EXECUTIVES: Jeno's Hearty Menu

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Pint-sized Jeno Paulucci is a blend of tough tycoon and softhearted humanitarian. Twice in the past 25 years he has built multimillion-dollar enterprises in the turbulent food-packaging business. At the same time he has taken pride in hiring and training the handicapped and others usually considered unemployable, many of them eligible for welfare payments. More than half of Paulucci's employees in Duluth, Minn., are missing fingers, must wear neck or leg braces, or are deaf mutes, mentally retarded, partially blind, alcoholics or ex-prisoners. As a result, the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped and the National Association of Manufacturers have just picked Paulucci to receive the Employer of the Year citation.

Paulucci, 54, an Italian immigrant's son, started in the food business helping his mother sell home-canned pasta in her living room. In 1947 he borrowed $2,500 and created Chun King, the purveyor of canned Chinese food. He sold out to tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds in 1966 for $63 million in cash, later started Jeno's Inc., a producer of frozen pizza and other foods. Last year Jeno's sales were $50 million. Customers apparently like the products better than Consumer Reports does; in the June issue it rated several types of Jeno's Pizza "not acceptable" because they contained "excessive" amounts of bacteria. Jeno's spokesmen deny the charge.

There is no debate, however, about the quality of the company's workers. Paulucci insists that his employment policy is not a charitable act, but "serves our own interest." The company's handicapped employees are exceptionally hard workers who make few mistakes; turnover is extremely low and absenteeism near zero. Booz, Allen & Hamilton consultants were amazed by what one of them called "an atmosphere in which everyone works as hard and is as dedicated as if he were a member of a religious cult."