For more than 20 years, Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta has been providing the industry with quality, frozen pasta in a variety of delicious flavors… thanks to more than 200 varieties of pasta and sauce products!
Numerous kitchens across the country have added the delicious Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta items to their menus. With a culinary team obsessed with creating delectable and quality products, Richard Fernandez has made it his career to help spread the word about all the enticing flavors and options as the company’s Northeast Regional Sales Manager.
Before Fernandez joined the Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta family, he was a chef at a small restaurant and then spent some time working at US Foods. Now 17 years in, he’s been guiding Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta to success and continues to do so as he expands their client base. According to Fernandez, when he first joined Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta back in the late-1990s and early 2000s, restaurants were making their own pasta. The only problem was that they simply couldn’t scale as fast as they’d like to handle peak a la carte and catering demands. Gifted chefs were frustrated because product wasn’t consistent, especially if they had numerous establishments or a chain of eateries.
“It was just a nightmare for any kind of large volume operators,” Fernandez said. “While others were merely trying to peddle cheese and meat raviolis, we were coming out with gourmet options like lobster and short rib.” Although competitors are now offering similar products, none come close to the quality that Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta offers.
Created by Joseph Ferro in 1991, he started making artisanal ravioli stuffed with flavorful fillings, using the freshest and finest local ingredients. When the demand for his homemade ravioli grew quickly, he realized the potential in his company and wanted to offer his delicious pastas to the masses. Now, Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta is the nation’s premier pasta brand, known for its artisanal quality frozen pasta and savory sauces.
“We maximize menu flexibility for an operator that makes ROI sense,” Fernandez explained. For instance, with the fluctuating cost of lobster meat, a restaurant could never offer lobster ravioli. Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta offers restaurants the chance to provide more desirable flavorings at a fraction of the cost of what it would be if it were made in-house.
“Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta also blends freshness with consistency. The Joseph’s difference is the convenience of a frozen product with the quality of utilizing only fresh ingredients. Instead of a quick freeze that usually zaps items of their nutrients and delicious flavors, we use a cylindrical cooling process that retains the goodness of the pasta and its ingredients,” Fernandez outlined.
To really showcase the flavors and menu options, Fernandez and his team are busy featuring the various pasta products at tradeshows, allowing chefs to see the products up close. These events provide chefs and owners the chance to taste and experience the food products in person and it provides them with menu ideas and presentations they could easily adapt for their own purposes.
“Chefs are visual and very hands-on; we like to see and taste the food,” Fernandez noted. “Food shows allow them to see the pastas not just as a main dish, but also a side component to something greater.”
It’s been a busy summer for Fernandez, and things aren’t letting up soon as he has several shows and expos coming up in the next few months. With extraordinary flavor and an eye towards the bottom line, Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta offers the perfect recipe for delectable restaurant and foodservice menus.
