Italian deli meats will always have a place on the charcuterie board.

While Veroni USA is based in Logan, N.J., the company’s roots are in the small town of Correggio in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, where five Veroni brothers first started the company in 1925. The company will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year in 2025. Veroni established its United States headquarters in 2016.

To this day, Veroni USA offers more than 40 products in grocery stores and supermarkets nationwide and ensures authenticity and high quality by importing 100% Italian-made cured meats that are sliced and packaged at the local facility to preserve flavor and aroma, the company said.

While maintaining its Italian traditions and honoring its heritage, Veroni also taps into one of the best ways to market to Americans — sports.

Following its successful sponsorships at Indian Wells in California and the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, the company was an Official Sponsor at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in at the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center in Washington D.C. July 27-Aug. 4.

Veroni offered many ways for attendees to engage with its brand, including the following:

  • Several dedicated areas and its logo prominently displayed on signs and LED walls
  • Authentic Italian aperitivo at the Veroni Rock Creek Café Stalls, with a selection of Veroni’s ready-to-enjoy trays and Italian style drinks
  • Grab-and-go area within the Market Square with delicious salads and sandwiches prepared with Veroni cold cuts
  • Player Lounge featuring Veroni’s charcuterie, offering tennis players the chance to enjoy an authentic Italian gourmet experience

Veroni also doubled its presence at the Cincinnati Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, with this year being its third year in a row as Cincinnati Open’s Official Sponsor. Veroni said.

Veroni’s time in Ohio included the following:

  • Its logo displayed courtside several times throughout the matches
  • Veroni’s products at the VIP Veroni Lounge and at the branded booth in the new Fan Zone on the tournament grounds
  • Freshly crafted charcuterie boards made with Veroni’s ready-to-enjoy AperiTime line — a mix of cold cuts, cheese, olives, dried fruit, and breadsticks — paired with wine, champagne, and the Italian Aperol Spritz
  • Posh Pic Nic at the Paterloon Estate in Indian Hill, Ohio

This month, Sept. 12-15, Veroni made its way to the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival in Atlanta.

“Veroni’s products were on display in the exclusive VIP Veroni Lounge, providing an excellent opportunity to connect with consumers who will be offered delicious charcuterie samples,” the company said. “This event was the perfect spotlight for the brand to once again demonstrate why it is a leading Italian aperitivo brand, paired with the iconic Aperol Spritz.”

This Nov. 7, Veroni will also be sponsoring the Boston Taste Event in Boston.

“This exclusive culinary event, organized by Boston Magazine, will bring together the city’s best — including VIPs, select media, local tastemakers, and celebrity chefs,” Veroni said.

Veroni is also branching out and getting involved in pickleball for the very first time this year. The company said pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the United States, so it will be present at the Pickleball Tour in Dallas in November.

“This season, our schedule is busier than ever, and our involvement in these sporting events not only boosts our exposure but also strengthens our position as a leading Italian Aperitivo brand,” said Emanuela Bigi, Veroni’s marketing manager. “In addition to sports sponsorship, we’ve also been actively participating in the American food scene. From the IDDBA show and the Summer Fancy Food Show in June to the recent chic-casual Posh Picnic in Indian Hill, Ohio, we have been consistently showcasing our brand. We are also excited about our upcoming first participation in the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival, a four-day culinary event, and the Pickleball Tour in Dallas, which promises to be another remarkable opportunity for Veroni.”

The Veroni trademark

“The authentic aperitivo experience includes the Maxi Antipasto line, which comes in the new eco-friendly tray, and the Enjoy AperiTime Line, the all-in-one charcuterie board, which features three pairing variations that combine deli meats with cheese and dried fruits,” Veroni said. “Along with product innovation and high-standards quality, the research and development department has also designed new eco-friendly trays for the pre-sliced line made of FSC-certified paper and with 85% less plastic. The Maxy Platter includes a selection of Veroni charcuterie paired with cheese and a new combination that features only cold cuts, such as Speck, Coppa, Salame Toscano, and Salame Calabrese — a very successful solution for large gatherings and celebrations that has registered the best-selling performance among Veroni’s products.”

Tapping into wellness trends

At the summer trade shows, Veroni highlighted its new Reduced Sodium Dry Salame takeaway tray, the first uncured product with low sodium intake and no nitrates or nitrites added (except for naturally occurring in celery juice powder and salt), the company said.

“The entire product assortment is manufactured and HPP processed in Italy,” Veroni said. “It is then sliced and packed in Veroni’s USA facility in Logan in a consistent climate-controlled environment, to guarantee optimal freshness. The slices are cut very thinly, as if they were prepared in Italy, for the best taste and aroma.”

The Reduced Sodium Dry Salame is available in 3-ounce and 4-ounce packages, ready-to-eat and easy-to-open, the company said.

Veroni also emphasized its new humanely raised claim, as the company has found that it’s also important to American consumers.

“With the launch of our certified humanely raised charcuterie, we want to offer the best Italian experience to American deli meat enthusiasts,” Bigi said. “We also want to meet the choices of American shoppers who are searching for healthier foods without giving up the taste and flavor of their meals. That’s why this year we have added the ‘reduced sodium’ claim starting from one of the most beloved cured meats all over the world, the Salame Milano. In order to extend the claim to other charcuterie products, the real challenge is to maintain the organoleptic characteristics focusing on lighter and heart-healthier products. This translates into an even greater focus on raw materials, supply chain, and production, as well as investment in research and development. The increasing attention to these elements has allowed us to be recognized as the first Italian charcuterie brand in the USA.”

Bigi explained that all of the company’s pork is sourced from sustainable farms that follow an animal welfare program. The pork used is processed and stored in a separated space from other swine meat and is identified with a unique label throughout the production.

The program’s Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare include the following:

  • Freedom from hunger, malnutrition, and thirst
  • Freedom from fear and distress
  • Freedom from physical and thermal discomfort
  • Freedom from pain, injury and disease
  • Freedom to express normal patterns of behavior

“Farmers have to respect strict requirements throughout pigs’ life — from their living space on the farm to the animal feed, health, and transport,” Veroni said. “This means that farmers do not use hormones, and the pigs follow a vegetarian diet.”

This article is an excerpt from the September 2024 issue of Supermarket Perimeter. You can read the entire Italian Meats feature and more in the digital edition here.