Goodwell Foods takes over Rustic Crust private label frozen pizza

Goodwell Foods, a manufacturer of private label frozen pizza, has found a new home in Pittsfield where Rustic Crust once operated.

The town’s third-largest employer, Rustic Crust, produced frozen pizzas for nearly three decades until it shuttered its doors in August, laying off dozens of workers.

Some of the assets were then acquired by Vikram Mansharamani, a Lincoln businessman who formed Goodwell Foods. The company began operations in December and now produces between 50,000 to 60,000 pizzas a day. Goodwell Foods employs around 50 workers, with approximately 20% of them having a previous affiliation with Rustic Crust.

“I’m a believer, a deep philosophical believer that you can do both ‘good’ in the world and also do ‘well’ while doing it,” said Mansharamani. “We are trying to do good by giving everybody here opportunities to rise, by being a good neighbor in the community, by actually producing high-quality, low-cost pizzas for American consumers and by producing a supply chain that’s American-made.”

Goodwell Foods produces various types of pizza for private label companies, as long as the product is at least 5.25 inches wide. The pizzas go from fresh dough to fully formed and cooled in about an hour and thirty minutes.

For Mansharamani, an economist and an author who ran for Congress in the fall, entering the food manufacturing industry meant embarking on a new endeavor. He saw economic opportunity when he observed a rise in the sale of frozen pizzas and a change in some consumer habits: Medical trends around obesity drugs, like Ozempic, pushed customers to seek smaller portion sizes and “clean label” foods.

“My goal is to make this business wildly successful, to grow it here, to invest here, and to again, both do ‘good’ and really ‘well’,” he said.

Goodwell Foods’ pizzas are mainly made from flour, water, tomato sauce and any desired toppings, which vary depending on the needs of the private label company. Their products are free of artificial and chemical preservatives.

“It’s a lot of product development,” said Linwood Logan, the vice president of operations. “So, depending on what we’re going for, we’ll formulate that.”

When private label companies approach Goodwell Foods, they may outline specifics for the potential product, such as crust thickness or parameters for calories, sodium content, protein or carbs. All of this has to be strategically concocted. Ninth-generation Italian master baker Chuck Brandano takes care of that.

“You tell him what you’re looking for, what height, what texture, what bite you want in it. He can formulate the dough to make it work. If you’re having a problem on the line, he can troubleshoot it and make sure that it runs properly,” said Logan. “Sometimes it’s yeast or temperature, or maybe it’s just a little more malted barley. He’s the scientist for that.”

Also on Goodwell Foods’ product development team is Charles Giammarco, a food scientist who’s often in the on-site kitchen, experimenting with pizza. In his role, he strives to “optimize the food product development pipeline” by playing with different factors, such as the pizza’s appearance, aroma, flavor and topping distribution. He uses a five-part survey to get visitors’ and workers’ feedback on various iterations of his creations.

“I am so excited to work at a company that is so fast and dynamic. It’s really exciting,” said Giammarco, who has worked for companies where product iterations take a year to launch from the initial concept to the full release. “It’s a benefit to both the company and the consumer because then they can call us and say, ‘All right, it would take another company four months to make this. You have it in a month and a half, and we can run it in two months.’”

Giammarco’s role forms part of the company’s effort to increase the breadth of its products.

In terms of its physical investment in pizza production, Goodwell Foods is working on constructing a 35-foot, negative 150-degree liquid nitrogen tank and tunnel to increase their freezing capacity and their overall output. The freezing process currently takes 50 minutes in their spiral freezer; however, with nitrogen technology, they can cool and freeze 5o percent faster.

“One of the things we’re doing now is we’re actually investing in growth for the future of this business, to build it out here in Pittsfield,” said Mansharamani.

For Angela Adcock, who began working in accounting at Goodwell Foods when it first opened, this sense of growth transfers to employees. Adcock helped the department get up and running, and, after six months, she was promoted to director of accounting.

“That started with working directly with Vikram and him kind of seeing ‘What are you capable of?’ ‘Where do you best fit?’ I think he saw that maybe I had gotten a little stuck in my previous position and was like, ‘Hey, there’s doors here. Let’s see what we can open.’” said Adcock, who has worked in the accounting field for 20 years.

Mansharamani wants all of his employees to feel valued in their roles.

“I believe, and the culture of this firm fully adopts, we’re going to allow everyone to rise to their full potential, and I’m going to make it possible for anyone, regardless of what your background is. If you can do the job and you do it well, and you show you can do the next level up, we’re going to take you to the next level,” said Mansharamani.

Yaa Bame can be reached at ybame@cmonitor.com