Success Story: Esca, No. 1 Clam & Pasta Sauce in Italy, and LP Foods High Quality Clams Supply Chain

Italians are well known for loving Vongole very much. Who has never eaten Spaghetti Alle Vongole in his life? You know what we mean.

A family company with 3 generations of seafood heritage and a modern processing factory in Central Italy, Esca is the Italian leader of high quality clams with pasta sauces which Italian families everyday use to replace the uncertain quality of canned clams.

They called it Condipresto, a name to represent the idea of cooking pasta on the side (Italians like to personalize their pasta, often ‘al dente’) and to use their sauce (in Italian: ‘condire’). An 8 minutes process, therefore ‘presto’ (fast).

20 years ago (oh yes, long time) Esca came to LP Foods asking us to set up the supply for them of Asian clams in shell and Asian clam meat for their Condipresto, but to guarantee the most strict quality standards: no chemicals, additives in production; no foreign corps of any kind, be it broken shells, or small crabs, or algae; no sand, even the slightest hint; no mud on the outer shell, black water drops, bad smell. It took years to improve the supply chain and to sensibilize the plants to the importance of delivering a premium product for a seafood traditionally seen as ‘poor’ due to the low unit cost.