As a professor at the Culinary Institute of America, Arnone taught more than 3,000 students across 14 courses. He has earned numerous honors, including an Ivy Award, international competition medals, and multiple Société Culinaire Philanthropique gold medals. Through KA-CMC LLC, he provides consulting, catering, menu development, and culinary guidance, combining exceptional ingredients, sound technique, creativity, and a lifelong passion for hospitality. Total Food Service sat down with Chef Arnone to discuss his distinguished career, approach to culinary education, consulting work, and perspective on the evolving foodservice industry.
It’s everything. Guests today are more knowledgeable and discerning than ever. They can taste the difference between an ingredient that was chosen with intention and one that was chosen for convenience (I prefer – When you source with intention, it shows in every bite, and that’s exactly what brings people back). At Colavita, we’ve built our entire philosophy around the idea that great cooking starts before you ever turn on the stove. When a chef reaches for our extra virgin olive oil or our other Italian pantry staples, they’re working with ingredients that have been carefully cultivated and sourced to perform consistently. That consistency is what allows chefs to build signature dishes with confidence and it’s part of the reason guests keep coming back.
Our heritage is the foundation, and our foodservice line has evolved with the modern kitchen in mind. We’ve always been guided by the principle that authenticity and practicality aren’t mutually exclusive. Today’s operators need products that deliver on flavor, hold up under volume, and arrive consistently every time. We’ve expanded our foodservice formats, developed products with versatile applications across menu categories, and worked closely with chefs to understand where the real pain points are. The result is a portfolio that honors over a century of Italian culinary tradition while meeting the very real demands of a professional kitchen.
Premium ingredients pay for themselves in ways that don’t always show up on the initial invoice. When you start with a high-quality extra virgin olive oil, you need less of it to achieve the flavor you’re after. When your tomatoes are rich and consistent, your sauce requires less doctoring. There’s also a powerful story element – diners are increasingly willing to spend more for a dish when they understand the quality of what’s behind it. Quality ingredients elevate perceived value, and perceived value drives profitability.
We think about this challenge every day. Our foodservice formats are designed specifically to reduce waste and improve yield, including larger pack sizes, better shelf stability, and products that perform consistently across batches. But beyond the logistics, we also invest in education and partnership. Our team works directly with operators to identify the right products for their specific menu and volume needs, so they’re not over-investing in items that don’t match their use case. The goal is always to find the intersection of quality and efficiency, and we have decades of experience helping operators get there.
A few things stand out. First, there’s a real movement toward ingredient-forward cooking – dishes that let two or three exceptional ingredients do the talking rather than masking flavors with complexity. That’s actually very Italian at its core, and it plays directly to our strengths. We’re also seeing tremendous interest in protein, and Colavita is responding directly to that with the launch of our new protein pasta line that will release soon. There’s also the continued demand for cleaner labels and traceable sourcing, which again is something Colavita has always prioritized.
Our extra virgin olive oil is the ultimate all-day workhorse. It works in everything from a morning frittata to a dinner braise to a catering spread. Our balsamic vinegar and wine vinegars are similarly versatile, showing up in dressings, reductions, marinades, and finishing applications. Our pasta line is a natural for lunch and dinner, but we’re also seeing operators use it creatively in catering and buffet settings. And our tomato products are foundational across virtually every cuisine type, not just Italian. These are the products that earn a permanent place in the pantry because they solve problems across the board.
It’s been one of the most meaningful parts of our growth as a company. We recognized early on that our ingredients weren’t just for Italian restaurants. They belong in any kitchen where quality matters. We’ve developed packaging formats, pricing structures, and product configurations specifically for high-volume noncommercial operations. A college dining program has very different needs than a boutique hotel restaurant, and we’ve worked to serve both well. What’s been gratifying is that across all of these environments, the core value proposition is the same: Colavita delivers authenticity and consistency that operators can rely on, whether they’re serving 50 covers a night or 5,000 students a day.
We’ve seen chefs build entire tasting menus around our olive oil – different varietals, different regions, non-traditional pairings, which speaks to just how much depth the product has. On the pasta side, chefs are doing extraordinary things with our bronze-die extruded shapes, pairing them with very non-traditional sauces and proteins in ways that feel both modern and grounded. And our balsamic is showing up in unexpected places like cocktail programs, pastry, even cheese courses. When you start with an exceptional ingredient, creativity follows naturally.
Authenticity has become a form of trust. In a world where consumers are skeptical of marketing claims and increasingly educated about food, heritage is something you either have or you don’t, and diners can sense the difference. For Colavita, our Italian heritage isn’t a branding exercise. It’s a legacy of family ownership, hands-on production, and a genuine connection to the land and traditions of Italy. When a chef puts that on their menu, they’re borrowing credibility that took generations to build.
We were very excited to be back at the Summer Fancy Food Show this year. Attendees enjoyed a truly immersive experience at our booth. We prepared live dishes that showcased some of our newest innovations. The star of the show was our expanded protein offerings, including our Protein Gnocchi, Protein Penne, and Protein Spaghetti. We also featured a Gluten Free Gnocchi. These products are a direct response to what we’re hearing from both consumers and foodservice operators. There’s enormous demand for pasta that delivers on nutrition without compromising on the authentic Italian quality Colavita is known for. The best way we know how to tell our story is to bring these products to life in real dishes.
Our booth is designed for real conversation, not just passive sampling. We’ll have team members on hand to talk through specific menu applications, answer questions about our products, and work through challenges that operators are facing in their own kitchens. We’ll be doing live preparation demos so attendees can see our products in action, not just on a tasting plate. And for operators who want a deeper dive, we’re happy to schedule time for more focused conversations about their specific operation and how Colavita can fit into it. The show is one of our favorite opportunities to connect with the community in a meaningful way.
The easiest starting point is our website at colavita.com, where our full portfolio is available along with contact information for our sales team (usa@colavita.com / 732.404.8300). We also have regional representatives across the country who specialize in working directly with operators. They’re some of the best in the business and genuinely love what they do. For distributors and larger partnership conversations, I’d encourage reaching out directly. We’re always looking for partners who share our belief that quality ingredients are the foundation of a great dining experience, and we’d love to have that conversation.
