(Moorpark, CA) 40 years ago, Gustavo Cosaro and Mario Tagliati started selling picnic baskets out of Gustavo’s Southern California garage, and Picnic Time was born. Although Picnic Time is now in the second generation of family ownership with their sons Paul and Danny, Picnic Time has never lost sight of a simple but profound mission: to inspire people to spend quality time with family and friends. Picnic Time has now grown into the Picnic Time Family of Brands – ONIVA, LEGACY, TOSCANA, and PICNIC TIME – adding up to a growing, innovative line of well over 10,000 proprietary and officially licensed indoor and outdoor leisure, entertaining, and gift items.
Before making it to sunny Southern California, Gustavo and Mario survived poverty and stints in orphanages in post-war Italy – but it was these struggles that taught them the true value of the freedom to let loose and have a good time. In 1975, they opened “Two Gentlemen from Verona,” a wine and cheese shop, and they soon started hearing one question more than any other: “You have all the supplies for a perfect picnic. Do you have a basket we could put this in?” At that time, nobody was making a picnic basket that met their standards – six months and several trips across the Pacific later, their focus shifted entirely to picnic baskets as sales grew regionally and then nationally through trade shows and rapid word of mouth.
Picnic Time still sells affordable and high-quality European-style picnic baskets – but these days they have a whole lot more to offer. The Picnic Time Family of Brands offers high-end dinner party accessories, camping necessities, a wide variety of officially licensed sports, Disney, Warner Brothers, and Harry Potter, and more – lots more: everything you need for the perfect picnic, cocktail party, tailgate, dinner party, romantic hike, birthday BBQ, or family potluck? Picnic Time has got it.
Two hardworking immigrants, a family business, a storefront growing into a family of brands, a startup from the garage, a second-generation carrying the torch… Wow, American dream, much? With forty years of business, everyone on Team Picnic really is living the dream; helping people make happy memories every day. We’re making life a picnic, one quality product at a time. Learn more at picnictime.com
