Michael Angelo Renna is the Chairman and CEO of Michael Angelo’s Gourmet Foods, based in Austin, Texas.
A native New Yorker, Michael was born in the Bronx in 1960. Throughout his life he has lived in Connecticut, Florida and Southern California. It was in California, in 1981, that his mother, Sara, and his four brothers decided to open a pizzeria. In 1982 the family persuaded Michael to join the fledgling business. Michael brought with him the idea to sell prepared entrees through a stand-up freezer in the restaurant.
Michael Angelo’s is truly an American success story, and Michael is indeed a self-made success. Michael’s mother Sara says that, “Michael is tenacious and never took “no” or “it can’t be done” as the final answer. He pushed us all to find the answer to each dilemma we were presented. He learned and grew the business through hands-on contact.”
The early days of the company were filled with round-the-clock activity. The young group served pizza by day and prepared and delivered the frozen entrees by night. Their production lines consisted of tables pushed together in the 600 square foot pizzeria’s small dining area. Even though the recipes were his family’s from Southern Italy, writing them was not an easy task. Sara, being a good Italian cook, added a pinch of this and that so Michael had to measure every pinch, every spoonful of ingredient. The group struggled through second-hand equipment and nay Sayers. They did everything from soup to nuts, creating their own packaging and charming and feeding potential investors.
Proving wrong all who thought the young man couldn’t possibly make it, the business outgrew the little pizzeria. Today the company is in a state-of-the-art production facility, and distributes a complete line of entrees, pastas and dinners to thousands of supermarkets and warehouse locations throughout the United States and internationally.
“Michael has never forgotten the early days and continues to think of his employees as family. When the company moved to Austin, Texas in 1993 Michael offered to move any employee that wanted to come with the company. One hundred and fifty employees took him up on the offer and many still remain with the company,” Sara said.
Michael serves on the Board of Directors for the Capital Area Food Bank of Austin.
Michael is one of five brothers. He has two sons and a daughter. In addition to his frenetic pace as CEO of Michael Angelo’s Gourmet Italian Foods, Michael is an avid racecar driver.
