New York Ravioli & Pasta Company owners Paul Moncada and David Creo are celebrating their 20th year in business by donating a portion of their retail store sales this month to the Nassau Hurricane Relief Fund.
The company, which has been located at 12 Denton Ave. in New Hyde Park for the past six years, is donating 20 percent of its sales on Monday through Thursday, and it is also rewarding the 20th customer served each Friday in May with a $25 gift certificate. The company is also offering a 20-deals-in-20-days discount that customers can find out about on the company’s Facebook and Twitter page.
“We’re celebrating 20 years and we wanted to see how we can give back. Considering Hurricane Sandy was so devastating, we thought this would be a great opportunity,” Moncada said.
Moncada said after he and Creo heard about the county’s Sandy relief effort, they contacted Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano’s office to set up a meeting to discuss how they could help.
Mangano commended New York Ravioli for its “generous offer” to help out and presented its staff with a citation last week.
“I am so grateful to New York Ravioli & Pasta Company for their generous offer to provide a percentage of their sales to Nassau’s Hurricane Recovery Fund,” Mangano said. “Thanks to local businesses, the Nassau Hurricane Recovery Fund has been able to provide some form of support to those who have been unable to overcome the financial hurdles associated with the storm and the recovery.”
Moncado and Creo said they wanted to help hurricane victims since they both had family and friends who had suffered in the aftermath of the storm.
Moncada said he expected to conduct a salvage operation at New York Ravioli the day after the storm, but was very relieved to find the power was still on.
“When I pulled up to the office and saw the outside lights on, I broke down crying,” Moncada said.
He said his store has seen a “little spike” with customers interested in supporting hurricane relief.
It isn’t the first time New York Ravioli has gotten involved in philanthropic efforts.
Creo said the company has been making regular donations to Island Harvest and other causes.
“We do a lot of support and donating to local efforts,” Creo said. “As much as we can do to support the community, we do.”
The ravioli company, which maintains three trucks for tri-state distribution and also distributes products nationally, has come a long way since Moncada and Creo started producing ravioli on a part-time basis in the attic of an Italian restaurant in Mineola.
Over the next 14 years, they maintained locations in Mineola and Williston Park before settling at their current New Hyde Park address. They worked several of those years in restaurants at night, pushing their ravioli products in restaurants during the day until it became their full-time occupation over the past decade.
“It was either do our own foods or open a restaurant business,” Creo said.
The two first met as sophomores 30 years ago at Maria Regina High School in Uniondale and became best friends who eventually served as best man at each other’s weddings. And they shared an aspiration to establish their own business.
“We got busier and busier and ravioli took off. We had a vision and we worked really hard,” Moncada said.
They now offer a line of ravioli products featuring 35 to 40 different kinds of fillings, along with a lot of other pasta products including manicotti, gnocchi, tortellini, and cavatelli.
Moncada said he remembers his grandmother making ravioli and cavatelli when he was a boy and said she likes his ravioli and cavatelli. Among their specialty items is a line of ravioli for kids – named Jolie Ravioli after Creo’s daughter – produced in different shapes.
“We built our business on being unique with a lot of variety, a lot of choices, so we really do have a big line of products,” Moncada said.
Moncada said the biggest part of their business is selling their products to specialty food stores, but they also sell to country clubs and restaurants. He said local food distributors sell their products to food services and retail locations. They make all of their products themselves at their New Hyde Park location, which also houses their retail store.
