- Company Name: La Terra Fina
- HQs: Union City, Calif.
- Est.: 1983
- Distribution: Nationwide
- Products: Refrigerated dips, spreads, quiche
- Brands: La Terra Fina
It was 1983 when a coveted San Francisco-area caterer created La Terra Fina. The company first began as a catering company that sold packaged dips and spreads to what would later become Costco.
“This set the tone for our mission to be a company that makes food to bring people together,” says Stephanie Robbins, director of brand development. “We’re focused on food to share, serve as your own or to remind you of the times you enjoyed together.”
Today, the Union City, Calif.-based company offers a variety of refrigerated dips, spreads and quiche to retailers nationwide. But, it’s the company’s recent brand refresh that enabled La Terra Fina to re-evaluate its brand, culture, products and processes.
“We began by updating our logo and retail items, including our classic dips, Greek yogurt dips and quiche. We wanted to be sure we communicated our message without cluttering up the packaging, and we wanted to be sure the labels would grab attention without looking overdone,” adds Robbins. “First, we created the architecture for our retail packaging, and now every product has a new label. Our website is to follow.”
La Terra Fina also continues to innovate and test out new flavor profiles.
“We only source dairy from cows not treated with rBST, and we’re working with our suppliers to only source non-GMO ingredients,” Robbins says. “We also do our best to source ingredients as close to our manufacturing plant as possible. These are all decisions that we see as better for business and the environment and driven by the consumer. In this age of social media, the biggest trend is really around a consumer focus. We’re always meeting with our consumers online and in person to understand how our products can fit their needs and desires. We’re seeing requests for more bold flavors, international flavors and fusions of flavors that we’ve not seen before.”
In re-evaluating its brand, La Terra Fina also anticipates taking part in the influx of e-commerce and home delivery services.
“[E-commerce] will allow for consumers to find the exact product they like even if it’s not in their local retailer,” says Robbins. “However, consumers are saying they like to find their own food in brick-and-mortar stores. So, truly, there’s a split in the way people like to shop. E-commerce is going to simply offer another avenue for providing our food to people when they want it and how they want it delivered.”
Going into 2018, La Terra Fina continues to look at new products in new categories, evaluate expansion plans, optimize its supply chain, expand e-commerce offerings and review logistics.
“Having been started by a caterer, it’s in our DNA to want to share our food and celebrate it. We make food the consumer would be happy to call homemade. We only use ingredients that can be found easily in any grocery store. We put care and thought into each product we make. It starts in the development process, and continues through to our team in the plant. We make our quiche crust from scratch, shred the cheeses that go into our products and we mix everything very much like anyone would in their own kitchen,” says Robbins.
