Our Story
With almost 100 years in the seafood industry the Ruggiero family name has become synonymous with an unwavering commitment to quality and service.
Established in 1928...
Ruggiero Seafood, Inc. is a culmination of five generations of experience in the seafood business which started in a small fishing village in Italy. The business as we know it today began in 1928 when Andrew Ruggiero started a small seafood business. In a few years it became a large and successful retail fish market.
In 1960, he was joined by his brother Francesco who came to America to help him with his growing business. The fish market thrived and expanded into a wholesale market, selling fish to the finest New York restaurants and quality outlets.
Francesco’s son Rocco, now the president of Ruggiero Seafood, joined the family business in 1971. After being in the business several years, he realized there was a growing demand for calamari. Abundant off the Northeast of the United States, Loligo Pealei was not being fished and processed locally, even though it was a superior species to the imported variety. Rocco Ruggiero revolutionized the American calamari industry by designing state of the art equipment that could clean American caught calamari quickly and inexpensively, making it competitive with the hand prepared imports.
In 1981 Rocco opened the first Ruggiero seafood processing plant. This plant was the first of its kind to process fresh, frozen, and breaded products from locally caught calamari.