Giovanni Colavita

Giovanni Colavita grew up in southern Italy’s Molise region where the Colavita brand was born. What started out of the Colavita family’s generations old olive mill has evolved into the worldwide brand it is today. During his childhood, Giovanni was surrounded by the family business and participated in all aspects of olive oil bottling and production from a young age. With the future of the family business in mind, Giovanni earned a bachelor’s degree in law from Rome’s La Sapienza, and then an MBA from the SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan. He soon became national sales manager and eventually CEO at Colavita SpA, where he gained the valuable experience that led to his current position as CEO and President of Colavita USA, the company’s USA branch. Under Giovanni’s management, Colavita USA became the largest distributor of Italian products in the country. In addition to the Colavita brand, Colavita USA began representing top Italian brands including Baci Perugina, San Benedetto, Sperlari, Orasi, Rio Mare, Mulino Bianco, Niasca Portofino, and others. In an effort to combine food and wine along with the family-owned business, Colavita announced their co-ownership with Panebianco Wines, a highly regarded Italian wine importer. 

Giovanni and his wife Marisa relocated with their kids to the United States from their home in Italy in 2008. Since his arrival in the USA in 2008, Giovanni has participated in several Italian-American organizations. He has been recognized for his support of Italian products and promotion of Italian businesses in the USA. Giovanni is a member of the Italian Trade Agency, Italian Ministry of Economic Development’s Food and Wine Advisory Board and Food and Finance High School’s Food Education Fund. In 2014, Giovanni was awarded the PrimiDieci-Under40 award, which recognizes the personal and professional success of the most distinguished individuals of Italian origin living in the USA. In 2018, the National Italian American Foundation honored Giovanni with the Special Achievement Award in International Business at their annual New York Gala. The annual event gathers over 700 Italian and Italian Americans from around the country to celebrate the best that Italian culture has to offer and to recognize the achievements of the Italian community in the U.S. The Columbus Citizens foundation honored Giovanni at the 2019 Gala and Annual Columbus Day Parade in New York. 

Over 40 years ago, Colavita was the first company to bring extra virgin olive oil to the kitchens of American families, winning awards and worldwide recognition.  Initially pioneered door-to-door back in 1978, this unique "dark olivey green" Colavita extra virgin olive oil made its way into niche retailers like Williams Sonoma,  Zabars, Zingermanns and other visionary gourmet stores across the country where the extra virgin olive oil category and craze was born.  Colavita was first to market extra virgin olive oil in the USA, and now has distribution in over 80 countries with leadership in the premium extra virgin olive oil category.

Today, Colavita’s sales planning, spending and promotional support strategy continues to support those same brick and mortar retailers where Colavita was born and continues to reach olive oil seeking consumers coast-to-coast. However, Colavita has not overlooked the vital importance of diversifying into the emerging e-commerce channels.  The modern generation of consumers in today’s digital age has changed the shopping landscape to include home delivery for ingredients and meal kits. Over a decade ago, Colavita began allocating resources to forge vital and strategic relationships with Amazon and other e-commerce retailers to ensure visibility and accessibility to new consumers learning about extra virgin olive oil for the first time. As a result, Colavita quickly became the #1 extra virgin olive oil in the growing online grocery sector. Colavita was the first national olive oil brand to see the future of grocery in the online retail business and to heavily invest in this segment. Colavita's also forged a major strategic partnership in the online space with Hello Fresh. As the leader in both quality and volume in the booming meal kit space, Colavita’s partnership with HelloFresh has also contributed to the strength of the brand, bringing Colavita's premium, authentic Italian products into the kitchens of millions of Americans.