Palermo Villa
Palermo Villa, based in Milwaukee, WI, employs over 700 people to run a nationally renowned branded and private label frozen pizza business, including its new, popular super-premium pizza products. For the full story on Palermo Villa, see “Palermo Villa redefines frozen pizza with super-premium products.”
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Palermo Villa, a family-owned Italian pizza company based in Milwaukee, WI, is commanding a national spotlight for its new super-premium pizzas, which are far outpacing the frozen pizza category as a whole.
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The late Gaspare Fallucca—known as Jack, and later “Papa Palermo”—moved to Milwaukee with his wife, Zina, from Palermo, Sicily in the 1950s. By 1964, the couple opened a bakery, selling Italian breads, cookies and cannoli. In 1969, they opened a restaurant, dubbed Palermo Villa, focused on home-style Italian cuisine. The restaurant’s popularity often meant that people had to wait in line for a seat—and Jack would hand out little pizzas to people waiting for free. The popularity of the pizza helped it get onto the restaurant’s regular menu, and the Milwaukee Journal named it “Milwaukee’s Best Pizza.” Then a local grocery store owner, impressed with their pizza products, urged Jack and Zina to go into the frozen-food business. The rest is history.
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Palermo Villa operates a 250,000-square-foot facility that opened in 2006 and underwent an expansion in 2011—and there’s still room to grow. The company sells its branded or private label pizzas in every U.S. state, as well as in Canada and Mexico.
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Palermo Villa leadership today includes Laurie Fallucca, chief creative officer. “Papa Palermo is really at the foundation of everything we do,” she says.
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Nick Fallucca, vice president of marketing and R&D, believes in the power of a great pizza experience. “Our mission is to create a great pizza experience, and that’s something that we want to do throughout the range of the pizzas we produce,” he says, “everything from our value segment to our super-premium—we make sure that we are delivering a great experience.”
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Palermo Villa is home to a 250,000-square-foot production area where it runs four lines dedicated to pizza. Its brands include Palermo’s (Primo Thin, Pizzeria, Thin Crust), P’mos, Screamin’ Sicilian, Urban Pie Pizza Co.
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According to IRI, Chicago, for the 52 weeks ending August 7, 2016, Palermo Villa’s Screamin’ Sicilian super-premium line grew 111.81 percent in dollar sales. Screamin’ Sicilian craft-style pizzas have quickly grown to take the best-selling slot across the company’s range of products. “Consumers are definitely gravitating toward higher-quality pizzas,” says Nick Fallucca, vice president of marketing and R&D. “They’re willing to pay a premium for products that deliver a premium experience. We hadn’t seen this trend in frozen pizza until we brought our craft pizzas, Screamin’ Sicilian and Urban Pie, to the market.” He calls the lines the craft beers of the pizza world.
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The success Screamin’ Sicilian led to an extension into Stromboli handheld sandwiches, currently co-packed by a partner. It was important that the Stromboli products, available in Lucky Clucker and Mambo Italiano, matched their Screamin’ Sicilian pizza counterparts in flavor profile and eating experience, notes Laurie Fallucca, chief creative officer.
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In March 2016, Palermo Villa launched Urban Pie Pizza Co., a super-premium craft pizza line that features unique flavors and a croissant-like crust. The line includes North End (shiitake and crimini mushrooms, truffle Alfredo, rosemary, capers, caramelized onions), Lakeview (sun-dried tomato, chicken sausage, fire-roasted yellow pepper, spinach, sun-dried tomato sauce), Little Italy (fresh mozzarella, cherry tomato, basil, pesto) and Mission District (uncured pepperoni, chicken sausage, tomatoes, basil, green peppers, onions, crimini mushrooms, roasted red bell pepper sauce).