BUTLER TWP — Maierato, Italy, is a long way from Butler County, but the old style of Calabrian cooking is what's behind any food from Mama Rosa's.

“We do it the old fashioned way with sautéing the fresh vegetables before and cooking it in small batches weekly in smaller kettles,” said Nick Fusca, the president, CEO and owner of Mama Rosa's.

“We don't mass produce and put in stockrooms. We make it and sell it and ship it out,” he said. “We are turning it over. We are making it fresh all the time.”

His father, Nicola Fusca, came to the United States from southern Italy and settled in Pittsburgh where he had relatives.

“My dad came over in 1960 and my mom came over in 1962. My mom came over with my brother and two sisters. I was the only one born in this country. I'm the youngest,” he said.

The family did not speak English when they arrived in the United States.

“They were farmers,” Fusca said. “My dad had a farm in Italy, and they had an olive tree farm. They made olive oil and sold it at their farm.”

“My dad was always a business person,” he said. “They made their own products from their farm and sold them from their farm.”

In this country, Nicola Fusca went to work in a marble company owned by an Italian in East Liberty. Meanwhile, Rosa Fusca's cooking was getting a reputation.

“People liked my mom's cooking. Friends and neighbors liked the authentic Italian cooking,” he said.

Fusca's parents did not have formal culinary training or a family history in the restaurant business. His mother learned how to cook from her mother in Italy.

The couple was self taught when it came to running a business, but that didn't stop them from opening the first Mama Rosa's Restaurant in Etna in the 1970s.

His father loved spending time outside the city, and he was used to having a farm. When his daughters living in Butler told him about a building for sale, he bought it and made it into a restaurant.

That was 1979 when Nick Fusca was a teenager. All of the immediate family was involved with the restaurants.

“I was always helping out,” Fusca said. “My mom taught me how to cook. She learned from survival in Italy. My dad taught me the business, and he just learned from surviving.”

His parents sold the restaurant in Etna but bought another one in Lawrenceville. Later they sold that one and focused on their Butler venture. When his father died in 1990, Fusca continued the business.

Fusca said there are distinct differences between Mama Rosa's sauces and other sauces sold in grocery stores.

“We use all fresh ingredients,” Fusca said. “We do hands-on small batches.”

The restaurant uses the same sauce that it sells in stores under the Mama Rosa's label.

Fusca said, “We don't use any sugar. We use a naturally sweet tomato. We use 100 percent olive oil.”

He describes the sauce as “all natural.” They use only fresh garlic, onions and peppers, he noted, and the sauce does not contain dehydrated vegetables. The acidity of tomatoes and the seal on the jar keep the sauce fresh.

Every summer, Rosa Fusca, now 87, grows basil in her garden for the sauces. Although she used to grow vegetables too for the restaurant, Fusca's wife, Nicole, grows them now.

“What we don't grow, we buy locally in the summer when available,” Nick Fusca said.

Fusca started doing business with Harold Friedman in the early 1980s and started selling Mama Rosa's sauces in grocery stores.

Now his biggest accounts in the Butler area are Friedman's Freshmarkets, McGinnis Sisters Special Food Stores, Butler Farm Market, DeWalt Health Foods, Giant Eagle stores, and Whole Foods Market. Another important account is the Pennsylvania Macaroni Co. in Pittsburgh's Strip District.

“They sell to stores,” Fusca said.

Both sides of the business are stable and successful, but Fusca has more plans.

“We are going to start to expand the sauce business,” Fusca said.

Already there is enough demand that they are increasing the number of times they process sauce each week.

Mama Rosa's is still a family business. In addition to his wife and mother, one of Fusca's sons also helps in the restaurant. The company still uses the same steam-jacketed kettles it has always used.

Fusca said his family came to the United States for the American dream, and people in this country appreciated their effort.

“They did it for the people. They were happy and hard-working people who made a business from nothing,” he said.

“They grew up in the Depression and learned to survive off the land. Then they taught me, they taught us kids, how to do it the old fashioned way by hard work and making good products at reasonable prices.”