CRANSTON — Vega Peppers might just be one of Cranston’s best-kept secrets.

Nationwide, consumers of stuffed cherry peppers, either hot or sweet, can’t get enough of Vega Foods’ delicacies. Yet, few Rhode Islanders realize the iconic peppers are produced locally.

Just off Plainfield Pike, in a 7,500-square-foot space on Stamp Farm Road in Cranston, Vega Food Industry staff are hand-stuffing cherry peppers. That hand-on method, says co-owner Dennis Christofaro, is part of the very secret that keeps customers coming back for more.

Dennis Christofaro has been co-owner of Vega Foods with his brother Steve Christofaro since January 2006. Dennis worked at Confreda Farms and through a variety of other food experiences before buying Vega Foods with his brother. The company had been in business already for nearly two decades.

“There are only about four companies that do this, and our closest competition is a company in Connecticut,” said Dennis. “They’re number one and we’re number two in the industry.”

Vega also produces hot finger peppers, and their products come in a variety of size options, including single-serve packages.

“A lot of people know who we are, but yet a lot of people still don’t know and they’re shocked to realize that we are right here in Cranston, right in their own backyards,” he said. “A lot of people don’t look at the address on the label.”

Vega’s peppers are a seemingly simple recipe with just four ingredients: peppers, provolone cheese, prosciutto and olive oil. Dennis believes that their product is extra-special for a reason.

“There are no machines involved. Every job is done by hand, all the stuffing, the oiling, even the slicing of the meat. As simple as the process seems, there is an art to it and not everyone can do it,” he said. “We have used the same cheese from the same company from before us. It is perfectly aged. We’ve used the same oil and peppers from the same companies. The peppers sit in the brine for 10 to 14 days before they’re cured.

“We stuff sweet peppers one day, hot peppers the next.”

Employees are seated, stuffing pepper after pepper by hand with a tangy aroma permeating the air all around. When Dennis and his brother first bought the company there were as many as 12 employees, but the loss of a major wholesale store customer several years back, and along with it, its revenue, resulted in a staff reduction.

“Now we’re down to half our employees, half our revenue, and it’s harder to thrive,” he said.

Dennis and Steve are approaching retirement age, at 67 and 70 respectively. However, they each maintain a strong level of commitment to the job.

“Steve’s daughter helps us with the bookkeeping and the billing. We answer the phones ourselves, we are both very hands-on in the process,” Dennis said. “We are both early risers, which is good because we are USDA inspected and they give us specific operating hours, starting at 6:30 a.m. and ending at 2:30 p.m. By that time we need to shut down, clean up and be out. The government allows us eight hours a day, five days a week, for a total of 40 hours. If we want to be open longer than that, we are billed for the overtime, and the inspector comes in every day to check on us.”

Dennis said that documentation is key when running a business with products that will eventually expire.

“We keep very specific records of everything we do, everything we make every day, it’s all written down. I can tell you what went out today, and if you read me the code of a jar, I can tell you exactly when it was made,” he said.

Dennis described the business as a juggling act, balancing and managing their weekly demand and an increased demand at the holidays. They have worked hard to bridge the gap between the demand they have for product and their ability to fill their orders in a timely fashion.

“Our peppers are the most important part of the product and they come in from southern New Jersey. We average being able to stuff six to eight peppers a minute and we stuff for one to two days and then switch to packing. The packaging goes fast.”

Vega Foods can be found all over New England, as far away as the West Coast and even in the Midwest.

Phone calls have come in from customers who have shared new and different ways they’ve used the oil contained along with the peppers in the jars.

“We’ve gotten calls from people who have used the oil on popcorn, on their salads, and on pizza. One person in New York City was a personal chef and she said she takes the peppers and deep fries them. She called me out of the blue, and she said, ‘I just had to tell you what I make with your peppers.’”

No matter what people say about Vega Peppers or what they do with them, Dennis stands by one fact: the secret is in the stuffing.

—Jen Cowart is a freelance reporter and photographer who lives in Cranston. She blogs about food at The Whole Bag of Chips (thewholebagofchips.com). Write her at jenniferlcowart@gmail.com