By Nance Ebert
Contributing Writer
AYER – Anthony (Tony) Basile’s family has been in the oil business for well over a century. Just not the type of oil you might think. Basile is CEO of Catania Oils, a fourth-generation family business, which is a leading provider of olive and vegetable oils.
Catania Oils is one of Ayer’s largest employers, with approximately 260 employees in a 75,000-square-foot facility. Annual revenues were $375 million as of 2022.
Founded in Sicily
Basile attributes the success of the company to his dedicated team of employees as well as his father and grandfather, who founded and then grew the company in the early to mid-1900s. The company was launched in the small village of San Pier Niceto in Sicily by Basile’s grandfather, Giuseppe Basile, in 1900. He boarded the ship Italica bound for the United States in 1908 with numerous barrels of olive oil. A terrible storm broke all the barrels, and the oil along with his other possessions were lost. His grandfather arrived at Ellis Island not speaking a word of English and settled in Massachusetts.
“My grandfather had hoped to start his new business in America and ended up settling on Fulton Street in the North End,” explained Basile. “And then he went on to rent a space on Hanover Street where he had a couple of barrels of olive oil and a hand pump. He also went house-to-house to sell his product as he didn’t own a car.”
Family conflict
Basile’s dad, Joseph, got very involved in the business as a teenager and in 1941, when his grandfather passed away unexpectedly, he and his two brothers, Carmen and Frank were also involved but there were many disagreements.
“After serving in the Army during World War II, my dad came back but the business was non-existent. It was a difficult situation as some of the family members did not get along,” Basile noted. “In 1946, four partners merged but the partnership didn’t last more than six months. The partners went their separate ways.”
Involved at an early age
Basile and his brothers got involved with Catania Oils at a very early age. They would hold various jobs like emptying the barrels or even cleaning toilets. They would work on the weekends and on snow days in the winter when the schools were closed. As the boys got older, they learned how to pack the oil, which at that time, was done by hand. Now everything is automated.
“If we packed four to five hundred cases, this was a great day. Now it takes about 45 minutes to accomplish the same thing,” said Basile.
When Basile was in high school, he and his brothers became fully involved in the business. By the early 1970s, Basile had a voice in helping to make decisions for the company. The family began to strategize what direction they wanted the business to go in, what territories they would cover and more.
“In the 1980s, after seeing our dedication to the company my dad gifted stock in the business to the five of us; my two sisters, me and my two brothers,” Basile recalled. “In 1988 I became the president of Catania Oils. We realized we had outgrown our space in Somerville, where we had moved from Boston, and moved to our current distribution center and main offices located in Ayer in 1994.”
A leading provider
Catania Oils is a leading provider of conventional, non-GMO Project verified and organic oils to the ingredients, food service and retail markets. They do a lot of private labels for supermarkets and many recognizable companies like Ken’s Salad Dressing, Gordon’s Seafood, Jersey Mike’s and others use their vegetable and olive oil to create their products.
“We are constantly focused on putting profits back into the business,” said Basile. “We have put millions of dollars back in to add tanks, equipment and more. Your vision gets bigger and bigger, but I have stepped back a bit to allow my two sons, Joseph (president) and Stephen (executive vice president) to get even more involved,” he noted. “We do a lot for our 260 employees who we are grateful to be surrounded by. They are so knowledgeable and dedicated and we could not do this alone,” Basile explained.
The company also has a philanthropic branch called Catania Cares, which has donated nearly $1.5 million to causes like cancer, education, and athletics. Catania Cares has also donated 18,000 pounds of food and over 400 hours of volunteer service.
One of Basile’s most gratifying memories was in 2003 when a second addition had just been completed in the Ayer facility. There was an open house with business associates, friends and family members. His father was sitting and staring out at this event, and he said, “Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would see something like this.”
“I promised my dad I would continue to grow the business, and I kept my promise,” Basile observed. “Sadly, he passed away a couple of months after that event, but I still hold that memory dearly. Nothing matches that.”
A hundred and twenty-five years after Giuseppe Basile started his modest olive oil business in a small Sicilian village, the fourth generation of his family continues to build on his early success and carry the tradition forward.
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