Local Food Import Business Reclaims Family Ownership as It Nears Its 50th Anniversary | Local [Video]

UTICA, N.Y. — A local food import business has even more to celebrate as it nears five decades in Utica.

Casa Imports in Utica is once again under the original family’s ownership.

This company focuses on distributing imported Italian foods, featuring the well-known Cora brand.

The business offers a variety of products such as cheeses, spices, pasta and more.

Three years ago, however, the original owners, the Fornino family, sold the business to a large investment group.

Recently, when that group planned to make changes affecting its 100 local employees, the Fornino’s requested to reclaim the business.

Julie Fornino of Casa Imports said, “The corporation we sold to let us know they were going to absorb the daily work we do here in Utica into one of their larger facilities.”

Fornino said that it simply took asking.

“‘We really aren’t …