The Marzetti Company sells a variety of frozen pasta items in both the retail and foodservice markets. Consumers can find our Reames Homestyle Egg Noodles in grocery store freezers, while foodservice operators can order Marzetti Frozen Pasta, including elbow macaroni, cavatappi, and penne rigati, through all major distributors. We also make custom pasta items for several national account and industrial customers.
Like most of our brands, Reames and Marzetti Frozen Pasta both began as family businesses. And while the two families who founded these brands were actually rivals –operating just down the road from each other in Iowa – they both became important members of The Marzetti Company family.
In 1949, Bill Reames was pastoring a small church in Clive, Iowa and his wife Ethel was selling homemade candy to make ends meet. The process of making fudge and peanut brittle resulted in many leftover egg yolks, which Ethel used to make noodles. Bill and Ethel began selling their homestyle egg noodles to local grocery stores, and the business continued to grow. Eventually they were making 50 tons of frozen noodles a day! The Reames built a production facility, and used innovative methods of mixing, freezing, and packaging their egg noodles. The Marzetti Company (formerly Lancaster Colony) purchased Reames Frozen Noodles in 1989. The Reames brand remains an important part of our retail portfolio, as does the manufacturing facility in Clive.
Down the road from the Reames’ family business was another married couple in the egg business. Shortly after World War II ended, Ed Warren and his wife Helen took over the poultry business that Ed’s father had started in Altoona, Iowa. Throughout the next three decades, they grew their business which eventually expanded into egg noodles. By 1967, Ed and Helen were producing frozen pasta under the brand Aunt Vi’s Egg Noodles for both retail and foodservice markets. Their biggest competitor was the Reames brand, and competition was fierce! In 2003, The Marzetti Company purchased Warren Frozen Foods to add to its growing pasta portfolio, uniting the former competitors under the Marzetti umbrella.
Members of both the Reames and Warren families continued to work for The Marzetti Company for many years following the acquisitions. Today, we still produce all of our frozen pasta in Iowa. Reames products are made at our facility in Clive, while our foodservice products are made in nearby Altoona.