Tina Ceriello brings over three decades of experience to the specialty food industry. As a second-generation owner, she has redefined what it means to honor tradition while driving innovation. Since taking the helm of Ceriello Fine Foods—a beloved specialty food retailer founded by her father, Andrea, in 1980—Tina has focused on its core strengths: quality, service, and authentic family values.
From 2003 to 2022, Tina served as Business Manager of Ceriello Fine Foods, overseeing operations across multiple new locations from Baltimore to Milwaukee, while maintaining the flagship Williston Park, NY store and the prestigious Grand Central Terminal outpost. This period of rapid expansion and contraction brought invaluable lessons about scalability and the true cost of growth.
Assuming ownership in 2022, Tina re-developed the company’s digital presence and branding—bringing a 45-year-old family business into the modern marketplace. This fusion of old and new has become her signature: honoring the artisan methods that make Ceriello products distinctive while embracing the tools and strategies that allow small businesses to compete on a national scale.
Tina’s expertise extends beyond retail into specialty manufacturing. In 2010, she joined Licini Brothers, a USDA-certified salami manufacturing facility in Union City, NJ, supporting their business operations until 2022, when she became Partner. Her dual leadership roles at Ceriello Fine Foods and Licini Brothers demonstrate a rare versatility: she navigates both consumer-facing retail and B2B manufacturing with equal fluency, understanding how each side of the business informs and strengthens the other.
Beyond her business acumen, Tina holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Hunter College and an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Lesley University, and a BS in Journalism from Boston University. From 2005 to 2022, she taught rhetoric and writing as an Adjunct Lecturer at Hunter College. Tina also completed the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program in December 2025.
