• The Miami Herald/AP, Wednesday, December 27, 2006 12:15 PM

Jeno Paulucci--the 88-year-old frozen food mogul whose current lines include Michelina's and Budget Gourmet--recently began shipping to Russia. Now, he is poised to hit the Chinese market. He's also launching a line of appetizers called Bundinos, frozen buns filled with turkey or pizza ingredients.

"I try to keep ahead of the timing," Paulucci says. "Wherever there's a microwave, I believe we should have our product."

Paulucci has started about 70 companies all together--some more successful than others. He began his Chun King business in 1944 with a $2,500 loan and sold it to R.J. Reynolds less than two decades later for $63 million. He is perhaps best known for his namesake Jeno's pizza rolls, which he sold to General Mills in 1985 for about $150 million.

Charles M. Harper, former chief executive of RJR Nabisco and head of ConAgra Foods Inc., says Paulucci is his definition of an entrepreneur. "He's rough, he's plainspoken and a very direct guy."

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