{"id":19553,"date":"2016-09-21T10:22:24","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T14:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/?p=19553"},"modified":"2016-09-21T10:22:24","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T14:22:24","slug":"listen-castelli-takes-over-cheese-manufacturing-plant-in-ashville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/listen-castelli-takes-over-cheese-manufacturing-plant-in-ashville\/","title":{"rendered":"[LISTEN] Castelli Takes Over Cheese Manufacturing Plant in Ashville"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_19554\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Castelli-Cheese.jpg?ssl=1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19554\" data-attachment-id=\"19554\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/listen-castelli-takes-over-cheese-manufacturing-plant-in-ashville\/castelli-cheese\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Castelli-Cheese.jpg?fit=700%2C449&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"700,449\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 5&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1474370017&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.12&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;50&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00132802124834&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"castelli-cheese\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Several local and state officials joined company representatives on Tuesday, Sept. 20 for the ribbon cutting at the Castelli Cheese plant in Blockville, NY.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Castelli-Cheese.jpg?fit=300%2C192&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Castelli-Cheese.jpg?fit=700%2C449&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19554\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Castelli-Cheese.jpg?resize=700%2C449&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Several local and state officials joined company representatives on Tuesday, Sept. 20 for the ribbon cutting at the Castelli Cheese plant in Blockville, NY.\" width=\"700\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Castelli-Cheese.jpg?w=700&amp;ssl=1 700w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Castelli-Cheese.jpg?resize=300%2C192&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-19554\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Several local and state officials joined company representatives on Tuesday, Sept. 20 for the ribbon cutting at the Castelli Cheese plant in Blockville, NY.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F283941519&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&visual=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&color=ff5500\"><\/iframe>\n<p>ASHVILLE &#8211; A new company has taken over the cheese manufacturing plant in Ashville.<\/p>\n<p>As part of an economic development deal with the state and county, Castelli America is now operating the former <strong>Empire Specialty Cheese<\/strong> plant on Fairbanks Rd.<\/p>\n<p>Castelli America is the first plant in the United States owned and operated by the <strong>Nuova Castelli Group<\/strong>, based in Italy. Officials from the company were in Ashville Tuesday morning to officially announce their taking over the facility, which had run into financial problems while being managed by Empire Specialty Cheese.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/castelli.png?ssl=1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"19555\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/listen-castelli-takes-over-cheese-manufacturing-plant-in-ashville\/castelli\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/castelli.png?fit=500%2C436&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"500,436\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"castelli\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/castelli.png?fit=300%2C262&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/castelli.png?fit=500%2C436&amp;ssl=1\" class=\" wp-image-19555 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/castelli.png?resize=300%2C262&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"castelli\" width=\"300\" height=\"262\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/castelli.png?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/castelli.png?resize=300%2C262&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>Castelli President <strong>Paul Bensabat<\/strong> explained that the company has actually been in operation since 1892 and has made a name for itself in Italy as a producer and distributor of various Italian cheeses.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Castelli is a very old company. It is a 125-year-old company that dates back to 1892. Very few companies have the privilege of being around for 125 years,&#8221; Bensabat said. &#8220;It is the second largest cheese manufacturer in Italy and is the first manufacturer of what we call protected denomination of origin cheeses &#8211; basically the <span class=\"st\">Parmigiano-Reggiano and t<\/span>he <span class=\"st\">Grana Padano <\/span> &#8211; these specialty cheeses that require a lot of care, attention, and very specific rules to be able to produce it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bensabat said the Chautauqua County facility is not only the company\u2019s first plant in the U.S., but he\u2019s hoping it will help to serve as the north American headquarters as the company continues to expand into the U.S. market.<\/p>\n<p>The Castelli announcement was due in large part to <strong>Empire State Development<\/strong>, which gave the company a $500,000 grant and a $5.5 million loan to upgrade the local facility. The company will also continue payments on $600,000 in business loans that Empire Specialty Cheese had received from the state, via the county IDA.<\/p>\n<div data-canvas-width=\"403.63999999999993\">&#8220;We want to make sure the dairy industry continues to thrive in Western New York. For more than a century Castelli has worked to consistently produce high quality cheese products in Italy and its purchase of the Ashville facility, as well as its commitment to retaining all of the plant\u2019s jobs, is a huge win,&#8221; explained <strong>Howard Zemsky<\/strong>, Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner in <a href=\"http:\/\/esd.ny.gov\/NewsRoom\/Data\/2016\/09202016_CastelliCheese_PR.pdf\">a media release<\/a>.<\/div>\n<p>The plant currently employs about 80 workers and works with more than 90 different regional dairy farms, mostly from the Amish community.<\/p>\n<br>More Posts for Show: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/show\/community-matters\/#show-posts\">Community Matters<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ASHVILLE &#8211; A new company has taken over the cheese manufacturing plant in Ashville. As part of an economic development deal with the state and county, Castelli America is now operating the former Empire Specialty Cheese plant on Fairbanks Rd. Castelli America is the first plant in the United States owned and operated by the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":19554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"[LISTEN] Castelli Takes Over Cheese Manufacturing Plant in Ashville","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[6946,426,2990,790,4720,6947,6948],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Castelli-Cheese.jpg?fit=700%2C449&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3YlJ4-55n","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32009,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/castelli-america-cheese-company-closes-just-three-years-after-opening\/","url_meta":{"origin":19553,"position":0},"title":"Castelli America Cheese Company Closes Just Three Years After Opening","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"December 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"ASHVILLE - An international cheese company that first opened a local operation in Chautauqua County three years ago is now closing its doors. 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READ THE MEETING AGENDA Among the items on the agenda is a resolution allowing for an agreement that would allow a wind farm equipment provider to lease space on a vacant property on Roberts Rd., in order\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Local News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Local News","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/category\/news\/local-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/chautauqua-county-seal-2006-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19119,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/empire-specialty-cheese-out-of-funding-expected-to-change-ownership\/","url_meta":{"origin":19553,"position":2},"title":"Empire Specialty Cheese Out of Funding, Expected to Change Ownership","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"August 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"ASHVILLE - A cheese company that only recently moved into its new location in Blockville is in the process of changing ownership due to financial challenges. The Post-Journal is reporting that Empire Specialty Cheese Co. (5151 Fairbanks Road, Ashville) has run out of money after investing millions of dollars into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Local News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Local News","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/category\/news\/local-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7588,"url":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/cheese-maker-could-be-moving-in-to-former-fairbank-farms-facility-in-ashville\/","url_meta":{"origin":19553,"position":3},"title":"Cheese Maker Could be Moving in to Former Fairbank Farms Facility in Ashville","author":"WRFA Radio","date":"October 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"ASHVILLE - A major cheese manufacturing operation could soon be coming to Ashville. The Chautauqua County Legislature learned on Wednesday that the Empire Specialty Cheese Co. wants to open a production operation in the town of Harmony at the former AFA Foods facility. 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