Jeno Paulucci

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Luigino "Jeno" Paulucci (July 5, 1918-2011) was an American businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.

Paulucci started over 70 businesses; Bellisio Foods, his frozen food business, and Chinese food, such as Pizza Rolls and the Chun King brand, were among the most well-known ventures.

He has been active in charitable work, publishing, and public speaking.

Early life

Paulucci, a self-described "peddler from the Iron Range," was born in Aurora, Minnesota, to the mining town of Aurora. Ettore and Michelina, Paulucci's parents, had just relocated from Bellisio Solfare, Pergola, Italy, and his father was a miner in one of the region's iron mines. During the Great Depression, he began his long career in the grocery industry while still working for his family's little grocery store. Paulucci married Lois Mae Trepanier on February 8, 1947. They had three children together.

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Career

Paulucci invented the Chun King line of canned Chinese food products in the 1940s. Paulucci's 1972 book The Very Rich and How They Got That Way was published as a way to express his dissatisfaction with Chinese food, but he found it too bland and thought it would benefit from a little Italian spicing. He delivered some samples to a supermarket executive to convince him to try it out and ask him to buy it. Paulucci discovered a whole, cooked grasshopper in the can's contents when opening it. Fortunately, the can had been opened in such a way that the lid was facing the executive, that only Paulucci could see the contents. "This looks so good, I'm going to try it myself," Paulucci said. He then took one of two spoons that were on the table, reached into the can, dug out a heaping spoonful (which also included the grasshopper) and ate it quickly. "It didn't taste bad," Paulucci said. (A popular street snack in Mexico City is fried or deep-fried grasshoppers.) He then delivered the can to the executive, who liked it so much that he ordered it.

His Chinese food was greatly improved to better reflect the food preferences of European immigrants and some Americans of common ethnic origins by the addition of Italian spices. Paulucci's company became so popular exporting canned chow mein and chop suey that President Gerald Ford wondered, "What could be more American than a company based on a solid Italian recipe for chop suey?" When lauding Paulucci's successes with Chun King, he praised him.

Chun King was bringing in $30 million in annual income and accounting for half of all Chinese food sales. In 1966, Chun King was sold to R. J. Reynolds, a Reynolds tobacco firm. Paulucci's Jeno's Pizza Rolls brand was sold to Pillsbury in 1985. "I should've kept the pizza rolls," he said later. It's something that'll be damn near death." Paulucci's mother moved to northeast Minnesota in the early 1990s to create Luigino's Inc., a frozen food company specializing in Italian food such as pasta, which was sold under Michelina's brand. In 1963, Paulucci appeared on CBS' What's My Line. He appeared on the television show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous with Robin Leach.

In 1979, Paulucci founded Attenzione, his first magazine for Italian Americans. The New York Times announced in January 1981 that Paulucci's magazine "had survived 19 issues in an area where some could not make it to six." Leda Sanford, the magazine's editor-in-chief and publisher, said that "patience and a lot of money" were required to make the magazine thrive. In January 1982, Paulucci sold Attenzione to Adam Publications. Paulucci had invested $6 million in the newspaper, according to Sanford.

Paulucci, who referred to himself as a "incurable entrepreneur," advocated for a variety of innovative methods for starting small businesses. His Chun King company attempted to "cut out the middle man" and "take advantage of waste" from the 1940s to the 1960s. Paulucci preferred not to use personal funds for his businesses but rather relied on public resources in exchange for job creation. Paulucci was also credited with creating one of the first national brands of frozen pizzas and profiting from the increasing use of frozen food as a meal. "I believe we should have our product anywhere there is a microwave," Paulucci told a reporter.

Paulucci planned and built Heathrow, Florida, in the 1980s. Paulucci had many property interests in Seminole County, Florida, since the 1980s, and was an active philanthropist in the area.

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