Hormel Forms Joint Venture with Carapelli

Hormel Foods Corp. (Austin, MN), multinational marketer of consumer-branded meat and food products, has formed a joint venture to market the Carapelli brand of olive oil in the US.

The company agreed to terms with Eridania Beghin-Say (EBS), a diversified manufacturer headquartered in Paris to form a joint venture, known as Carapelli USA, L.L.C. This venture will be responsible for the national introduction of the Carapelli line of olive oils in retail stores throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Carapelli, founded in 1893, was a family-owned Tuscan company until it was acquired by EBS in 1989. Carapelli is based just south of Florence, Italy.

The Carapelli line consists of four varieties of olive oil, consisting of premium extra virgin, extra virgin, mild and light, available in three sizes of bottles, including 8.5, 17 and 26.5-oz. Consumers use these olive oils for frying, baking, sautes, pastas, sauces, salads and marinades as well for recipe ingredients and for flavoring entrees and side dishes.

"We are very pleased to have entered into this joint venture with such a renowned and highly regarded brand as Carapelli," said Allan Krejci, VP of public relations with Hormel Foods. "Both Hormel Foods and Eridania Beghin-Say bring special skills to this venture. Hormel Foods offers its strong sales and marketing expertise, category management, customer service and logistics skills and successful track record of growth in many ethnic brands. Carapelli brings important knowledge of the world's leading olive oil markets, significant skills in sourcing raw materials, a strong research and development background, top manufacturing processes and global experience."

Sales of Carapelli olive oil worldwide total $170 million a year with 80% of these sales in Italy and 20% in other countries. Carapelli is the number one brand of olive oil in Italy.

The joint venture is part of an ongoing strategy by Hormel Foods to enhance its presence in the ethic foods arena. The company currently markets multiple brands of Mexican, Mediterranean, Asian and Indian foods under the Chi-Chi's, Herdez, El Torito, Marrakesh Express, Patak's, House of Tsang and Peloponnese brands.

Edited by Scott Hegenbart