The basics:

• Supermarket Italy offers 6,000+ imported products from 44 countries
• Business nearly tripled during the pandemic; now includes wholesale operations
• Prepares for tariff impacts by building inventory of key products

A New Jersey-based family-run specialty foods importer is bringing the world to your door. After getting its start in 2009 as an online destination for authentic gourmet imported products from Italy, Supermarket Italy has since expanded to feature an even wider variety of international foods through its direct-to-consumer platform and wholesale division.

With a commitment to quality and exceptional service, Supermarket Italy works with vendors from Europe to source fine imported ingredients from around the globe to help customers, chefs and restaurants elevate their cooking.

The website’s constantly growing catalog has more than 6,000 products from 44 countries, including regions in Europe, North America, Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, South America and Australia.

Much of that expansion occurred during the pandemic, when at-home cooking was not only a hobby but a necessity for many. So, though Americans were stuck at home, Supermarket Italy was enabling customers to continue having culinary adventures.

“Our mission has always been to bring as many high-quality, authentic Italian and European goods to Americans as possible,” said Supermarket Italy CEO Jacqueline Quattrone. “From world-class DOP Italian meats all the way to top-tier Italian beauty products, Supermarket Italy is the U.S.A.’s one-stop shop for all items straight from the motherland.” The reference is to Denominazione di Origine Protetta, an Italian food classification.

“We are proud to bring the world to your home with the finest quality of authentic foods from across the globe. We carefully curate every product, so all you need to do is visit our website from your desktop or iPhone to explore the world’s flavors,” she said.

Smart growth

After joining her husband, Giovanni Quattrone, at Supermarket Italy in 2020, the 34-year-old has been focused on growing the business in a smart, sustainable way.

Giovanni Quattrone began the company with his brother Salvatore as an offshoot of their family’s long-running gourmet Italian and specialty foods distribution business, Sanniti LLC.

When their father launched that business in 1982, it was mainly focused on Italian cheeses. After his sons got involved with Sanniti, it grew to offer cheeses from all over the world, as well as meats, olives, pasta, coffee and olive oil. The brothers formed their own venture as a way to combine their import expertise to sell authentic fine foods to both consumers and commercial entities.

After the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Supermarket Italy’s business nearly tripled in size, from 600 orders a day to between 3,000 and 4,000 orders daily, according to Giovanni Quattrone.

“It was insane and it got to a point where we were a month behind … Thankfully, Jacky came on and was able to fix everything,” the 37-year-old said.

“Prior to getting involved, I was house flipping, so my work is a little bit more flexible. Once COVID hit and the orders started pouring it, Gio asked me to come and help pack,” Jacky Quattrone said. “And I started to see that there were a lot of things that needed restructuring. I have a lot of experience with project management and lean manufacturing, so I just started looking at what we could fix. One thing led to another, and we ended up restructuring the entire company.”

“We were a month behind on website orders and we came up with a process to try and get these orders out faster,” she said, adding that they focused on improving “little things,” like “scanning orders, adding systems that just make more sense and finding ways to cut back on waste.”

Given the uptick in e-commerce during the pandemic, Jacky Quattrone said, “We started to look for new items and that’s where it started growing from Italian to much more on the website. We were starting to see that people were looking for certain things.”

After getting the right systems in place, Jacky Quattrone said Supermarket Italy was able to finally establish a wholesale business, too.

Besides developing a seamless process for handling orders, Jacky has made it a point to ensure the company remains a place that empowers women. About 90% of Supermarket Italy’s 60 employees are female. Besides offering flexibility and understanding, Supermarket Italy prides itself on giving employees opportunities for advancement, she said.

“I have a great group of women and we want to give them the opportunity to grow and teach them things along the way. We have people that have been with us for awhile – at least since when I started a couple of years ago,” she said, noting that females hold many of the supervisory roles across Supermarket Italy’s various departments.

Going international

Post pandemic, Supermarket Italy has capitalized on continuing consumer interest in international cuisine. So, when it comes to determining which products to bring onto the website, Giovanni Quattrone said they typically look at what’s trending.

“Pistachio paste is crazy right now. So, anything pistachio from Italy right now is really going strong. We’re also looking at different items that have to do with pistachio,” he said.

