Baking & Snack - December 2024 - 20

OPERATIONS EXECUTIVES OF THE YEAR
Rotella's Italian Bakery full time.
" Sometimes with family businesses,
they say it's good to work
somewhere else for a period of time
before you re-enter the family business, "
he said. " And there's some
validity to that. I understand those
points. But I had the benefit of getting
to work with my grandfather
from the time I graduated from
law school until he passed away in
2009. That wouldn't have happened
if I had gone somewhere else first. "
Lou Rotella III first got to work
in the company's human resources
(From left) Lou
Rotella III, Lou
Rotella Jr. and John
Rotella lead with a
strong work ethic
and empathy for
their employees.
working with machines. When working at the bakery
in those early days, he quickly latched onto the maintenance
department, taking equipment apart, fixing it and
putting things back together. After graduating from high
school, he attended business school for a year before
making the switch to construction engineering technology.
Before joining the family business full time in 2008,
he spent a few years working in construction.
He started at Rotella's working with the bakery's head
engineer as a project planner. While John Rotella said
his father was the best baker, he is not a builder. When
it comes to bakery maintenance and engineering, John
Rotella learned a lot from the bakery employees.
" We've had a lot of fantastic employees who have
taught us a lot, whether by what we should be doing or
what we shouldn't be doing, " he said. " Being a hands-on
type of person working on equipment, I loved to learn
more about engineering and working with the engineers
on the floor, having them teach me how to do all these
tasks and take equipment apart and put it back together. "
In 2010, John Rotella attended AIB International's
engineering program to fill in some bakery knowledge
gaps and meet more professionals in the baking industry.
Today, he is in charge of the company's capital improvement
projects, and his brother and father put a lot
of trust in his expertise.
" John's ability to build and buy equipment, get us the
latest and putting it together to create something that's
the most efficient - he's really taken us to the next level, "
Lou Rotella Jr. said. " He's building another bakery right
now, and with all the state-of-the-art stuff he's bringing
in and what he's done with the freezer, we're going to the
next level. "
Lou Rotella III, on the other hand, took an interest in
business law. After getting an undergraduate degree in
business from Creighton University, Lou Rotella III went
on to get his JD and MBA from Creighton University
in May 2000. After graduating, Lou Rotella III joined
20 Baking & Snack December 2024 / www.bakingbusiness.com
department. The company had grown to a new level
with nationwide distribution, and it was critical that
more formal policies and procedures be put in place as
the company was hiring more staff. He saw his role as
supporting his father's dream of growing the business
through regional and national foodservice accounts.
" When I first started working full-time, the company
was in a significant growth phase, and it took a lot to
create infrastructure and operations and standard operating
procedures, " Lou Rotella III said. " There was a lot
new happening in both food safety and quality, and we
had to take all of that to the next level. Supporting his
dream and seeing that come to fruition has been one of
my greatest accomplishments. "
Every Rotella contributing their own strengths to the
business allows the brothers, their father, cousins and
uncles to collaborate on ideas and decisions and then
trust each other to get the job done.
" We work really well together because we each have
our own niche and trust each other, " Lou Rotella III said.
" And then we know that each one of us has the best interests
of the bakery in mind. "
Lou Rotella III, John Rotella and their father talk multiple
times a day: during breaks, over lunch, at family
dinners. John Rotella attributes that level of access to the
fact that they are family, one of the biggest benefits of being
in a family-owned and -operated company is the access
they have to one another. And then, thanks to their
niches, they're able to trust each other once a decision
is made.
" We all work side-by-side, and then we divide and
conquer, " John Rotella said. " We collaborate and update
everyone on what's going on day-to-day. "
This collaborative nature and trust the Rotellas have
in one another has launched the company into new efficiencies
and even categories. That trust, honestly, came
easily for Lou Rotella Jr. when his sons joined the business.
He knew very early on that they not only had the
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Baking & Snack - December 2024

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