Six years ago, Joseph Bianco Jr. and his family moved from their 1960’s 5,000-square-foot sausage shop in Revere, Mass., to a former bakery building in nearby Medford. The new location afforded the company 29,000 square feet of production space.
“To us it was a massive structure, but we had dreams about expanding our 600-square-feet of sausage production space to two or three lines at the new building,” Joseph Bianco III, recalled. “And did that plan come through for us in ways we never could have imagined.” Enamel Casserole
Joseph III, the 30-year-old chief financial officer for Bianco & Sons Sausage, runs the business with his chief executive officer brother Lewis and his sister Francesca, the chief operating officer. Their father, Joseph Jr., joined the company to work for his father (Joseph) in the 1980s, and is still involved serving as company president.
“Dad comes in on Sundays, the only day we are closed,” Lewis said. “He’s 62 years old but he likes to see what his vision has become. You could say he lives here.”
Sparking the growth and success for the core sausage company was the Biancos tapping into demand for marinated, value-added meats. Since moving into the new location, they have ramped up to produce poultry sausages and marinated meat and poultry entrees. In fact, they have two marinated meat lines in operation, producing both poultry and other protein items.
“It’s funny how a building we once thought was so large got tighter and tighter in the available space,” Lewis said. “We went from 35 employees at the old plant to over 100 within a few years. But a big difference is that where we once had perhaps 10 employees making a few hundred pounds of sausage a day, we have that many workers on each of three lines making 25,000 lbs of sausage product a day.
“One of the major reasons for this ability to grow has been that we focused on our special skill points to bring in key people in management, quality control, maintenance, shipping and safety. We feel we now have the right people in the right places.”
You could say that the Bianco family learned that instead of chopping wood harder, they learned to take time to sharpen the axe.
“Those critical personnel we brought on board let us really get rolling,” Lewis added. “We invested heavily in modern equipment, but there is always a limited life to everything. We have a huge inventory of spare parts on hand. That means if something breaks down, we can attend to it right away, and we now have a correct plan for maintenance of all machinery.”
That includes the fleet of 10 delivery trucks Bianco & Sons maintains. The family regards themselves as a regional processor and has one of the best reputations in New England. They ship their products to supermarkets and restaurants, some as far away as Florida, Atlantic City and Las Vegas. The Bianco family notes that many of the larger supermarket chains that sell their products send their own trucks to the plant to pick up orders.
The company manufactures more than 200 different products and does no co-packing or private labeling for other firms.
It is readily apparent that the Bianco name and brand is well-known in the Boston metro area, because many vendors purchase their products for sale, including many who sell those famous sausages outside of Fenway Park, home to Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox. Bianco & Sons brand of authentic Italian sausages remain true to the original family recipes, although some tweaking and expanded flavor profiles have occurred over the years. The brothers attest that customers in New England represent about 98% of the market for their products. They also note that there are not many competitors left in the area they serve.
The company remains a loyal customer to firms that supply their casings, spices and commodity meats. And they keep some traditions alive like hand sorting pork. Joseph III points out that much of their growth success has come about because of consumer eating habits.
“People don’t cook like they used to anymore,” he said. “They would rather buy something that is ready to heat and eat. They don’t have many spices in their kitchens and want something that is flavorful and tastes good, along with good packaging for storage and convenience. We want to be there to fill that void for them.
“We seek out opinions from our employees and try to get their reaction to new product ideas and tastes. It’s a good cross section to search for reaction to a new flavor profile. We have employees in their early 20s to some who have worked for our company over 50 years.”
The company website, biancosausage.com, and social media are the only advertising the processing company does. The website not only lists their product line-up, but offers recipe, cooking and food safety information for all categories, from sausages to marinated items, pork, beef, steak, lamb, chicken and turkey. The recipe section includes information and details on needed ingredients, time for preparation and serving details.
The variety of selections is broad, with marinated poultry adding to the product choices of this still mainstream sausage product manufacturer. In the sausage offerings one will find hot, sweet (natural and traditional) Italian, basil-flavored, broccoli and rabe, cheese and garlic, Chinese links and breakfast links.
The beef category includes teriyaki tips, honey barbecue and sweet bourbon tips. With lamb they feature Greek-style lamb tips, while pork’s slot includes Chinese-style boneless strips. The turkey group offers garlic parmesan tips. The chicken section lists Tuscan and hot honey wings and Cajun bone-in chicken thighs. And, of course, there are both beef and chicken meatballs. They also identify products that are gluten free.
The family remembers when the old Revere location allowed retail customers to come in to pick up their orders, and most sausages were a minimum 5-lb box. They had to be brought out from cold storage with each order. More recently, Bianco & Sons added a 400-square-foot retail area under the same roof at the Medford plant where products are displayed and can be picked up right from the shelves. The small retail area often gets 300 customers a day.
Injector The siblings assert that they are happy and comfortable with how the original family business has grown. Meanwhile that newly expanded space becomes more crowded a as the company continues to grow.