Basciani Foods sees Crimini emerging as next big thing

Basciani Foods has been a go-to company for mushrooms since 1925, with the fifth-generation company growing a variety of white mushrooms and exotics. The company packs for national retail grocery store chains, restaurant chains and foodservice distributors across the U.S.

“Our intense focus on lightning-fast service and superior quality has made us one of the industry leaders and a favorite amongst our longtime customers,” said Fred Recchiuti, general manager of the Avondale, PA-based company. “We grow, process, pack and ship 1.5 million pounds of fresh mushrooms every week.”

Even though the company is going to be celebrating its 100th anniversary in less than a year and a half, the current owners are the first generation of mushroom farmers that grow year-round.

“Our forefathers grew mushrooms here in The Mushroom Capitol of the World before Carrier invented air conditioning,” Recchiuti said. “They had to close-up for the summer because it was just too hot for mushrooms to grow.”

But the company has always been on the forefront of evolution and changing with the times to ensure its mushrooms were top quality and what the customers were looking for.

“I think any type of farming, mushroom farming being maybe one of the most intense, requires hard work, determination and resiliency,” Recchiuti said, explaining the secret of the company’s success. “Our people work closely with the American Mushroom Institute’s various committees to advance best practices in every aspect of our business. Everything from food safety to worker safety.”

While all mushrooms are doing well in sales, Basciani Foods sees the Crimini (or baby portabella) as emerging as the “next Portabella.”

With this being summer, mushroom season is in full swing with people and brown and exotic mushrooms are as popular as ever.

“The trend to eat healthier is an exciting development that embraces mushrooms as a rising star,” Recchiuti said. “We’re seeing a lot of hype and trending across the whole segment. We’re still promoting the immune boosting quality of mushrooms and the health benefits that are naturally growing in popularity. That’s putting mushrooms in a good light and making them an appealing product to health-conscious consumers.”

Earlier this year, Basciani opened Basciani Express, a new transportation brokerage to develop and consolidate freight operations.

“Besides handling the transportation for all of our mushroom loads across the country, we are leveraging relationships, working with some vendors and customers and people we know and are a full-fledged 3PL now — we’re offering repack, cross dock, cold storage and warehousing and full truck loads,” said Joe Basciani, chief financial officer for the Basciani Group of Companies.

All of Basciani is excited to celebrate National Mushroom Month and expect big things for its 100th anniversary in 2025.