Hartford Business Journal

14 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MARCH 10, 2025 Federico Balestra, the third-generation owner and CEO of Sabatino, holds black winter truffles in the company's newly expanded West Haven plant. HBJ PHOTOS | STEVE LASCHEVER Hidden Gem With roots in Italy, Sabatino company now operates world's 'largest truffle manufacturing plant' in CT and, until 2005, it continued to rely on shipping truffles and truffle-based products, like oils and seasonings, from Italy. "The company was doing okay, but it was not jumping to the next step," Balestra said. "I told my sister, 'we need to open a manufacturing plant in the U.S.'" At that time, many fewer specialty food products of European origin were manufactured here. Most maintained their exclusivity by being able to boast that they were imported from Italy or other countries of origin. At first, Balestra identified a 5,000-square-foot premises in the Bronx. "The day we opened a manufac- turing plant (in the U.S.), the company took off," he said. Just a few years later, he realized they were going to outgrow the space. Property prices in New York prompted him to begin looking else- where for expansion. Balestra was already living in Connecticut, and, after the 2008 crash, he identified a building in West Haven just a block from I-95, that had the potential he believed the company needed. The 40,000-square-foot industrial property, at 135 Front Ave., had origi- nally been a seafood production plant. It took time and work to renovate the building before the company moved in 2012. At first, he said, the space was far more than they needed. "Within two years it was full," he said. In fact, Sabatino has continually expanded the plant until it now extends to 125,000 square feet. The newest addition is a 42,000-square- foot, fully automated warehouse and distribution center that Sabatino opened in December. With this additional space, the company has been able to consolidate warehouse operations that it had elsewhere in West Haven and New Haven. Workers at Sabatino's West Haven plant bottle preserved truffles. By Harriet Jones hjones@hartfordbusiness.com F ederico Balestra, standing in his recently expanded West Haven manufacturing facility, was surrounded by boxes full of black winter truffles — a delicate fungus that grows at the roots of oak and hazelnut trees. "This truffle arrived last night, shipped yesterday morning from Italy," said Balestra, the third-gen- eration owner and CEO of his truffle company, Sabatino. " The order will go out to UPS and FedEx by this afternoon. It will be to the customer tomorrow." Sold and shipped whole like this, truffles are used by upscale restau- rants to garnish and flavor exclusive dishes. This small, climate-controlled room contains a lot of value — just one ounce of this truffle sells for $95; a handful could yield $1,000 or more. Balestra is himself an Italian trans- plant. The Sabatino company began in Umbria, Italy in 1911 — founded when Balestra's grandfather, Sabatino Balestra, opened a small shop selling the delicacies. At that time, the product was only found in the wild by truffle hunters using specially trained dogs. "For many years we just sold in Italy," Balestra says now. Truffles were considered a highly local product that might not travel well in the days before mass air travel. But, by the time Federico and his sister, Guiseppina, took over the family business, it was clear they would have to become more ambi- tious. Growing competition in Italy was cutting into their market share. "We said, 'you know what — let's try to go outside,'" he says. Germany was their first export market in 1996, and from there they spread to other parts of Europe. "I came to the U.S. in '99, for three months, supposedly," he remembers. He was 26 years old. "We started door-to-door in New York City, selling to restaurants." The company gained a foothold 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 $700M $600M $500M $400M $300M Source: International Trade Administration IMPORTS VALUE VALUE OF ITALIAN IMPORTS TO CT AT A GLANCE Sabatino Industry: Truffle production/manufacturing Top Executive: Federico Balestra, Owner & CEO North American HQ: 135 Front Ave., West Haven CT Employees: 100 Website: sabatino1911.com Contact: 888-444 -9971

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