Barilla Celebrates 20th Anniversary in the United States

NORTHBROOK, Ill., May 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Barilla America is excited to announce today the celebration of its 20th year of business in the United States. With an unwavering commitment to quality, Barilla has simultaneously innovated and conceptualized new product ideas and offerings over the past two decades. Drawing from the immense success of its bread and pasta businesses in Europe, Barilla has proven its staying power as a leader and leveraged its pasta and pasta sauce categories to establish itself as a household name in America.

Since coming to America in 1996, Barilla has grown its footprint, workforce and product portfolio. To accommodate this expansion and its commitment to quality, Barilla moved its Region Americas Headquarters in 2015 to a 75,000-square-foot facility that has allowed the company to enhance its employee and customer experience and enabled new research and development innovation capabilities.

"Two decades ago, the Barilla name was new to this country and we had to carve out our own success," said Guido Barilla, chairman of Barilla. "Thanks to the amazing people who welcomed us here, we are now the most popular Italian food brand in America."

By 2020, Barilla is committed to achieve 100-percent alignment of its product volume with the most up-to-date standards for quality and food safety proven by external certification bodies. Additionally, Barilla will increase the global volume of its products from 70 percent to 90 percent to comply with its own Nutritional Guidelines.

While Barilla is a company steeped in more than a century of tradition, it is evolving into a progressive organization. From creating a workplace atmosphere that celebrates diversity and inclusion, to listening to and analyzing the needs of customers, shoppers and consumers to ensure it is developing the best products for everyone, Barilla is ultimately changing the way people think about pasta.

"Barilla attributes its ongoing achievements in America to the hard work of its employees, the support of its business partners and the loyalty of its customers, shoppers and consumers," says Jean-Pierre Comte, president of Barilla Americas. "We are thrilled to be celebrating 20 years of business in this country and are extremely excited for the future. Over the next few years, we intend to roll out an array of innovative products that we predict will transform the outlook for the pasta industry."

Equally important is Barilla's long-standing and expanding commitment to operate every aspect of its business and each step of its supply chain in ways that benefit both people and the planet. As part of its pledge to ongoing product improvement, innovation and quality, Barilla expanded its Gluten-Free portfolio, which was introduced in Ames, Iowa on May 10, 2015. Within one year, the Ames facility added 17 employees to further develop the gluten-free pasta portfolio, made with non-GMO corn and rice, with plans to add a total of 23 employees in the near future. This expanded portfolio is now offered in four varieties: Elbows, Penne, Rotini and Spaghetti – enabling anyone living a gluten-free lifestyle to continue to enjoy pasta. Barilla® Gluten-Free is available nationally at most major and independent supermarkets.

For more information about Barilla, or to obtain recipes and meal ideas, visit http://www.barilla.com/.

About the Barilla Group
Created in Parma in 1877 out of a shop that made bread and pasta, Barilla is today among the top Italian food groups, a world leader in the pasta and pasta sauce businesses in continental Europe, bakery products in Italy, and the crispbread business in Scandinavia. Currently, the Barilla Group owns 30 production sites (14 in Italy and 16 abroad) and exports to more than 100 countries. Every year, its plants turn out around 1,700,000 tons of food products that are consumed on tables all over the world, under the following brand names: Barilla, Mulino Bianco, Voiello, Pavesi, Academia Barilla, Wasa, Harrys (France and Russia), Misko (Greece), Filiz (Turkey), Yemina and Vesta (Mexico). For more information, please visit: www.barillagroup.com or www.barilla.com.

Barilla Media Contact
Rachel Drakulich
312-233-1337
[email protected]

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SOURCE Barilla America

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