Startup seeks cure in fine swine

olliWhat started as local man’s curious craving has turned into a meat-making business with huge aspirations.

It all began when Chip Vosmik, a local businessman who made his money in various real estate and small business investments, approached his friend with a question.

“If I get some free range hams, would you cure them for me?” Vosmik asked his friend.

Other friends who tasted the results, Vosmik said, could not stop raving about how delicious it was.

That got the gears turning in Vosmik’s head. It wasn’t long after that he and Olli Colmignoli, a trained salami maker, partnered to launch a business producing high-quality Italian meats using free-range pigs.

That was more than 10 months ago, and the company, Olli Salumeria, has been in the market for the past two months. The company has a 7,500-square-foot office and production facility in Mechanicsville.

The company primarily produces varieties of salami and prosciutto.

Since returning from the Fancy Foods Show in San Francisco last week, a major event for the industry, Vosmik said he is confident he made a good investment.

“We were absolutely buried with well-known chefs, retailers, distributors and media. We are having to ramp up our production,” Vosmik said.

That means hiring three or more people soon, adding to the five already employed by Olli Salumeria. Vosmik also anticipates moving the operation into a 40,000- to 50,000-square-foot facility within the next year.

The company sources its pigs from several family farms in the region, including Eco-Friendly Farms in Moneta, Va.

“Five or 10 years ago, we couldn’t have started this business,” Vosmik said. “There were only factory hams available in the U.S. What has really changed is the local food and free range movement that made all this possible.”

The company is focusing most of its marketing efforts on getting on menus at high-end restaurants across the country. It has distributors in Chicago, San Francisco and soon in New York, making it available to hundreds of fine dining establishments. Its meats are distributed regionally by International Gourmet Foods, which serves an area from Baltimore to Atlanta.

The next step is retail, Vosmik said.

The product is available locally at Belmont Butchery and Libbie Market, but Vosmik has his sights set on large chains as well. The going retail price for a stick of Olli Salumeria salami is $9 to $10, with prosciutto planned to sell for up to $25 a pound retail. (The company’s first batch of prosciutto is still curing, and there is a waiting list to purchase it.)

“There are established competitors ahead of us, and we are playing catch up,” Vosmik said. “But I am very comfortable we have the ability to execute that.”

That confidence comes from a secret ingredient: the man the company is named for, Olli Colmignoli. While other domestic producers of Italian meats are self-taught, Colmignoli is a fourth generation salumiere using his grandmother’s 160-year-old recipes.

“We keep it very, very traditional,” Colmignoli said.

The basic seasoning for salami is just garlic, pepper and wine.

“We do it simply so that the quality of the meat and the way we process it lets the meat flourish,” he said.

Having worked for Fiorucci Foods in Colonial Heights for many years, Colmignoli said he is excited to have his own company.

“We had a bit of a gut feeling that there were customers wanting to transition to higher quality,” he said. “The reaction has been a lot more than we expected.”

olliWhat started as local man’s curious craving has turned into a meat-making business with huge aspirations.

It all began when Chip Vosmik, a local businessman who made his money in various real estate and small business investments, approached his friend with a question.

“If I get some free range hams, would you cure them for me?” Vosmik asked his friend.

Other friends who tasted the results, Vosmik said, could not stop raving about how delicious it was.

That got the gears turning in Vosmik’s head. It wasn’t long after that he and Olli Colmignoli, a trained salami maker, partnered to launch a business producing high-quality Italian meats using free-range pigs.

That was more than 10 months ago, and the company, Olli Salumeria, has been in the market for the past two months. The company has a 7,500-square-foot office and production facility in Mechanicsville.

The company primarily produces varieties of salami and prosciutto.

Since returning from the Fancy Foods Show in San Francisco last week, a major event for the industry, Vosmik said he is confident he made a good investment.

“We were absolutely buried with well-known chefs, retailers, distributors and media. We are having to ramp up our production,” Vosmik said.

That means hiring three or more people soon, adding to the five already employed by Olli Salumeria. Vosmik also anticipates moving the operation into a 40,000- to 50,000-square-foot facility within the next year.

The company sources its pigs from several family farms in the region, including Eco-Friendly Farms in Moneta, Va.

“Five or 10 years ago, we couldn’t have started this business,” Vosmik said. “There were only factory hams available in the U.S. What has really changed is the local food and free range movement that made all this possible.”

The company is focusing most of its marketing efforts on getting on menus at high-end restaurants across the country. It has distributors in Chicago, San Francisco and soon in New York, making it available to hundreds of fine dining establishments. Its meats are distributed regionally by International Gourmet Foods, which serves an area from Baltimore to Atlanta.

The next step is retail, Vosmik said.

The product is available locally at Belmont Butchery and Libbie Market, but Vosmik has his sights set on large chains as well. The going retail price for a stick of Olli Salumeria salami is $9 to $10, with prosciutto planned to sell for up to $25 a pound retail. (The company’s first batch of prosciutto is still curing, and there is a waiting list to purchase it.)

“There are established competitors ahead of us, and we are playing catch up,” Vosmik said. “But I am very comfortable we have the ability to execute that.”

That confidence comes from a secret ingredient: the man the company is named for, Olli Colmignoli. While other domestic producers of Italian meats are self-taught, Colmignoli is a fourth generation salumiere using his grandmother’s 160-year-old recipes.

“We keep it very, very traditional,” Colmignoli said.

The basic seasoning for salami is just garlic, pepper and wine.

“We do it simply so that the quality of the meat and the way we process it lets the meat flourish,” he said.

Having worked for Fiorucci Foods in Colonial Heights for many years, Colmignoli said he is excited to have his own company.

“We had a bit of a gut feeling that there were customers wanting to transition to higher quality,” he said. “The reaction has been a lot more than we expected.”

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Casey Quinlan
Casey Quinlan
13 years ago

More good news for those who, like Bourdain and Emeril, believe that pork fat rules! Virginia-based La Tienda brought jamón Iberico to the US from Spain a few years ago, and Surry County’s Edwards Ham sells some outstanding porky goodness. Now we’ve got our own hand-crafted, free-range salumeria. Virginia’s ag economy doesn’t get a lot of coverage in its business pages, but it’s a huge contributor to the state’s business brand.

Now…what’s for breakfast?

Julia
Julia
13 years ago

Nice article on one of our suppliers. We really like working with Olli (we use their salume on our cheese boards and in our sandwiches). Quality product made locally is always a treat. Bravo!

Sausage Craft
Sausage Craft
13 years ago

Olli makes some really impressive stuff; they really raise the bar for all VA pork products, and for producers nationally. Great to have a producer that is not only banking on being local, but also on having superior quality.