Company La Torrente

I seem to hear again the voice of my mother Annunziata calling us from the kitchen, sweet and harsh at the same time. My brother and Salvatore, fighting against sleep, dressed up in a hurry for the most anticipated day of every summer, the day of tomatoes harvest.

The fresh air of early morning and the smile on the face of our father Giuseppe who made us climb on the back of the truck, along with the cassettes, remain among the best memories of my life.
The trip to the campaign was long, but for us it seemed endless. We could not wait to help father and all other adults gathering tomatoes peeking out from the green of the plantations.

With a jump, Salvatore and I were already on the ground, and with cassettes in our hands, we started the competition of who pick the most tomatoes. Every now and then, dad came to check on us by looking at the cassettes that we filled.

When he saw some tomatoes that are too ripe or ''nu poco tuccato ", he'd threw them. And with extrodinary patience he would explained to us how to collect only the best tomatoes, "Because a good tomato puree - he said - must be made only with the finest tomatoes!".

When the sun started to set, dad invited everyone to eat and get some rest, whid Annunziata, our mother, and the other women put out washed amber-colored beer bottles and stretched out the linens that will be used in the later tomato pressing process to dry under the sun.

After playing hide and seek in the small forest of linens, to keep us busy, the adults would give us the task to help them remove ''o Streppone" tomatoes and pass them in the water.

I still remember how dad, mother and others cut tomatoes while "cavurare" were eager to welcome the red gold that very hot summer. We performed with scrupulous attention to every little job that was assigned to us, to the point that we heard to say: "As you see that Filippo and Salvatore are sons of Don Giuseppe and Donna Annunziata! They have the passion in their blood!"

The eyes of our parents were filled with satisfaction, although there were scolding, especially when we played with the "stagnarelli" that would close the amber bottles filled with fragrant rose.

The tomato feast continued until sunset, when everything women tidy up the things and our father distributed to each family a cassette of tomato puree. The rest would be brought to the market.

It's been so many summers since then and the feast has a date of birth and even a name. It's called La Torrent and since 1965 it's a feast every day.

 

1965

The first packaging system that Giuseppe and Annunziata Torrente used it to keep the tomato sauce was the bottle of beer. This choice was made because it was a quick and cost-effective system. Effective because the glass, chemically inert, not allowed to add preservatives, then, thanks to amber color, the tomato was protected from sunlight and would last longer. Cost-effective, because the re-use of the beer bottles strike down considerably the production costs. In addition, the format of 66 cl was optimal pr family consumption.
forerunners of reuse, Giuseppe and Annunziata Torrente made a small glass bottle a real time machine capable of holding over the years benefits and also valid values ​​today more than ever.
From father to son, the management La Torrente has always remained in the hands of the family.
After Giuseppe and Annunziata, the rudder is passed into the hands of Filippo and Salvatore, that today, together with the third generation, preside all areas of business management; maintaining leadership in the fabric, the legacy of the original values. Over the years thanks to innovation and creativity, La Torrente has steadily grown in sales and in the belief that produce preserves is a family passion.

 

1972

The beginnings of the 70s featuring the breakthrough in the company of Giuseppe Torrente, you start to use the cans for packaging peeled, while the tomato processing is almost all done by hand, canning becomes mechanical, born the first machines manual control to make the airtight cans.
with these innovations is managed to cope with the continuous growing demand, the company and cannery La Torrente produced 15,000 quintals of tomatoes.

 

1980

These are the years in which Filippo and Salvaore, the sons of Giuseppe and Annunziata Torrente, enter and officially take over the family company, which at this point becomes a limited liability company, the production has grown, reaching 30,000 tons annually processed tomatoes, inaugurates first production line built on 4000 square meters, created to meet the needs of the Campania region.

 

1990

In the early '90s La Torrente become a major new plant in an area of 10,000 square meters, in addition founded a second plant in Sant'Antonio Abate, used as a warehouse to store huge amount of 70,000 tons of processed tomatoes, bottled or canned, the distribution now reaches all of South Italy, also thanks to the fleet in recent years is being formed to deal with the continuing demand rising steadily.

 

1998

We're almost at the end of the millennium and the Company La Torrente distributes its delicious products throughout the Italian territory, the production exceeded 120,000 tons of processed tomatoes. It is also the historical period in which the stream receives the first Company certifications ISO9000 and ISO14000.

 

2002

The production continues to grow at a fast pace, more than doubled in a few years it has arrived now to 300,000 tons of processed tomatoes.

 

2005

La Torrente, thanks to continuous checks carried out both in-house laboratory for quality certification, both external specialized laboratories for the healthiness of the product, amounts of Product Certification and Traceability in the Supply Chain.

 

Oggi

Today the company La Torrente reaches the production of 550,000 tons, divided into various categories for the catering, the Retail, the Sauces and Special products for high-quality cuisine. La Torrente today has abtained Certification BRC and IFS.