“Sometimes items will go viral on TikTok, we’ll wake up in the morning and just have 100 or 200 orders for an item that usually barely sells. It’s pretty funny how that works out,” he said. “Right now, everyone’s focusing on healthy because they are being for conscious of what they’re eating.”

For instance, a recent top seller was Celtic Sea Salt, which, he said, is becoming popular because it has a higher level of magnesium.

As for other cuisines Supermarket Italy may add into its fold, Giovanni Quattrone said they’d eventually like to include offerings from more African and South American countries.

In Lyndhurst, Supermarket Italy has three warehouses – a 26,000-square-foot space for packers and a 100,0000-square-foot site for products. A third location is used for storage of heavy items, like olive oils and canned tomatoes.

Best-sellers include Italian meats, cheeses, pastas, sauces and olive oil. Supermarket Italy’s countless gift baskets and bundles are popular, too, according to he company.

And, like any supermarket, the inventory includes non-food items, such as cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, beauty products and body lotions imported from abroad. Since European food and product regulations tend to have stricter guidelines regarding chemical additives and preservatives than the U.S., Supermarket Italy’s offerings are a favorite among customers who are interested in a clean lifestyle.

Consumers – particularly from the Midwest and West Coast – also praise the website for its fast shipping and selection of products that are hard to find in their areas.

Jacky Quattrone said, “I also think our attention to making sure we have a little bit of everything on our website. One of the biggest things for me was packaging. I love receiving a nicely packaged item, so we put attention into the way we package our items for shipping to make sure everything arrives nice.”

“One of my biggest things that I worked on was fast shipping. Because as we know, with Amazon – you get everything right away,” she said. “I do try to push out our orders immediately so our customers receive it on time because everybody wants their packages right away. So, we focus on trying to get them out the same day or the next day.”

“We also try to make sure everything is packaged nicely … sometimes I think our biggest challenge is we try to do our best with the packaging, but then we just can’t control how the carrier handles the package after,” she said. “It’s not that common, but we’ll have packages that arrive damaged,” she said.

‘Doing the best you can’

Like other U.S. companies, Supermarket Italy is preparing for increased prices after President Donald Trump announced a universal minimum tariff of 10% on all imported goods. With the exception of China, tariffs on most countries have been paused for 90 days.

While importers may initially absorb some costs, ultimately the increases will likely be passed along to consumers, economists say. Prices for items like seafood, coffee, chocolate, wine, nuts and cheese are all expected to rise.

As a business that imports most of its goods, Supermarket Italy has been trying to build up its inventory of popular items, such as olive oil and cheese, Giovanni Quattrone said.

“We’re trying to keep as much inventory without overdoing it. You don’t want to be overbuying and then the next thing you know, you’re giving it away because it’s going out of date. It’s just doing the best you can,” Giovanni Quattrone said.

He noted they did similarly ahead of a possible work stoppage last fall at ports across the U.S.

When the International Longshoremen’s Association went on strike in October 2024 for pay raises and a ban on the use of some automated equipment, Supermarket Italy was among the many businesses bracing for impact. The three-day strike affected at least 25,000 workers and 36 ports – including six locations in the New Jersey-New York area. It also threatened to disrupt supply chains, cut off exports and cost the economy more than $4 billion each day.

The strike was suspended after the two sides reached an agreement that calls for a 62% wage hike over the next six years. In January, dockworkers and port operators reached an agreement to avoid another work stoppage.

Giovanni Quattrone pointed out that tariffs have been a reality at Supermarket Italy for some time. In 2019, Trump enacted a 25% tariff on hundreds of European products, such as cheese, butter, cookies, cherries and salami.

“It didn’t affect sales though, which is surprising. It just made the cost of doing business much higher. But we pass on the cost to the consumer. So, with products like parmigiano, whoever wants that will pay the extra little bit,” he said.

Those tariffs were suspended by President Joe Biden in 2021. Shortly after Trump’s return to the White House in January, the Republican said he planned to restore tariffs on the European Union “pretty soon.”

“With something like Parmigiano, someone will pay the extra little bit because it’s specialty,” he said. “With these tariffs, I guess they will affect more everyday items and that’s where people are going to feel it,” Giovanni Quattrone said.

“The thing that’s bad for us – if we import something, let’s say a container of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and the container is maybe $300,000, we have to come up with 25% on the spot. So, we’re holding that in inventory. That’s the worst part. We have to come up with a lot of cash flow. That’s where the tariffs are going to hurt.”