No Encore for Sinatra’s Sauces

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — The curtain is dropping on Sinatra-brand pasta sauces, products named for Frank Sinatra and produced by South San Francisco-based Armanino Foods of Distinction Inc.

Apparently, 1991 was a very bad year for new premium brands as cash-strapped shoppers searched for the best deals.

“In the last six or eight months, sales really deteriorated,” said William Armanino, president and chief executive officer of Armanino Foods. “We didn’t want to just keep throwing money at this thing and not know when, if ever, buying habits would change.”