The Sclafani family began in the food industry in the late 1800's when Marie Sclafani and her husband came to the United States from Italy with their four sons. Initially the family started with a small grocery store on Elizabeth Street in New York. Marie's four sons began importing Italian products under the Sclafani Brand name as early as 1900. Eventually, due to expansion, the Sclafani Brothers moved to various locations in Brooklyn, New York continuing to expand the product line and the Sclafani Brand. Marie's grandchildren took over Sclafani Brothers in the 1930's changing the name to Joseph L. Sclafani, Inc.

The Joseph L. Sclafani company was comprised of 5 brothers: James, Joseph, Dominick, William, Leo and two cousins, Marie and James. They continued to import and distribute Sclafani brand products. The products consisted of canned tomatoes, processed vegetables, pasta, jarred specialty items and olive oil, to mention a few. As demand grew so did distribution and the product line. At that time distribution was limited to ethnic stores and neighborhoods from New York to Chicago. At this same time James Sclafani was running a codfish plant on the Gaspe Peninsula in Canada. The plant dried codfish for export to the United States.

After World War II the Sclafani's purchased Violet Packing Company LLC. The purpose of this was to produce Sclafani brand products to be sold by the Sclafani family through their distribution channels at Joseph L. Sclafani Inc.

The day-to-day operations of Violet Packing were left to James and William. James was a pioneer in the handling of bulk tomatoes, improving on the time proven baskets. This increased productivity immensely throughout the plant.

By the late 1940's and early 1950's Violet Packing introduced the first fully prepared pizza sauce in the United States under the names of Violet Special Formula A and Don Pepino. The original formula for Don Pepino Pizza Sauce stems from Dominick who envisioned a vast post WWII market for pizza. Dominick developed the benchmark Don Pepino formula in 1950 and it has never been changed.

Currently the product line consists of items packed under the Violet, Sclafani and Don Pepino labels in both retail and food service sizes. They include tomato products as well as processed peppers.

The fourth generation of Sclafani's, Lou and Chip, successfully managed Violet Packing for 20 years, doubling sales while maintaining their commitment to you, the customer. In the fall of 2004 Lou and Chip begain executing their strategy to move Violet Packing to the next level. With no siblings looking to enter the business, Lou and Chip agreed to sell Violet Packing to a business acquaintance, Rob Ragusa. Rob has a strong background in sales and marketing. While spending summers and Holidays working in his family's pizzerias, Rob is excited about the future of Violet Packing LLC. Lou and Chip remain part of the Violet family and are active in the daily operation of the business. While the Violet family has increased in size, the business will remain family oriented and will focus on continuing to provide the finest tomato products available. Our commitment to you is to offer the freshest, all natural tomato products on the market. To our customers, thank you for your loyalty. To those unfamiliar with our products we offer this, try them and taste the difference. You too will see what generations have known, our products have a flavor profile that our competitors try to emulate. Don't be fooled, there is only one Don and he's from New Jersey.