An Oceanside salami maker that traces its roots back more than 170 years in Italy is expanding in the size of its workforce and its product offerings.
Olli Salumeria has seen a steady growth since Oliviero Colmignoli founded the company in 2010 in Virginia, moving it to Oceanside in 2015.
Chief Commercial Officer
Olli Salumeria
“We decided to expand our facility, our capacity and our technology. To do that, we came to San Diego (County),” said Marco Terenghi, chief commercial officer of Olli
The company chose San Diego County because the climate is similar to that of Colmignoli’s family home in Napoli, Terenghi said.
Initially, Olli looked at sites in Otay Mesa but chose Oceanside in part because of the area’s skilled workforce — and it was an easier commute from Orange County, where Terenghi lives.
The company had a hiring fair in December and is still looking for more workers as it perfects its latest offering, preservative-free salami.
Marketing Push
“When we first started in Virginia, we had a facility of about 8,000 square feet. Now we operate out of 120,000 square feet,” Terenghi said.
Since moving to Oceanside, Olli has grown from about 30 employees to 170.
As another measure of the company’s growth, Terenghi said that Olli initially was grinding about 5,000 pounds of meat a week to make its salami and this year grinds about 200,000 pounds of meat a week.
“We grind and manufacture everything here. All our salami is manufactured, sliced and packaged in Oceanside,” Terenghi said.
Terenghi declined to provide revenue figures but he said, “By the end of 2026, we should be doubling our business.”
To do that, Olli is stepping up its marketing.
“This year, we’re going to invest 3 1/2 % of our revenue in marketing. That’s something that we just started doing,” Terenghi said. “Historically, we used to spend like 0.5% to 0.7% of our revenue marketing.”
Innovating
Colmignoli’s family has been in the salami business for more than 170 years and in 1986 opened a salami plant in Virginia before Colmignoli broke away and started Olli.
“The new thing is leveraging his heritage to create a product made in the USA,” Terenghi said. “We brought back the Italian process, the Italian taste and now we continue to innovate.”
The salami is dried and cured in a temperature- controlled room, hung from racks the reach nearly to the 21-foot-tall ceilings for up to four weeks.
Olli makes prosciutto and several types of salami, include Genoa, Sopressata, Napoli, Calabrese, hard salami and pepperoni, which Terenghi said is a spicy American form of salami.
The salami is sold in sliced packages, in chubs and in bulk.
The company also makes snack packs of various forms of salami packaged with cheese and crackers and antipasto trays.
“At the beginning, it was basically mostly one type of product. We used to make salami chubs only, and by salami chubs, imagine like a salami stick,” Terenghi said.
The latest innovation is producing salami free of preservatives. All of Olli’s products are free of antibiotics.
In a market that is becoming ever more competitive, “We like to offer something new to the consumer,” Terenghi said, adding that consumer tastes have changed since Olli opened its first manufacturing plant in Virginia.
Before, it was something that you either put in a sandwich or brought out when it was a special occasion,” Terenghi said. “Right now, salami snacks are huge.”
Olli Salumeria
Founded: 2010
Headquarters: Oceanside
Founder and President: Oliviero Colmignoli
Business: Food manufacturing
Employees: 170
Website: www.olli.com
Contact: 877-655-4937
Social impact: Olli supports the San Diego Food Bank
Notable: Oliviero Colmignoli’s family has been making salami for more than 170 years.
