2024 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner: Dennis Deschaine, Al Dente Pasta Company

Dennis Deschaine and his wife Monique sold their first bag of Al Dente Pasta at the Ann Arbor Art Fair in Michigan in 1981.

Monique, who had earned a psychology degree at the University of Michigan, had been working at a local specialty store and cooking school when she told Dennis she’d like to launch a pasta business.

“We took a homemade approach and the pasta cooked in just three minutes,” said Dennis of the product that he and Monique made themselves on nights and weekends. “A lot of people didn’t sheet pasta at the time, they extruded it, and our big thing was sheeting. You get a noticeably different texture that is still soft with a nice chew.”

At the time, Dennis was helping pioneer the sport of windsurfing in the U.S. and owned Michigan’s first wind surfboard dealership. Soon after, the two businesses were run simultaneously out of an old marina in Whitmore Lake, Michigan. The couple used financing from the windsurfing business to fund the pasta company which they endeavored to grow into a nationally distributed brand. Eventually, the windsurfing business was sold and Al Dente Pasta became the main focus.

“We were young, with a lot of energy,” Dennis said of those early years.

He joined the Specialty Food Association in 1983 and began attending industry trade shows.

“We didn’t really have a hardcore business plan or know which direction to head in, but the specialty food shows helped tremendously as they introduced us to retailers, distributors, and brokers and we built a good network,” Dennis said.

Through the years, Al Dente Pasta Company has innovated with its artisanal-style pasta, all while keeping a step ahead of changing consumer trends. Al Dente Spicy Sesame Linguine and Spinach Fettucine have been among its bestsellers. When low-carb eating became popular in the early 2000s, the brand added the Carba-Nada line.

“As the times changed, we changed,” said Dennis.

He served on Specialty Food Association’s Board for 16 years, starting out as a member of a Fancy Food Show committee and eventually serving as chairman from 2010 to 2012.

“We had budding members with new ideas and we were putting a lot of time and energy into building programs to help companies that had reached the adolescent stage, grow to the next stage,” he said. “We were always working hard to make businesses more profitable and stronger.”

Dennis led the rebranding of the NASFT (National Association for the Specialty Food Trade) to the Specialty Food Association and helped foster the congenial spirit that is characteristic of industry stakeholders. He also served on the Board of the Specialty Food Foundation.

“That was the wonderful thing about the specialty food community and the organization,” he said of its camaraderie. “There was always a great feeling between all the members, whether you were a manufacturer, broker, or person in the field. There were always people willing to help each other out... You could cry on their shoulder or benefit from their advice.”

Nearly forty years after founding the brand that had become a staple in fine retailers nationwide, the Deschaines sold their business to another family-owned operation, Alb-Gold, located in the Swabian Alps of southern Germany.

“These are third-generation pasta makers. Two brothers in their thirties who wanted to grow distribution around the country,” said Dennis. “We worked together and got along really well. The relationship led from partnering up, to them buying the business.”

These days, Dennis and Monique run a small marina from which they rent boat slips. Dennis is also helping his daughter Theresa and son Jean-Luc build a national brand. The two operate, Meljac North America, an import sales and marketing business working with a French producer of luxury electrical hardware. 

When asked how he successfully navigated a family business with Monique for so many years, he said “We both have strong personalities and we joked that the fact that I was traveling all the time helped a lot. But who else would you trust and work hard for and give it your all for, but your family members?”