A history of quality.
A point of reference for all the Italian large-scale distribution
It all began immediately after the war, when the young Umberto Castaldo began working as a shop boy in a delicatessen in the center of Naples, not far from the family home. That young apprentice grows up and acquires mastery of the trade and experience with the raw material.
Towards the end of the 1950s Umberto took over the management of the first shop, a shop of just 40 square meters, in via Cavalleggeri d’Aosta (still existing today) becoming the owner of the delicatessen. The shop was called “the source of cheeses” and with the arrival of the brothers Eugenio, Ciro and Mario in just under 10 years the delicatessens became four, all insistent in Naples in the Fuorigrotta district.
Umberto Castaldo is a young shop boy in a delicatessen in the center of Naples.
The first shop of the Castaldo family. A shop of just 40 square meters, in Via Cavalleggeri d'Aosta that still exists today. The shop is called “La Fonte dei Formaggi”. It has become a real point of reference in Naples and its province for the excellent quality of the cured meats and cheeses sold.
Umberto and the brothers Eugenio, Ciro and Mario, open 4 delicatessens.
"Don Umberto" understands that customers' needs are changing and that new consumers, with less and less time available, require high quality products but with an equally high service component. Sliced and preserved cured meats and cheeses become the real novelty so much so that an industrial activity dedicated to the preservative packaging of cured meats and cheeses is set up, the "Ciesse srl".
The growth of the company is unstoppable and it is Lucio Castaldo, Umberto's son, who determines its development up to today, with one of the most important companies on the national scene, the "M&C", a point of reference for the entire Italian large-scale distribution able to produce under private label for the most prestigious names in Italian commercial distribution.
The emergence of the first discount stores in cities radically changed people's way of shopping, opening up great growth prospects for food product packaging companies. It is an opportunity that the young Lucio Castaldo does not miss, starting an initial path together with his father, Umberto, to then devote himself completely to the nascent M&C Srl.
Some data: 8 clean rooms, 16 complete slicing and packaging lines, which led to a turnover of 44 million euros.
2019, in the corporate history of M&C, will be the year of another exciting stage, represented by the acquisition of a company from Campania engaged in the production of bread products, "I Maestri del Forno", to bring Saltimbocca and products to the national market pizza base, stuffed with cold cuts and cheeses.