Rosati Ice, based in Clifton Heights and the oldest Italian ice manufacturer in America, is the fastest-growing school lunch dessert across the U.S.

The 106-year-old company continues to expand its partnerships with hundreds of school lunch programs, currently in 37 states and counting.

The key to Rosati’s success? Its secret Italian ice recipe, which was created to comply with school lunch program guidelines as well as to appeal to students.

Al Everetts, Rosati Vice President of Great Taste, created Rosati’s unique recipe with fruit juice, qualifying the product as a half-cup serving of fruit.

All Rosati products are also dairy-free, gluten-free, cholesterol-free, and contain no artificial dyes, which caters to students with dietary restrictions and food allergies.

“Our Italian ice gives students what they want, a tasty snack with their lunches,” said Rosati President Rich Trotter. “However, it also offers just the right combination of nutrition to satisfy dieticians and parents as well.”

Rosati’s partnerships with school lunch programs started in Norristown 19 years ago. Since then, Rosati Ice has supplied its Italian ice cups to schools in states across the country, making the tasty snack a national favorite among students in grades K-12.

“Kids are a great indicator of a new product’s future success,” said Trotter. “When one of our products does well in the school program, we know it has a great chance of being equally successful at retail.”