In 1867, while a new nation was declaring itself to the world, Carlo Onerato Catelli (Charles Honoré Catelli) was taking the first step in the founding of a great corporate presence in Canada’s future economic prosperity. The young Italian immigrant opened a pasta outlet on Rue Saint-Paul in old Montreal.

New Italian immigrants settling in that city provided a ready market for pasta. By 1908 the demand was great enough for a joint venture between Mr. Catelli and other Montreal businessmen —thus C.H. Catelli Ltd. was created.

In 1939, the aging facilities on Rue Bellechasse were no longer suitable. The company opted to settle on a site at 6890 Rue Notre-Dame Est where it still continues operation. Expansion into the canned spaghetti and canned spaghetti sauce markets followed.

Within a decade, Catelli Ltd. established branches in other parts of Canada, the first at Lethbridge, Alberta. In the mid fifties the company, now named Catelli-Habitant, became a subsidiary of Ogilvie Flour Mills Company Limited, Canada’s largest flour-milling industry. The purchase of Dyson Limited, famous for pickles, with plants in Manitoba and Ontario, enabled Catelli to continue the many traditional Dyson family recipes.

In 1968, Catelli Habitant became a subsidiary of John Labatt Limited. The corporate names Catelli Limited and Ogilvie Mills Limited were, by 1971, designated to their respective companies.

The ‘80s saw further expansions with corporate Catelli comprising four operating divisions: Catelli Products Group, Habitant Jarred Products Group, Catelli U.S. Group (New Hampshire), and United Maple Products. Catelli employed more than 1,200 people throughout Canada and the northeastern United States.

products included pasta, pickles, sauces, soups, puddings, syrups, jams, marmalades, and flour. Product growth was engineered by franchise building, geographical expansion, new product development, increased sales to the food service industry and private and generic label markets, and related corporate acquisitions.

Catelli’s largest single investment remains in pasta. Pasta production employs the largest number of people and is the main contributor to the company’s profitability.

In June 1989, Borden Inc., a United States multi-food manufacturer, purchased Catelli and eventually sold off its subsidiaries. Borden today maintains a strong hold over the Canadian pasta manufacturing operations.

In 1991, 20 million dollars was invested in renovating the Montreal plant, thereby doubling its production capacity.

Created in 1972, the sunshine/rainbow Catelli logo projects Catelli’s corporate image and broad spectrum of products with an optimistic and positive symbol. Facing the future with optimism is the real legacy of Carlo Onerato Catelli: a man who took a simple idea, a single product, and the most rudimentary equipment and created an enterprise which emerged as a conglomerate of considerable proportions in modern-day food processing technology.