigi ran the New York City location, his brother Alfred operated their Boston branch.
Since there were no supermarkets in the early 1900s, Luigi and Alfred sold a variety of canned vegetables and specialty items such as olive oil, vinegars and cheeses under the Paesana brand to every Italian foods wholesaler, and even under several brand names including a still popular brand, Certo.
Scaramelli & Company was originally located at 192 Franklin Street in New York City, a location that is now luxury apartments overlooking the West Side Highway.
Building upon the success of Scaramelli & Company, Louis Jr. opened L&S Packing in 1946 and introduced the Table Joy brand, a product line that consisted of olives and peppers. During the early years of the business, his wife Rosina, a concert pianist provided support and pushed Louis to further expand the Table Joy product line to include capers, onions, pepperoncini, and artichoke hearts.
Today, the Table Joy product line consists of hundreds of products. Like his father before him, Louis knew the only way to succeed was through hard work and expanding the services of L&S Packing by becoming a contract packer. He knew he could offer entrepreneurs more with a variety of services in addition to manufacturing and packaging their products.
L&S Packing had the ability to help in formulating recipes, reduce lead-time in getting products to market, provide stable cost structures and provide all regulatory certifications, food safety requirements and shipping needs. In 1956, when Louis III was 18 years old, he became the third generation of family to enter the family business.
Louis III loved the business and was an apt pupil and his father, Louis Jr, had taught him well. L&S Packing flourished and in 1976, Louis J. Scaramelli III took over the day-to-day operations of the business with his mother Rosina and his wife Lorraine.
The business made several transitions over the past 109 years, migrating from Manhattan, to Long Island City, then to Flushing and finally to Farmingdale in 1993.
In the early ’90s, the Farmingdale location offered enticing business growth and opportunity, while the business had been operating out of three separate locations in Flushing.
“At that time, there were a lot of good prospects and good real estate opportunities here in Farmingdale; while in Flushing, we were running a three-ring circus,” said Louis III.
Today, Louis IV is the President of L&S Packing and his sister Jacqueline Scaramelli-Massaro is Vice President and is responsible for the everyday business administration of L&S Packing and for getting Paesana branded products on retailer shelves. Louis III remains the CEO of the company.
Both Jacqueline and Louis IV have an unyielding commitment to maintaining the company’s family tradition and providing consumers with the highest quality products that will drive the business for the next generations of Scaramellis.
“The next generation is getting ready,” Jacqueline said, “I have two children, Joseph and Gabriella; my daughter already wants to be a chef.” Louis IV has two children Grace and Louis V.
“We were here everyday after school, working on Saturdays, we have definitely put all efforts into it,” said Louis IV. “My parents tried their best for my sister and I not to fight and we get along all of the time, we don’t fight.”
When asked what the secret is for the generational strength, Jacqueline told the Observer that she credits their parents for laying the foundation and instilling the values that she and her brother have to make the business keep running. She said, “That’s the foundation that our parents helped us to have the work ethic to grow the business.”
With so much financial and resource instability, not many companies can boast of four generations owning and operating the family business successfully. This Farmingdale-based business can.
L&S Packing Company manufactures all natural and organic pasta sauces, olives, peppers, and more under the Paesana brand that can be found on supermarkets shelves from Massachusetts to California.
The Paesana name signifies friendship, warmth and caring, which is what the Scaramelli business is all about. Paesana pasta sauces are made from the finest all natural ingredients, have no added sugar, are gluten free and are kosher certified offering consumers a healthier lifestyle choice. Today, the Scaramelli family continues the tradition of crafting old world pasta sauces that are kettle cooked the old fashion way delivering consumers a zesty, robust and absolutely delectable sauce. For more information regarding Paesana, call (631) 845-1717.
