Manufacturing Today Issue - 239 August 2025 | Page 71

___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Palermo
Villa do a true 24-hour ferment or a super high hydration, so the combination of having a 24-hour dough, high hydration and the ability to bake it in a wood fired oven really gives us the opportunity to sell this unique product into different channels. On this line, we can now make the products that we fell in love with in Rome, such as the traditional Neapolitan-style flatbreads, focaccias and ciabattas, and we’ ll also be introducing some new products for our own brand in the deli and frozen channels.
“ Our new bakery will be open by the end of the year. It’ s going to be a real state-of-theart facility; it’ s the only one of its kind in North America and will have technologies and innovations that we could’ ve only dreamt of.”
Continuous improvement
Innovation lies at the heart of Palermo, and the company is committed to driving a culture of continuous improvement, whether it’ s by investing in its operational efficiency or experimenting with new product profiles for its customers.
“ We’ re trying to optimize our current facilities as much as we can. Sustainability is a big thing for us and it’ s important that we minimize our waste. Whether it’ s controlling the amount of ingredients we put on each pizza or reducing the packaging size from our supplies, we’ ve been optimizing and innovating our waste reduction processes,” Nick elaborates.“ For example, we recently launched a new item with Cheez-It ® where
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