1937
To become the leader of an industry still to be invented, a fresh-pasta craftsman must be able to transform himself into a cutting-edge entrepreneur with an infallible instinct.
Giovanni Rana, President and Founder of the Pastificio Rana, was born in Cologna Veneta, in the province of Verona, on 15 October 1937. At the age of thirteen he began working alongside his brothers at the family bakery, until, at twenty, he started his artisanal production of tortellini. Guiding him along his path was an instinctive intuition, yet one deeply rooted in the social and historical fabric of post-war Italy: a new generation of women was preparing to work outside the home, drastically reducing the time to devote to cooking and in particular to the homemade making of fresh pasta. The strength of our story is such that in 57 years it has involved many thousands of families all over the world, the families of all those who have worked and work with us. Giovanni Rana set this incredible adventure in motion and in recent years has proudly handed the helm to his son Gian Luca Rana, who for over 25 years has shared with an ever-growing number of people around the world the love for fresh pasta. Since the 1960s, Rana has come a long way: his is a story of dedication, commitment and passion, a long journey that first crossed Italy, then Europe, and that today looks out to the American frontier. This journey tells of how tradition and innovation have always been the key words of Giovanni Rana's success and of how the everyday challenges have made his company the leader in the fresh-pasta market. To always give new shape to ideas, the Rana team constantly updates its production processes, in most cases inventing machines that did not exist, from the design to the technical fine-tuning. This method is a relentless path towards excellence, which is not a fixed point of arrival, but a way of life and work, made possible by the incredible passion that unites all the people who work - in any role - in the Pastificio and that makes them one of a kind. To ensure the freshness of the products, the aim is to minimise the time that passes between the arrival and the use of the ingredients. Carrying out the final check of the product, before sending it to the pasteurisation process, is the cottore, a person whose task is to verify how the pasta behaves during and after cooking. He takes a small quantity of pasta from the conveyor belts, cooks it and tastes it directly at his table, mounted on wheels. Then he moves on to the next line to be checked... a journey made of precise and delicious stages! The vegetables are expertly selected and cooked in the workshop. Whole cheese wheels are used and the meat is chosen only in whole cuts, processed in-house, to be safer and without compromise. The eggs too are fresh and of grade, coming from barn-raised hens. They are fed with plant-based feed free of artificial colourings, in compliance with the criteria that guarantee the organoleptic and nutritional quality of the egg and the health of the animal.
2012
The Rana family's dream of landing in America with its own products not only comes true, but becomes even bigger! At practically the same time, the first fresh pasta and sauces plant opens in Chicago and the first restaurant in New York, in the exclusive Chelsea neighbourhood.
Salary increases during the coronavirus
His son Gian Luca, as managing director, set a good example by launching an extraordinary plan of salary increases worth 2 million euros, as special recognition of the commitment of the 700 employees at the five plants in Italy who are ensuring the continuity of food supplies during the coronavirus emergency. Among the planned measures - the Verona-based company reports - are a 25% salary increase for each day worked and an extraordinary monthly voucher of 400 euros for babysitting costs. The plan, which applies retroactively from 9 March, will also cover the month of April. Rana has also decided to take out an insurance policy for all employees, including those working remotely, in the event of infection with Covid-19, in addition to the strengthening of the safety and prevention procedures already implemented by the company.
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