Baking & Snack - December 2024 - 24

ROTELLA'S ITALIAN BAKERY
A new cold storage facility, pet food company and bakery facility
are expanding the Rotella family business.
by Charlotte Atchley
T
The Rotella family's strong work ethic and pride in their
family has driven them to grow and expand Rotella's
Italian Bakery, Omaha, Neb., to become a supplier of
frozen breads and rolls to foodservice customers across
the country. Two of its patriarchs were inducted into the
Baking Hall of Fame, and now the fourth generation of
leadership - Lou Rotella III and John Rotella - are being
awarded Baking & Snack's Operations Executives of
the Year for 2024.
Lou Rotella III and John Rotella balance their ambition
with humility, just like their forefathers. Each expressed
a wish of helping their father realize his vision
for the bakery, while also beginning to pave a path forward
for their own dreams for the baking company.
" Their ideas - both of my sons - have definitely taken
the business to the next level, " said their father, Lou
Rotella Jr., chief executive officer. " It's mind-boggling
the ideas that they have and how well they present those
ideas and then follow through and make things happen.
There is case after case of them taking us to the next level,
and I'm really proud of that. "
In the past few years, Lou Rotella III, chief operating
officer, and John Rotella, general manager, have upped
the ante of their previous work to bring Rotella's into
new arenas and address the company's challenges. A
new cold storage facility opened this year to bring that
function in-house rather than outsourcing warehousing.
Ground broke on a new bakery across the street that will
be their fastest and most efficient yet, and John Rotella
started Ag Alchemy Animal Nutrition, a companion
animal food company that addresses some of Rotella's
bakery by-product and reduces the company's waste.
24 Baking & Snack December 2024 / www.bakingbusiness.com
These dreams will support the baking company for
years to come and provide new paths to further diversify
the family business.
Addressing a cold hard truth
All of Rotella's products are frozen, and since the company
maxed out its onsite 3,500 pallet freezer in 1994, it
has used third-party cold storage facilities across Omaha
to store its products. While the family had batted around
the idea of building its own cold storage facility, the pandemic
solidified the need. For the first time in Rotella's
history, the company was having issues maintaining its
99% fulfillment rate because of lack of space in those
cold storage facilities.
" We made the product; sent it to our third-party logistics,
but we couldn't fulfill the trucks fast enough to
get it to them, " John Rotella explained.
It was obvious that to take control of their customer
service, the Rotellas needed to bring cold storage under
the umbrella of its business. John Rotella worked on the
project for four or five years, designing different concepts
onsite at the company's main campus of bakeries
or renovating an existing building.
" As I was touring the country, looking at different cold
storage facilities, I came to the realization that we needed
to build something that's going to take us from year
one to year 10, " he said.
The company bought 48 acres outside of Omaha, just
a few minutes from the main campus, and in November
2022, Rotella's started construction. In May of this year,
the storage facility was complete: 245,000 square feet on
16 acres amounting to 20,000 pallet positions. The full
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Baking & Snack - December 2024

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