History
Established in 1986, MMI has grown from a small catering business focused on Cajun-style seafood boils, to an elite manufacturing company offering unmatched “kettle-cooked” foods. We offer complete commissary services, flexible production options, state-of-the-art technology, and innovative culinary-driven products.
Specifically focusing on private-label food production, we take your signature dishes and help to improve consistency or simply work to develop a more efficient process. We also offer our experience in developing key innovative products to capture new trends and product profiles necessary to keep pace in today’s market.
Flexibility is our strength. We pride ourselves in our ability to respond to customer needs, and work together to design custom fare for you.
Mission
Our mission is to provide the highest quality foods under good manufacturing practices (GMPs) in a consistent manner with flexibility for our customers and reliable customer service.
Humble Beginnings
Born in the city of New Orleans, MMI founder Michael Joseph Maenza is affectionately known as “Mr. Mudbug” – a colloquialism for Louisiana’s favorite crustacean, the crawfish. Growing up with a father in the produce business, food became his first love and played an important part in his life. While working with his father after college, he came across a rusty old trailer with a boiling pot hooked onto it. And just like that, Michael was in the crawfish business – catering his first crawfish boil in a parking lot for 800-1,000 guests. Within five months of this career epiphany, he was dressed in a red jumpsuit and white shrimp boots catering Cajun-style seafood boils full-time and named his company Mr. Mudbug, Inc.
Before embarking on this project, Maenza was the proud owner and operator of King Creole Restaurant in Metairie, Louisiana from 1993 to 1999. With the great success and knowledge he gained from Mr. Mudbug catering and King Creole Restaurant, he decided there was a substantial need for “home-cooked,” pre-packaged foods. From there, King Creole Foods was created and brought the much-loved cuisine from Mr. Mudbug to local Louisiana stores.
What followed that successful venture was a food manufacturing company called MMI. Positioned as the corporate parent focused on making a more consistent product for restaurants and foodservice companies they could deliver as their own, MMI takes a great recipe and makes it perfect every single time.
Vision
Our vision is to be your premier food manufacturing company, delivering safe, nutritious, superior tasting food to your customers.
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Management
Our enthusiastic team at MMI possess vast industry experience and knowledge with respect to culinary development, food service, food preparation & safety, and research & managerial skills.
Michael J. Maenza
President & Chief Executive Officer
As President and CEO, Michael Maenza enthusiastically leads the multi-faceted senior management team and passionately provides the vision and direction for the company.
Anthony S. D’Angelo
Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
Responsible for all aspects of the business, D’Angelo oversees daily operations, sales & marketing, distribution, and finance. He brings decades of general management experience and wisdom to MMI.
Chef George Rhode IV (CEC)
Vice President of Research & Development
“Small wins equal great success”
- Michael J. Maenza
Sustainability
In an effort to promote operating on a more sustainable level, we are conscious of our product waste and encourage local sourcing and distribution infrastructures. As a way to reduce waste, we offer exit strategy bases for 100% product utilization at the restaurant level and use convenient two- and four-pound cryovac boiling bags, which also require minimal storage space.
Hunger is also a major concern to those of us at MMI, as it affects millions of people every day. Dedicated to finding a solution, we offer healthy, sustainable meals to those who are less fortunate in and around the communities where we live and work.
Community Engagement
Here is a partial list of organizations we support with our time, efforts, and financial resources.
1-141st Soldiers
Archbishop Chapelle High School
Best of the Beat
Boys Hope Girls Hope
Bridge House
Cancer Crusaders
Catholic Charities
Children’s Hospital
Delgado University
Department of Police
Holy Cross High School
Jefferson Chamber
Jefferson Parish Beautification Inc.
Jesuit High School
Kidney Foundation
Kids Kicking Cancer
Louisiana Restaurant Association
Louisiana SPCA
MS Society
Mt. Carmel High School
New Orleans’ Hornets
Nicholls State University
Rain Tree
St. Martin’s Episcopal School
St. Mary’s Dominican High School
Tulane University
University of New Orleans
Zurich Classic
