The Circle of Life

Prepared Foods, Oct, 2001 by William A. Roberts, Jr.

A desire to make a more affordable cheese for a pizza restaurant has spurred Galaxy Foods to hold a major stake in dairy alternatives.

Galaxy Nutritional Foods' founder, chairman and CEO, Angelo Morini, did not originally set out to offer a healthy choice for dairy lovers. In fact, with $167 to his name when he left military service at the age of 21, Morini simply was trying to make a go of it with a pizza restaurant. That business would provide the impetus for Galaxy Foods.

Morini recalls, "I was buying cheese every week or so, and the cost of cheese was always going up. I decided to make my own cheese but in a different way." Morini read up on cheese manufacturing and determined to make cheese out of vegetable proteins as opposed to animal proteins. In 1967, he developed a new way to make dairy products with soy, rice and oats. "My intention was not to make something healthy. I just was looking at the price," he explains. Morini went on to work at Pillsbury and Post but kept his cheese business, which began to grow because he could sell mozzarella and cheddar and other cheeses less expensively than conventional dairy manufacturers.

While Morini may not have had healthiness in mind initially, that subject began to play a major role in Galaxy's manufacturing practices, particularly after he read of the Framingham Heart Study. That 1948 report examined the growing number of Americans dying of heart disease, cancer and diabetes and would introduce Morini to a new term--cholesterol.

With the study in mind, Morini believed he could make a more healthful product, a nolactose, cholesterol-free cheese substitute. That goal would propel Galaxy to new heights.

In the late 1980s, company sales climbed rapidly as Galaxy continued to refine its product, removing transfatty acids and introducing comparative labeling. Currently, Galaxy's products can be found in about 15,000 health food stores in the U.S., as well as in retail outlets, but the company is also experimenting with foodservice, coming full circle with an agreement with Pizza Hut.

"Pizza is how I started in the business," Morini recalls. "Now, Pizza Hut is testing our veggie mozzarella in Fort Wayne, Ind. An article in a local paper noted that the patrons could not tell the difference between our veggie mozzarella and conventional mozzarella. Our biggest potential is in veggie mozzarella, a huge business."

Galaxy also has a test with their veggie slices in more than 100 Subways in central Florida. The product has no trans-fatty acids, no cholesterol, no lactose, no saturated fat and has only half a gram of fat per slice, so it meets Subway's program of seven subs with six grams of fat or less.

All this and more--Galaxy's products are found in 26 different countries--have fueled the growth at Galaxy, which is not resting on its laurels. Company officials recently completed a $15.5 million program to enable the production of $1 billion worth of product, more than 40,000 pounds per hour, 6.5 million pounds a week--all part of Galaxy's plan.

Morini estimates, "The dairy business is a $150 billion-plus industry, and we think we can get a half a percent or more of that. That would make us a $1 billion company. That's our goal."

Galaxy Nutritional Foods Orlando, Fla.

Sales: $12 million

Employees: 215

Distinction: Manufacturer of dairy alternatives.