Experience & History

LiDestri has a rich heritage. Our doors opened in 1975 as Cantisano Foods, founded by Ralph Cantisano. The Cantisano family founded the Ragu Packing Company in their home in Western New York in 1937. Following the sale of Ragu, Ralph remained true to his employees who were not carried over with the acquisition. In the beginning, Cantisano Foods employed what was once Curtis Creamery, a division of the Ragu Packing Company, that manufactured cheese. Current owner Giovanni LiDestri left the Ragu production floor in 1976, when Mr. Cantisano asked him to manage his new business. Before long, Giovanni convinced Ralph to invest in a small but functional pasta sauce production line and, in 1978, we began producing pasta sauce for food service in #10 cans. As business quickly grew, we relocated to a facility on Lyell Avenue in Rochester, NY, just blocks from the Cantisano's original homestead.

Always looking for ways to expand and improve, we acquired our proprietary retail brand, Francesco Rinaldi, and also began making pasta sauce for one of the biggest and most well-known names in the market, Newman's Own. Throughout the 1980s, our focus was on building a strong foundation by working toward long-term relations with our suppliers and customers. With countless upgrades to our facilities, we positioned ourselves to be the premier pasta sauce manufacturer in the US. In 1990, we received USDA approval to produce high-content meat and poultry products. And in 1991, we celebrated the growth of our business west of the Rockies by opening our Fresno facility to service that market. Three years later, we moved our headquarters to Fairport, NY, a wonderful suburb just outside of Rochester. In 1996, we added retort capability to the Fairport facility and, within one year, we were producing more product than we could store. To alleviate the problem, we installed an automated high-density warehouse capable of housing 16,000 pallets.

From 2000 to 2003, we experienced landmark changes in our company: Ralph Cantisano retired, and our President and CEO, Giovanni LiDestri, who had been Ralph's protégé and partner for 20 years, purchased all outstanding Cantisano Foods stock. The LiDestri family has had sole ownership of the company ever since. In addition to renaming Cantisano Foods as LiDestri Foods, Inc., we added our third glass line and began a major expansion at the Fairport facility. Since then, we have expanded the Fresno facility to accommodate eight rotary retorts and commissioned a dairy retort kitchen. Having outgrown our Fairport footprint, we again expanded that location and opened three additional locations in the Northeast—our Dundee, Pennsauken and Rochester locations.

The foundation of the LiDestri team is built from trust, hard work, dedication and integrity. Our founder, Ralph Cantisano, and our President and CEO, Giovanni LiDestri, have led by example, instilling the qualities in our team that they have so naturally demonstrated in day-to-day business. Even though our name has changed, we still think of Ralph Cantisano every day. He is our inspiration, and we will forever be grateful for his vision and dedication to this company and its employees.

Timeline
1975—LiDestri Foods, Inc., then Cantisano Foods, was founded as a cheese manufacturing facility
1978—Production of pasta sauce for food service begins
1981—Francesco Rinaldi is acquired
1982—Bottling of Newman's Own begins
1990—USDA-certified to produce high-content meat and poultry products
1991—Fresno manufacturing facility opens
1994—Headquarters is relocated to Fairport, NY
1996—Retort capabilities are added to the Fairport facility
1997—16,000 pallet, automated, high-density warehouse is installed
2002—The LiDestri family purchases Cantisano Foods
2003—Cantisano Foods becomes LiDestri Foods, Inc.
2003—A third glass line is added the Fairport facility
2003 to 2005—Expansion of the Fairport facility
2004—Expansion of the Fresno facility to accommodate eight retorts
2005—The Dundee facility opens
2006—Dairy/Retort kitchen is commissioned in Fresno
2006—Pennsauken facility opens
2009—Rochester facility is purchased - soon to house LiDestri Spirits and our new innovation center