< Felice Nespoli
In 1939 moves from Seregno to Saronno to open a shop that sells tripe and beans.
Towards the end of the 1940’s, Francesco,the son of Felice, starts working with his father. He collects bones and fat with his truck, from public slaughterhouses, and delivers them to soap factories together with dirty tripe for internal production.
Until the beginning of the 1950's, Felice treats the tripe in the public slaughterhouse of Saronno and resells it in his shop.
Half way through the 1950’s, the Nespoli family moves the production of bovine offal to a warehouse in via Roma in Saronno, creating the Nespoli s.n.c.
Around the end of 1960’s, Francesco Nespoli starts a partnership with Angelo Zerbi, owner of the Lombarda Alimentari and previous owner of Manzotin. This collaboration allows the two entrepreneurs to merge their two companies.
Felice Nespoli, Mauro Galimberti and Giorgio Nespoli
On the 24th ofJuly 1970, Francesco Nespoli and Mario Zerbi, son of Angelo, create the “Società Italiana Lavorazione Carni e Affini s.n.c.”, commonly known as S.I.L.C.A., by merging Nespoli s.n.c. and Lombarda Alimentari, whose headquarters are still found in via Varese 2/a in Saronno. The main activity of the company is the production and trade of bovine offal from South America.
Towards the end of 1970s, S.I.LC.A. starts a partnership with the italian company “SURGELA” for the production of frozen ready-cooked meals. The recipes for these meals were created by the famous starred chef Gualtiero Marchesi. From these products, we remember “squids with peas”, “salamì hare”, “savoury rice with sausage and peas”, “salami with lentils” and “ready-made tripe”. During these years the company starts dealing with products other than bovine, such as sheep, pigs, chicken, rabbits and fish.
In 1978, S.I.L.C.A. becomes a limited company (s.p.a.) and Giorgio Nespoli, son of Francesco, enters the company.
< Suteco contract
In 1979, Francesco signs, with Argentinian company “SUTECO”, a contract to control the quality of products coming from the southern American continent, thus creating a large network of contacts and relationships with producers and exporters from various countries.
In the 1984, Felice Nespoli, the youngest of the family, enters the company.
Half way through the 1980s, S.I.L.C.A. s.p.a. enters the catering industry by distributing food products to restaurants, canteens and communities. The food distributed included bovine, pig, sheep, rabbit, chicken and fish products.
In 1990, Mario Zerbi leaves the company passing his shares of S.I.L.C.A. s.p.a. to Giorgio and Felice Nespoli.
During the 1990s, S.I.L.C.A. continues the usual job of the previous years but also expands its business towards other branches such as sales
At the start of 2000, the food branch records a drop in consummation of bovine products. The years 2001 and 2006, with the arrival of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalophaty), commonly known as “mad cow”, marks for S.I.L.C.A. s.p.a. an involution in the production of bovine products like tripe and the beginning of a radical company transformation.
In 2007, S.I.L.C.A. starts importing fresh
In 2007, S.I.L.C.A. starts importing fresh bovine meat from South America and exporting refined cuts of bovine in the European market.
Foreseeing this, in 2004, the company had registered the “Royal Beef” brand, which has since been marking the high quality of the meat imported and sold by S.I.L.C.A.
In 2008 the company stops the catering distribution.
In 2010, S.I.L.C.A. expands considerably its sales branch. Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, New Zealand, Australia and the majority of the countries in the European community that are nowadays considered among the major exporters that the company considers for the import of food products.
Today, S.I.L.C.A. s.p.a. continues the traditional production and treatment of bovine offal, even if the company's core business is slowly shifting to the sales branch. This has allowed a strong increase in the company's turnover, making S.I.L.C.A. one of the most important importers of food products in Italy and in the European community.
