CHICAGO — Decades before a jar of its oil-packed giardiniera made a cameo on “The Bear,” Marconi Foods was crafting the condiment at its headquarters on Grand Avenue in River West as one of the city’s oldest, if not first, giardiniera manufacturers.
That oil played a key role in how the nearly 130-year-old company got its start making Chicago-style giardiniera.
Sicilian immigrant Vincent Formusa came to Chicago in 1892, initially working in watchmaking and jewelry, his family’s trade. Using his family contacts, Formusa established V. Formusa Co. in 1898 — what would become Marconi Foods — and started importing olive oil from Italy, along with pasta, canned tomatoes, beans and other products that fellow Italian immigrants were pining for.
“As much as they loved moving to America, they still missed a lot of the food and things they had at home,” said Marconi president Jeff Johnson, a great-grandson of Formusa.
Formusa began making giardiniera, which in Italy was a way for people to preserve fresh produce from their garden. Traditionally in most parts of Italy, giardiniera consisted of large chunks of vegetables preserved with vinegar, Johnson said. Formusa’s giardiniera, however, was unique to Chicago, combining pickled serrano peppers, carrots, cauliflower and celery chopped into smaller pieces and packed, Sicilian-style, in an oil brine.
“The fresh vegetables get cured in a vinegar brine and then we drain them and in goes the oil,” said Johnson. “You still have that residual vinegar tang, which I think helps the flavor a lot too.”
With the abundance of oil Formusa had on hand, he also became adept at blending olive oil with other vegetable oils, an important skill during World War I when commodities were expensive, Johnson said. That oil blend became the base for the company’s signature salad oil and later, its submarine sandwich dressing.
Today, Marconi Foods also produces goods like canned Italian tomatoes and salad dressings while churning out close to 2 million pounds of giardiniera a year, including for the Portillo’s restaurant chain.
“There’s a few of us around, but we were one of the original giardiniera manufacturers in Chicago,” said Johnson. “We’ve been doing it for so long, it’s hard to put an exact date on it.”
Vincent Formusa in his shop at 710 W. Grand Ave., which later became Marconi Foods. Credit: Provided
Outgrowing Grand Avenue
When Formusa opened his shop at 710 W. Grand Ave., at the intersection of Grand, Milwaukee and Halsted, the neighborhood was an enclave for Italian immigrants and Italian-owned businesses. As the company grew, so did its footprint, eventually spanning five storefronts.
In 1934, Formusa and his son Peter Formusa, who joined the family business, were knighted by the Italian government for their work in promoting Italian heritage and culture in the United States.
An image of Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi on Marconi Foods product labels. Marconi, inventor of the wireless telegraph, was an associate of the company’s founder, Vincent Formusa. Credit: Facebook/Marconi Foods
Their products became recognizable for their signature red and bright yellow label with an image of Guglielmo Marconi on the top left corner, an associate of Formusa. Marconi was an electrical engineer, politician and inventor of the practical radio wave-based wireless telegraph system.
The two men weren’t related; rather, Formusa became acquainted with him from his many visits to Italian trade exhibitions, and both were boosters of Italian culture, Johnson said.
After nearly 115 years in the River West neighborhood, Marconi Foods moved in 2014 to its current location in suburban Des Plaines to meet the company’s needs for more space, leaving behind longtime neighboring businesses like La Scarola and Richard’s Bar.
“It became such a challenge to operate industrially out of that area, just getting trucks in and out on a daily basis,” said Johnson. “It was very difficult for us to make that move, especially for my dad because that was his second home for all those years.”
In 2016, before the building on Grand Avenue was torn down, urban archaeologist Eric Nordstrom salvaged artifacts from V. Formusa Co. that were found in trunks on the building’s third floor, including photos of the business’s interior and exterior, handwritten letters, newspapers and items from the 1893 World’s Fair, DNAInfo Chicago reported at the time.
The site of the former Formusa building is now condos.
A view of the Grand, Milwaukee and Halsted intersection, which was populated with Italian businesses in the early 1900s. Credit: Provided
While Johnson worked at Marconi Foods growing up, he put his culinary and food science education to work after college doing food distribution for hotels.
“In my heart I knew at some point I wanted to work for the company, but I also wanted to get out there and get a taste of other things too,” he said. “I did that for a while, and I guess the rest is history.”
That was 20 years ago. Johnson’s sister, Joey Schramm, is vice president at Marconi Foods and his parents, Bob Johnson and Suzanna Formusa Johnson — who is Peter Formusa’s daughter — are still active in the company after 50 years.
“Being able to have a really good relationship with my family from a business aspect and from a family aspect is important to me and something that I’m thankful for,” said Johnson.
Jeff Johnson recalls his early days working at the company when his father would go to restaurants to sell Marconi oil. He’d also push the giardiniera as a great topper for Italian beef sandwiches that was easy to store as it doesn’t need to be refrigerated.
Then along came “The Bear ”in 2022.
In an early episode, a big jar of Marconi giardiniera can be seen on a shelf in the kitchen of the Mr. Beef-inspired Italian beef stand at the center of the show, Johnson recalled. The real Mr. Beef in River North makes its own giardiniera but buys other Marconi ingredients, he noted.
“There’s been a growth curve helped by ‘The Bear’ for sure,” Johnson said. “All over California, Florida, Texas and a lot of places in the Southeast, giardiniera is really starting to grow.”
Jeremy Allen White as Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto in a season two episode of FX’s “The Bear.” Credit: Chuck Hodes/FX
Riding The Giardiniera Wave
At Marconi’s headquarters in Des Plaines, which employs 20 people, giardiniera is still mixed by hand in small batches to prevent the vegetables from being crushed.
“Quality is a really broad term, but for us it means a lot,” said Johnson. “We try to hold ourselves as the standard of giardiniera in the marketplace, and we work hard to make sure our consistency standards are met, whether you’re picking up a jar in L.A. or Fort Lauderdale or in the middle of Chicago.”
Some of Marconi’s top sellers beyond giard include its line of San Marzano canned tomatoes, gourmet salad dressings and pickled red onions. Marconi distributes its Italian products to retailers and restaurants nationwide, while Italian delis and independent markets carry its specialty items like meats and cheeses, Johnson said.
Marconi Foods giardiniera combines small chunks of pickled serrano peppers, carrots, cauliflower and celery. Credit: Facebook/Marconi Foods
Giardiniera remains the company’s bread and butter.
“We still like to ride the wave of the giardiniera popularity, so we’re always thinking of ways to spin offshoots of that,” said Johnson.
The company has been experimenting with dry giardiniera seasoning in a shaker jar and a giardiniera-spiked mayonnaise, as well as using different oils, including avocado oil, in its giard.
“But the main thing is just kind of staying true to our core, which at its essence is quality Italian products,” said Johnson.
“This is year 128 for us, so it’s really something to step back and think about, especially in the foodservice space where big conglomerates are buying up small companies. At our heart, we’re a family company that’s stayed true to the same things we started so many years ago.”
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