Sept. 3 – All Italians know that pizza abroad is very different from the one prepared in Italy: “American-style” pizzas are the easiest to find, while good quality pizza is often expensive. But Roncadin, a Friuli-based company specializing in the production of high-quality frozen pizzas, may have found a solution. The company began exporting to China the typically Italian product, but at an affordable price. The idea worked, and in June Italian entrepreneur Dario Roncadin, after the success of his online sales, opened the brand’s first store in a Shanghai business center, the Zhong Rong Jasper Tower. “Our pizzas - explains Dario Roncadin - are made with 5 to 24 hours leavening processes, are cooked in a wood oven and topped manually. We don’t roll out our dough, but divide it into small balls and then hot-press it. To market the product in China, we had to adapt to local tastes, with a substantial difference in the cooking method: since in Chinese homes ovens are rare, we opted for using pans. Our pizzas can be placed in the pan, still frozen, then covered and cooked at a low heat for 8-10 minutes.”

RONCADIN

Roncadin Spa is based in Meduno (Pordenone). Founded in 1992 for the German market, today, 336 people work in the company. Its turnover in 2013 amounted to €56 million, while the estimate for 2014 is €70 million. Only 29% of the turnover is generated by Italian customers, while the remaining 71% comes from abroad, mainly in Germany and the UK. In recent years, Roncadin also expanded to China and the United States. In 2013, it produced 44 million pizzas, while the estimated share for 2014 is 65 million. In 2013, the company developed about 370 different recipes, also registering for a patent for its hot-press system that allows to obtain a very thin dough. Roncadin, in 2013, was the first Italian manufacturer of frozen pizzas to export the brand to China.