4/19/2013
Melissa Westphal

ROCKFORD — Zina Horton has a big, sweet dream to take her business and its signature product global. Horton owns Zammuto’s, a longtime food stand that specializes in desserts and soul food at 725 Kent St. It’s best known for granita, a semifrozen treat — think Italian ice or sorbet — available in nine flavors, including lemon and blue raspberry. Zammuto’s founding dates back nearly 90 years; Horton has owned it since 2007. She’s working with officials at the Rockford business incubator EIGERlab and ultimately wants Zammuto’s granita sold in grocery stores and in fine-dining restaurants around the world. Horton even hopes to appear one day in Forbes, which would shine a positive light on her hometown instead of the magazine’s calling Rockford the third most-miserable city in the nation. “I’ve been in Rockford all my life, and it’s not been miserable,” she said. “So if you want to know about what’s good coming out of Rockford, ‘Hello, my name is Zina. And here we are’.” Horton said business spiked when she joined the lineup as a vendor at Rockford City Market. That experience encouraged her to grow her business even more. City Market “really opened the eyes of people. They look for me when I’m down there, and they know about the granita. We know we need to be out there.” Assistance from EIGERlab is keeping her expansion plans on track. Horton is a “mover and a shaker,” said Brian McIntyre, director of the Illinois Small Business Development Center at EIGERlab. “She’s got vision and drive,” he said. “Commercializing the granita is not just a dream, it’s a real possibility. It will happen.” Among Horton’s next steps is finding a partner company to help package the granita. “The key is getting the right people in place,” McIntyre said. Zammuto’s secret granita recipe originated in Sicily and was handed down for many years before Horton took over the business. It’ll take time for her granita to go global. In the meantime, she has other plans for the southwest-side eatery. Previous owners fully enclosed the building. Horton and her daughter, Alida, plan to renovate the space so they can serve food from more walk-up windows and add a freezer so frozen treats are more accessible. They also want to update the building exterior and signage and add more umbrellas to the outdoor seating. Horton also wants a second location by next year. “Rockford is a really hard market for any small business or small restaurant,” she said. “You have to sell yourself, then (people) have to believe in you. “Zammuto’s has gotten to the place where Rockford believes in us. And once they come over and taste the product, they’re won over forever. It transcends different sides of town. “People will travel over here — they don’t care that it’s on the west side. That’s part of the reason why we’re ready to go to the next level.” Melissa Westphal: 815-987-1341; mwestpha@rrstar.com; @mlwestphal If you go Zammuto’s is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12:30 to 9 p.m. Sunday. It opened in March and typically closes in October for the season. Call 815-962-9180 for more information or “like” the business on Facebook.


For More Information:
http://www.rrstar.com/news/x935169244/Zammuto-s-in-Rockford-ready-for-tasty-granita-to-conquer-world