Leonore pasta company will not restock at Walmart until price increase is honored

Shoppers may notice a product made in La Salle County will not be restocked in the freezers at Walmarts in Peru, Princeton and Streator.

Mareta Ravioli, of Leonore, is increasing the price of its products to recoup the rising costs of the flour and meat used to make its pasta and “in order to keep the quality of our product,” said plant manager Steve Villarreal.

After giving five weeks notice of the price change, Villarreal said every local store he stocks in La Salle, Bureau and Putnam counties said OK to the increase, from smaller, locally-owned grocery stores to bigger stores such as HyVee and Kroger, except the local Walmarts.

“Walmart shelves will remain empty until they can adjust the price,” Villarreal said. “That’s about 25% of our business. We can’t survive without changing our prices.”

Villarreal said he went through the same process with Walmart seven and 13 years ago, and it took about a month of lost sales for the issue to be resolved.

An 11-ounce bag of Mareta’s frozen beef tortellini was selling for $3.98 Thursday at Walmart in Streator, compared to $4.28 at Kroger across the street.

Walmart’s corporate office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Mareta posted Wednesday night about the situation with Walmart on its Facebook page, drawing 306 comments, 458 shares and 677 likes as of Thursday night.

Mareta has been in business since 1956 beginning as a grocery store in Leonore. Villarreal said his grandfather started making handmade pasta in the basement employing dozens of teenagers and in the 1970s the family store brought in a machine to make the tortellini, known locally as “ravs.”

Villarreal, who drives the Mareta distribution truck, is the third generation to work for the family business that employs four full-time employees, including his mother Martha, his brother Michael and one part-time worker. Being a family business, he returns from his route and does the dishes at the factory at 303 Gary St. in Leonore, which has a population of about 118.

“I’ve been on the route since I was 5 years old,” Villarreal said.

In a good week, Villarreal said the business can produce 4,000 pounds of frozen pasta. He said his products are one of the most popular in the frozen foods section at Walmart and he restocks the freezers weekly.

Villarreal said what is frustrating is Walmart recently pledged to buy from small business, including stocking more products made in the USA by 2023, but he said this is an example of a big chain not being reasonable with a small business.

“The bigger vendors may be able to put up with it, but we’re a small, family business.”