History
The Frungillo family has been serving communities in New Jersey since Alfred and Jerry Frungillo immigrated from Avellino, Italy in the 1920’s opening a market at 105 Mt. Prospect Avenue in Newark, with their sister Anna Frungillo and her husband Fred Finelli.
The store expanded to another location, 63 6th Ave in Newark in the early 1930’s and remained in business as Finelli’s Grocery until 1970. The key ingredient to its success was the Frungillo and Finelli families working side by side, 17 hours a day, 7 days a week with a mission to serve the local community.
In 1972, Alfred Frungillo founded Frungillo Caterers in Bloomfield NJ. Frungillo Caterers continues to operate today and has become the largest off premise catering company in the greater metropolitan area.
In 1981, Alfred Frungillo founded Michael Anthony’s Restaurant and Caterers in Verona, NJ. Then in 1985 Alfred Frungillo took a job as Food Service Director for Service America Group at Seton Hall University. Through the relationships he build working there, Seton Hall University asked Al to take over the operations and Gourmet Dining was Founded in 1987.
Over the next 27 years Al, his partner Ben Aiello and Al’s sons Michael and Anthony expanded the business in the NJ higher education marketplace.
In February of 2014, Gourmet aligned with Compass Group supporting our approach to campus dining with the backing of Compass Group, the largest food service provider in the world. Today, Michael and Anthony Frungillo manage their family business.
Gourmet Dining is a New Jersey based company and has a great understanding of the contemporary tastes and lifestyles of campus dining in this region.
We address the expansive dietary preferences and restrictions our customers have based on their allergies, religious beliefs, health and wellness, budgetary or scheduling concerns by capitalizing on our talented culinary team, our dietitians, and cutting edge technology. Our passion for our business leads us to continually revitalize and revolutionize our dining programs to be inclusive of the campus and local communities we serve.
