Our History

Anthony Mongiello continues his family’s tradition; a dedication to innovation. In 1925, his grandfather, Lorenzo Mongiello established a specialty canning corporation for ricotta cheese. Lorenzo designed these metal tapered cans and built machinery to produce them. Lorenzo’s son, Angelo Mongiello Sr. continued with his father’s industrial creativity.

After watching how workers painfully molded mozzarella, with their bare hands in boiling hot water, he invented the first automated mozzarella cheese making machine. Angelo subsequently earned over a dozen patents on industry related items, as well as custom built equipment that we at Formaggio still use today. In the book “The History of Italian Cheese in America”, published in the early 1950’s, Angelo Sr. is listed as inventor of the first mozzarella making machine in the United States.

Anthony would accompany his father, Angelo, to a product-pitching meeting at the Polly-O offices where he saw his father introduce the incredibly successful Mozzarella Cheese Snack Stick, or as we know it today, the Polly-O String Cheese stick and its many copies. This experience set Anthony on the path of product innovation and furthered the family’s tradition of food industry innovation. With Anthony’s own revolutionary food invention, the now iconic Stuffed Crust Pizza, the Mongiello name is undeniably synonymous with Italian Cheese.

With tireless dedication and imagination, the possibilities for specialty cheese products have been and will continue to be endless. Taking the Fresh Mozzarella cheese category from 5 items to 65 items and creating an entire specialty cheese category in the grocery store along the way is merely a sign of more to come and a nod to the excellence in quality. The Formaggio difference is the Flavor, Innovation and Quality that goes into every product.
Today, Anthony Mongiello and his team continue to put pride into every Formaggio product for your enjoyment. “We invite you to become a part of our Formaggio Family”.