Barilla celebrates the 15th anniversary of the Rubbiano Sughi plant with employees and their families

Barilla celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Rubbiano Sughi plant, in the province of Parma, with a day dedicated to those who, both inside and outside the production site, have helped to build its history.

In recent days, in fact, Barilla opened the doors of the production site to its people and their families, giving them the opportunity to discover at close hand the spaces, activities and people who make it possible to produce sauces and pestos every day. It was a moment designed to share a milestone belonging to the entire plant community and to tell the story of a place that, in addition to facilities and technologies, is made up of skills, relationships and stories.

The story

Rubbiano’s journey began long before these 15 years. It was here that in 1965 Barilla had opened its first plant outside the city of Parma dedicated to producing a product other than pasta, with the production of rusks and Mulino Bianco breadsticks. In 2012, almost fifty years later, the site took on a new industrial challenge with the establishment of the plant dedicated to sauces and pestos.

At its opening, Rubbiano Sughi had 120 employees and two production lines, with a capacity of around 35.000 tonnes of sauces per year. Since then, the plant has experienced steady growth: in 2018, the addition of two new lines made it possible to double production capacity. Today, Rubbiano has grown to [[ARTW_HTMLOPEN_AAAT] more than 400 employees, with 136 ingredients processed and combined in 44 recipes.

In 2024, the fifth production line became operational, allowing the plant’s capacity to increase by a further approximately 15.000-18.000 tonnes of sauces per year, bringing Rubbiano towards an overall capacity of approximately 120.000 tonnes per year, almost five times that with which the plant was inaugurated in 2012. It is therefore a story of continuous growth, experienced first and foremost by the people who work there.

The comments

“I joined Rubbiano five years ago, starting in the kitchen, and over the years I have had the opportunity to grow, moving from packaging to quality control and then to the role of packaging operator,” says Ilaria Bertola, packaging operator at Rubbiano Sughi. “I feel lucky because Barilla believed in me and gave me the opportunity to grow together with the plant. Rubbiano is five minutes from my home: coming here today and being part of it still has a certain effect on me. To me, it is a family, a group of people who work well together, and I would like to continue being part of it in the future too.”

“I started working at Rubbiano as a seasonal worker in 2015 and in 2018 I joined Barilla on a permanent contract,” says Enzo Testa, one of the kitchen operators at Rubbiano Sughi. “Over the years I have seen the plant grow and change. When I arrived, there were only two lines, one dedicated to red sauces and one to pestos; over the years, others were added, accompanying the expansion of the plant and the growth in production. What I appreciate most about Rubbiano, however, is the environment: it is a dynamic place, where people of different ages and with different experiences work together, and where I have always felt comfortable. For me, the plant has almost become a second family. We spend an important part of our days here, and being able to work in an environment where you feel comfortable really makes a difference.”

Quality and safety

Behind every jar of sauce or pesto produced at Rubbiano is an industrial process in which quality and food safety are fundamental priorities, from the choice of raw materials to processing, right through to the product that reaches consumers’ tables.

The plant produces for the Italian market and markets around the world, and today its production is divided approximately between 60% of red-based sauces, with tomatoes as the main ingredient, and 40% of pestos. A broad portfolio comprising 44 recipes, made from 136 ingredients, each enhanced and processed in accordance with Barilla’s high standards of quality, hygiene and food safety.

A strong focus on ingredients

Particular attention is paid to the ingredients that characterise the recipes and define their flavour profile. Every day at Rubbiano, around 100 wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano are grated, for a total of around 30.000 wheels per year, providing evidence of the plant’s production scale and, at the same time, the care devoted to the raw materials that go into the recipes.

Tomatoes and basil, signature ingredients in many of the recipes produced at Rubbiano, are 100% Italian. One of the specialities created at the plant is also Pesto alla Genovese, a recipe that since 1994 has brought together Italian basil and PDO Parmigiano Reggiano and which in 2024 celebrated its first 30 years.

The focus on the quality of raw materials goes hand in hand with a journey of continuous innovation. In 2020, Barilla established its own Basil Charter, with the aim of promoting sustainable agricultural practices, protecting biodiversity and soil health, and supporting farming communities. The basil intended for Barilla pestos and sauces comes from sustainable agriculture in accordance with the criteria established by the Iscc Plus certification system.

This article was translated from the original Italian version with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the original Italian version.