Barilla Pasta Plant

In 1997, Barilla took a big gamble to consolidate its position in the U.S. It invested $135 million in a new pasta factory there--in Ames, Iowa, the agricultural heartland. The brothers had planned on setting up a plant in the U.S. but only after Barilla had become an established brand with enough customers to buy the 80,000 tonnes a year the new plant would produce.