Ruxstons Organic Pasta Story

Introducing Pasta d’Alba

We’re delighted to announce that we are now importing pasta from a family business called Pasta d'Alba, from Alba in Piedmont, Northern Italy.

I’ve spent a fair bit of time in Northern Italy over the years through my work with a chocolate company called Boella and Sorrisi based there, but interestingly I didn’t discover Pasta d’Alba there. I actually came across it in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Last summer, during my honeymoon, I found myself browsing local wholefood shops (my wife was already pregnant at this point, so nightclubbing was, much to my disappointment, firmly off the cards). In a small shop called Moja naravna trgovinica, I came across an organic spirulina pasta that stood out straight away. It was made in Italy close to Turin. A few days later I was in Trieste, Italy and I saw it again, so I knew not only did it look good, but there was a strong chance they could supply us.

Back at the hotel in Ljubljana, I got in touch with the supplier to ask whether they distributed to the UK. It is important to keep any excitement in check at this point, a lot of companies can't ship abroad or already have firm agreements with bigger companies. I ended up speaking with Luisa Mainardi, the daughter of the founder, who introduced the idea of producing it as a white label pasta, meaning they make it and we design our own packaging.

Why White Label?

White Label is very exciting it gives you control over how the product looks and fits within your shop. Packaging that works in Southern Europe doesn’t always translate to Northern Europe, or East to West etc, and an amazing product can fail simply because the packaging is wrong for the region it is being sold in. Being able to design something that suits Ruxstons made a lot of sense.

At the time, we were tied up designing packaging with Granny Gothards for our ice cream brand, so the pasta project had to sit on the back burner. But as soon as the ice cream was done, it went straight onto Fraser’s desk. When Fraser is given proper creative freedom, he’s very good at building a clear and coherent vision. In this case, he used the slightly unusual shape of the top card not just to highlight that the pasta is organic, but to bring in a more natural, earthy and rooted feel to the packaging itself.

Visiting Alba

Whilst the packaging was going back and forwards, with plenty of changes and tweaks along the way, I made the trip to Alba to visit the factory, alongside meeting a chocolate supplier. It was a bitterly cold few days in December, and with the shop getting busier ahead of Christmas, and my wife close to giving birth, there wasn’t much time for sightseeing and it was going to be a quick one. I couldn’t quite face a night sleeping on the floor of Stansted Airport like I used to back in the chocolate days of a decade ago. Estera, who worked in the café at Ruxstons, mentioned that when she had a 7am flight she simply drove in at 2am, not one to be beaten I followed that logic, albeit an hour later and it worked much better than the floor.

Turin was actually my first business trip all those years ago, so I always enjoy going back. It remains one of my favourite places I’ve visited. The train journey into Alba was a highlight in itself, passing through some beautiful countryside into Alba which is a very pretty little town.

A family business.

Meeting Luisa, Laura and Marco was the real purpose of the trip. They have not only made a family business work, but have done so while maintaining strong principles and integrity. The company was founded by their father in the 1980s, long before organic food became fashionable, and has grown steadily over the years. Having grown up on an Organic farm and been in the minority, seeing the movement grow over the years is good but there is no doubt some have gone into it for financial reasons so it is very reassuring they have done it so long.

They’ve reached what I would consider the ideal position, large enough to scale if demand is there, but still small enough that you can pick up the phone and speak directly to them. Marco is a hands on engineering leader and was making tweaks to machines during the tour whilst Luisa is an amazing sales woman and great at telling you about the business and family history whilst Laura is the quality control person who checks every little details.

I was given a thorough tour of both the office and production facilities. It’s a highly professional operation, but very simple in its approach. The machinery is impressive, and Marco explained everything clearly, from drying times to bronze extrusion, which gives the pasta a rougher surface so it holds sauce better (although it is slower and adds cost).

We also had a very open discussion about the range we had selected. Fraser and I had three years’ worth of pasta sales data from the shop, which guided our choices, but the Mainardis were slightly alarmed that we had left out some of their favourites and regional specialities.

There was also a slightly confused exchange when I tried to explain the UK’s bird flu restrictions and how they had affected the labelling of “free range eggs”, and what that might mean for their egg-based pasta if similar rules were introduced in Italy. I’m not entirely sure they understood what I was talking about, and to be honest, I’m not sure we fully do either. Luckily those restrictions have recently been lifted for our own pasture raised eggs.

Laura kindly drove me back to the station, and I took a couple of hours to walk around Alba before heading back to Turin. She had mentioned that snow was forecast for the first time in three years later that day, but unfortunately I didn’t see any before leaving.

Coming Home

I had a day in Turin to walk around, sample foods, visit the famous “Eaterly” and go down to the river. As a fan of the “Italian Job” I love going down to the bridge their where the mini coopers made their daring escape. It has been a good few months since this trip so we are super happy to finally bring them to our shop. My personal favourite is the organic thick spaghetti, it truly makes the best spaghetti bolognese, with our own grass fed beef mince of course, you can image. Take time to view the entire range and be sure to try some and let us know what you think!