PRESS RELEASE: FARINACCI PASTA: CELEBRATING 3 GENERATIONS & 35+ YEARS IN BUSINESS
What began with a 21-year-old Italian immigrant seeking a better life has turned into Melbourne’s best-loved pasta supplier with a difference. Today Farinacci’s fresh pasta products appear everywhere: from our city’s finest restaurants, hotels and boutique supermarkets, to Melbourne’s largest sporting events, Crown and The Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre. With the third generation at the helm after over 35 years in business, contemporary, seasonal ingredients are being loaded into traditionally made pasta, with gluten-free options also available.
The third generation Vincent Farinacci who is upholding his grandfather’s mission of giving Melburnians a fresh, authentic taste of Italy. Every morning the family is up before the sun mixing Australian durum wheat, semolina and pasteurised eggs to handcraft their pasta with extraordinary fillings and sauces. Farinacci’s broad wholesale range, made traditionally with untraditional ingredients, is what sets them apart. Where else can you find ravioli stuffed with the likes of roasted duck, smoked salmon and fresh dill, or gorgonzola with black fig and ricotta? Farinacci focuses on quality, sourcing seasonal ingredients from accredited suppliers who appreciate attention to detail as much as they do.
You ’ve probably tasted Farinacci pasta without realising it: the red wine-braised osso bucco ravioli is served at restaurants around Melbourne, and if you ’ve been courtside during the tennis you will have found yourself yelling, “OUT” through a mouthful of tortelloni packed with pecorino, ricotta and fresh baby spinach. In 2012, the Farinacci family added a retail section out the front of their Caulfield South factory. The small space is strictly take-away, featuring red brick walls, dark timber shelving and an orange Vespa in the window. Lucky locals pop in to pick up take-home pasta and sauces, pizza, lasagne and other ready-made meals when the day gets away from them.
Farinacci has also developed the only boutique HACCP approved gluten-free pasta in Australia, as certified by The Coeliac Society of Australia. The gluten-free pasta is nationally available in both wholesale and retail packs, but just because it’s gluten-free doesn’t mean the ingredients are any less exciting. Oversized, fructose-free ravioli contains veal braised with tomatoes, carrot and celery, or perhaps the dairy-free roasted pumpkin, sweet potato and spinach is more your thing. “We continue to make top tasting, quality pasta using traditional techniques, while adapting to modern day trends,” says Vincent Farinacci who currently manages the business. “We’re often told that people double check to see if they’re eating the gluten free option – they can ’t tell the difference.”
Vincent’s grandfather, Vincenzo, was originally a cabinet maker when he came to Australia in 1951. But after a trip to Sicily he returned to his new country inspired by a pasta shop. In 1985 he began offering locals a taste of home, living up to his occupational surname, Farinacci or ‘flour merchant’. That same year Michael Farinacci joined his mother and father in the pasta factory (then in Elsternwick), bringing with him a sales and marketing
background that saw the Farinaccis land contracts with catering venues, airlines, restaurants, delis and hotels across Australia. For three years now Michael’s son – Vincent – have been keeping the tradition alive.
After keeping catering clients and their customers happy since 1985, as well as feeding everyday pasta lovers, the Farinaccis only have one thing to say: “Here’s to another 30 years!”
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Details
Farinacci Pasta
662 Glenhuntly Road, Caulfield South Phone: (03) 9528 6076
Weekdays: 7.30am – 5pm
Saturday: 9am – Midday
Contact
Vincent Farinacci
p: 0413 880 560
E: [email protected]
