Calveta Dining Services – A Recipe for Growth?

Introduction
Calveta was founded by the Italian immigrant Antonio Calveta in 1966. What originally started as a neighborhood restaurant in Brooklyn offering traditional Italian dishes led to the opening of two more restaurants and finally, in 1972, to the beginning of meal deliverance services to nursing homes. The market was a very promising one: A big part of the 18.000 nursing homes in the United States chose to outsource their dining services as it allows them to profit from the culinary expertise as well as from the lower costs that professional food delivery services offered. Calveta proved to be especially successful in the business: by 2008, Calveta Dining Services Inc. was the
Calveta’s success is hugely built on Calveta’s values and corporate culture. Its key success factors are its high quality food and service at a competitive price and the personal contact and adaption to each facility. These factors are strongly supported by the key values of “Antonio’s way”, namely the dedication to quality food and service, cost-saving business decisions, continuous innovation, employee development and profitable growth
Calveta was one of the first companies in the industry to use fresh ingredients which proved to be a competitive advantage and gain market shares. Its high quality food, combined with personal service, leads to high satisfaction among Calvetas elderly customers and their family members. Nursing homes do not only value Calveta as business partner because of its high-quality meals but also because of the competitive prices Calveta can offer due to its cost-conscious policies. Furthermore, offering high-quality food and budgeting are not, as one may assume, mutually exclusive: By preparing freshly instead of using pre-made articles Calveta cannot only offer high quality food but also yield savings. These savings in expenses can be passed over to the customers in the form of lower prices for high-quality food. The principle of constant innovation allows the company to constantly adapt to its customers’ needs. For instance, Calveta was the first company in the