Krinos Foods

Krinos Foods
TypePrivate
Founded1958[1] or 1985[2]
FounderJohn (Ioannis) Moscahlaidis [3]
HeadquartersNew York, New York
Key peopleEric Moscahlaidis (chairman)[4]
ProductsGreek food
Greek cuisine
Websitewww.krinos.com

Krinos Foods, Inc. is a United States private company based in New York that imports and produces Greek and other Mediterranean foods.[5] It is one of the largest Greek food importers in North America.[6][7][8][9] The company headquarters are in the Long Island City section of Queens, but it has purchased a site to move to the Bathgate Industrial Park in the Tremont section of the Bronx.[9][10][11] In addition to New York, the company has manufacturing facilities in California, Atlanta,Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal.[12][13]

History

Krinos Foods traces its origins to the early 1950s, when it was founded by John (Ioannis) Moscahlaidis[13] as a small shop in New York under the name Arista Olive Co. Inc., importing olive oil later marketed under the brand name "Krinos".[14]

In 1958, Moscahlaidis acquired a building in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan and relocated Arista to its first dedicated office.[3] In 1960, he purchased an adjacent building, doubling the company’s storage capacity.[3]

In 1965, the company established its Canadian division.[15]

By 1973, the "Krinos" brand had become widely recognised, and the company was renamed Krinos Foods Inc. in the United States and Krinos Foods Canada Ltd. in Canada.[3]

In the 1970s and 1980s, the company expanded through acquisitions, including Salona Importing Company, George E. Athens Co. (Big Alpha), and Standard Importing Company.[3] Krinos also acquired a controlling interest in Athens Pastries & Frozen Foods Inc., later consolidating operations in Cleveland, Ohio, where Athens Foods became one of the largest producers of phyllo dough products.[3]

In 1981, the company opened a new manufacturing and distribution facility in Long Island City, New York, which received a design award for industrial architecture.[3]

John Moschalaidis later retired and returned to Greece in the early 2000s.[3] His son, Eric Moschalaidis, became the company’s chairman.[6][9][16]

In 2004, Krinos acquired Hellas International, a Greek food company headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts.[17]

In June 2016, Krinos Foods opened a new $25 million, 100,000-square-foot facility in the Bronx, New York. The site serves as the company’s corporate headquarters and manufacturing and distribution centre, replacing its previous Long Island City plant.[18][19]

Products

Krinos both imports and manufactures Greek, Italian, Indian, Pakistani and Middle Eastern foods, including "cheeses, peppers, olives, ... cookies",[20] phyllo,[21] olive and other vegetable oils, figs, halva, grape leaves, yogurt, wines and beers (including Mythos beer from Greece[22]), coffee, tea, fruit juices and nectars.[2]

In the mid-2000s, the company was receiving approximately $18,000 a year in payments for the participation of its Long Island City plant in a remote power cut-off program with Enernoc of Boston.[20]

Controversies

In 1988, John Moschalaidis was sentenced to two years' imprisonment after pleading guilty to importing contaminated cheese and mislabeling dairy products.[23][24][25]

Krinos was also found in 1990 to be selling a banned dye for Easter eggs, and in 1997 to be selling mislabeled cooking oil.[6][26][27]

In 2005, an investigation by WABC reported on by ABC's Good Morning America found that some of the company's extra-virgin olive oil contained cheaper ingredients.[6][26][27]

The company logo features a letter "K" formed by two green olive leaves against a brown stem.[28]

References

  1. ↑ "NYCEDC Announces Krinos Foods, Inc., a Greek and Mediterranean Specialty Food Importer, Distributor, and Manufacturer, Will Invest Over $20 Million to Expand Headquarters in the Bronx", Press release, New York City Economic Development Corporation, September 10, 2012.
  2. 1 2 Company Overview of Krinos Foods, Inc.[link removed], Bloomberg Businessweek, retrieved October 22, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "The founder of Krinos Foods I. Moschlachidis has died – His biography". Bankwars (in Greek). 2018-08-26. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  4. ↑ "Krinos' Foods Great Grand Opening of New Facilities". The National Herald. 2016-06-17. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  5. ↑ Alan S. Oser (1979-09-26). "Real Estate; LI City's Industrial Expansion". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Not-So-Extra-Virgin Olive Oil", Good Morning America, ABC News, July 29, 2005.
  7. ↑ "the country's largest distributor of Greek foods", Florence Fabricant, "Food Notes", The New York Times, August 14, 1996.
  8. ↑ "North America`s largest importer, distributor and manufacturer of Greek foods", "The Greek Debt Crisis Comes to America", PBS Nightly Business Report, May 28, 2010.
  9. 1 2 3 "the largest importer, packager, and producer of Greek products in the United States and Canada", Demetris Tsakas, "Krinos Foods Plans to Leave LIC and Build a High-Tech Plant in Bronx", The National Herald, September 13, 2012.
  10. ↑ City scores another food manufacturer for the Bronx, The Real Deal, September 10, 2012.
  11. ↑ Daniel Beekman, "Bronx getting its fill of food companies as Fairway, Food Fest, Krinos and “R” Best Produce put down roots", New York Daily News, October 17, 2012.
  12. ↑ About Us Archived 2012-11-05 at the Wayback Machine, Krinos Foods, retrieved October 22, 2012.
  13. 1 2 Tou Dimitri Tsaka (2022-06-07). "Krinos Foods – the largest company for importing, producing and distributing Greek products in America". Anamniseis (in Greek). Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  14. ↑ "Krinos Foods, ambassador of Greek products in North America". Εθνικός Κήρυξ (in Greek). 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  15. ↑ "Krinos Canada Profile". Businessweek. Retrieved 3 September 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  16. ↑ Florence Fabricant (1992-09-30). "Snails and Pastries From an Ambassador of Cretan Cuisine". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2018-01-14. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  17. ↑ "Mergers & acquisitions", The Food Institute Report, June 7, 2004 (Online)
  18. ↑ Robert Wirsing (2016-06-30). "Krinos Foods Headquarters Grand Opening". Bronx Times. Retrieved 2026-04-23.
  19. ↑ "Krinos Foods Opens New State-of-the-Art Facility in the Bronx". The National Herald. 2016-06-14. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  20. 1 2 Matt Richtel, "Conservation at the Touch of a Button ", The New York Times, November 7, 2007.
  21. ↑ "Krinos is the most widely available phyllo", Barb Holland, "This versatile, flaky, multi-layered pastry can be used to make everything from pizza to samosas"[link removed], Toronto Star, March 31, 1999 (payment required)
  22. ↑ "Mythos beer", Cheers, May 1, 2000 Online.
  23. ↑ Associated Press, "Importer Pleads Guilty In Tainted Cheese Plot", The New York Times, June 28, 1988.
  24. ↑ Frances Ann Burns, United Press International, "Importer admits to shipping bad cheese", The Bryan Times, June 28, 1988, p. 2.
  25. ↑ "Man Gets 2 Years in Jail for Importing Contaminated Cheese"[link removed], The Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania), September 12, 1988.
  26. 1 2 Amy Klein (2006-02-10). "Feds put lid on bogus olive oil". The Record (Bergen County, NJ). Archived from the original on 2014-06-11. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  27. 1 2 "Adulterated olive oil seized in New Jersey (Brief article)". The Food Institute Report. 2006-02-13. Archived from the original on 2014-06-11. Retrieved 2025-04-23.
  28. ↑ Krinos registration of logo in monochrome with and without remaining letters of the name, circa 1981, with list of products, at Trademarkia.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.