An Ocala success story: Berrettini Feed Specialists celebrates 50 years
Editor's note: A horse will typically between eat 1½ percent to 2 percent of its weight in feed daily. This story has been revised to correct that detail.
The Berrettini family is celebrating two golden anniversaries this year.
Angelo and Jan Berrettini were married on Kentucky Derby Day, May 4, 1974, and launched their fledgling direct ship hay supply company while living in South Florida the same year.
“These are milestones and celebrating them with family makes it even sweeter,” Angelo Berrettini said.
The couple have grown their company into Berrettini Feed Specialists, offering hay, nutritional feeds and more.
The business operation includes a 45,000-square-foot warehouse and sales center on U.S. 27 in Fellowship, 12 miles north of Ocala, and a 6,000-square-foot sales center on State Road 40 just west of Interstate 75.
Angelo Berrettini, 75, born in Pittston, Pennsylvania, feels the company’s growth is due to being “all about results” for the customer and giving them “choices and what they want.”
The couple’s son, Michael, 48, was installed as general manager of Berrettini Feed Specialists in 2000.
Micheal Berrettini stated in an email that the family will “continue working hard to bring people the products and services that they know we have provided for them over the years,” as Angelo and Jan Berrettini serve as president and vice president, respectively.
Angelo Berrettini‘s passion for horses dates back to his youth. He began learning about horse care and feeding as a 12-year-old working and handling bales of hay at a riding academy in Harveys Lake in Pennsylvania.
Angelo Berrettini went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in science from King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and worked with Economic Laboratory.
He met Jan Kutz, who shared his passion for horses, and the couple were married. They soon moved from Pennsylvania to Fort Lauderdale.
Angelo Berrettini saw the need for a large amount of quality hay at a horse racetrack in Pompano, Florida, in 1974 and launched the hay shipment company. He coordinated with an associate to haul down hay from northern states in empty trucks which were headed to Homestead to pick up tomatoes.
By 1976, the couple had moved to Orlando and Angelo Berrettini worked with a company that made the concrete portions of launch pads 39A and 39B at Cape Canaveral.
The couple continued their hay shipment business and sent hay to a concern in Ocklawaha. When a load was headed to Lake Weir in 1976, the couple decided to deliver the shipment.
Angelo Berrettini said they “fell in love” with the area and decided to relocate and open a hay outlet near the Ocala Train Depot in 1979.
“People in the horse industry taking the train would see us loading the high quality hay and visit the store,” Angelo Berrettini said.
The couple worked together and Jan Berrettini would pitch in and load hay onto trucks.
Depending on the type of bale, a “two tie” bale may weigh up to 60 pounds and a “three tie” up to 100 pounds.
Barry Long, a local horse farm manager originally from Kentucky, has overseen farms with up to 100 thoroughbred horses in Marion County since the early 1980s and has dealt with the Berrettini family the entire time.
“Angelo is a great friend, very knowledgeable (and a) student of equine nutrition,” Long said.
Long said he recalled their early location here near the Ocala Train Depot and he feels the company grew because the family is “honest” and “treats you well.”
Long called Angelo Berrettini a “pioneer” in supplying nutritional feeds in this area and said Micheal is a “great asset” to the company.
Angelo Berrettini said a horse will typically between eat 1½ percent to 2 percent of its weight in feed daily. Race horses need additional attention to their diets, he explained.
In 1984, the couple secured a 6,000-square-foot plus building in the Forty West Industrial Park at 4255 West SR 40.
Jan Berrettini said many questioned the location then well west of central Ocala and “being the first feed store on west State Road 40.”
In the 1980s, the couple had difficulties with their own mare, whose foals had a bone concern. After checking with fellow breeders they decided to try feeds with nutrients and the problem was resolved.
The couple’s own experience led them to seek high quality nutritional feeds and added a line to their offerings by 1988.
Berrettini Feed Specialists currently handles the Tribute of feeds like “Berrettini Growth” manufactured in Ohio where, Angelo Berrettini said, all the ingredients are state inspected.
Nutritional feeds available at Berrettini Feeds contain about 26 vitamins, minerals and amino acids, Angelo Berrettini.
“It’s in the bag,” as Angelo Berrettini says about the ingredients of nutritional feeds.
The company also offers a monthly newsletter to customers discussing animal care.
Berrettini Feed Specialists handles horse supplies and pet foods - including the Fromm Family line of dog food and others - according to the website Berrettinifeedspecialists.com - along with at least a dozen types of hay like Timothy and alfalfa.
Customers like Vick Russell of Ly-Ward Hills Farm have done business with Berrettini Feeds since the 1970s, while New Jersey resident Kendall Casaccio, visiting for the HITS horse show, praised the “big selection” of hay types at Berrettini Feeds.
Sierra Osborne with Double Clear family farm said she prefers to use soft green hay and said Berrettini Feeds has a good product.
Brianna Tamulewicz of Reddick stopped in the Fellowship Berrettini Feeds location recently for a horse hoof supplement and was served by Vicky Conley at the front desk.
Melvin Lewis, Jeremiah McQueen, Clias Pope and Josh Moffite work at the Fellowship location. A recent visit found the warehousebusy, with staff storing and moving the heavy bales and loading customer trucks. The company also has five 28-foot flatbed trucks.
Meanwhile, Angelo Berrettini, a horse rider since childhood and 2002 Reserve World Champion in Reigning Horse riding, shared his thoughts on the key requirements to be successful in the horse feed industry.
“Give the customer the products and results they are looking for,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: 50 years and counting: Berrettini Feed Specialists in Ocala
