Porricelli's History

It all began on at hill just outside a town called Naples, Italy almost a century ago . . .

In 1936, an 18-year old teenager, from the Bronx, Genaro "Jerry" Porricelli got a job as a delivery boy with Gristede Brothers Market in Manhattan, and a few years later, Gristede's sent him to Old Greenwich to manage its store there. After his service in the U.S. Infantry in World War II, Jerry returned to Gristede in 1946.

However, by 1950, at age 34, he felt ready to make a go of it for himself, and when the opportunity for a small store-front on Arcadia Road in Old Greenwich presented itself. This store became the seventh grocery store in Old Greenwich and today remains alone, an incredible testimony to the passion and dedication he brought with him and continues with his children and grandchildren today! Jerry also took to Greenwich his vision of great food and great service, which he passionately believed should go hand in hand, and he called it the Old Greenwich Food Mart.

That passion became the trademark of Old Greenwich Food Mart, and the Porricelli Family - Passionate About Food, Passionate About Service. The name of the business has changed slightly over the past 58 years, from Old Greenwich Food Mart, to Porricelli's Food Mart, and now, to Porricelli's Market. But the mission has always remained the same as when Jerry started the company, because his philosophy has run the company and was handed down to the family and employees, and through its operation to every single customer.

Jerry, known eventually as Jerry Sr. when his son, Jerry Jr. was born, had grown up on a farm in the Bronx that his father Guisseppe (Joe) worked, and which supported his wife and six children (Jerry, Sr., his 5 brothers and 1 sister, Mary, 92, and the last remaining sibling who still lives in the Bronx not far from "the farm".) with the fruit and vegetables grown and prepared there.

Guisseppe emigrated from Sant' Anastasia, Italy, a small town located in the hills about 40 miles east of Naples, where he had farmed vegetables and raised livestock, in addition to operating a small vineyard, that produced wine from a longtime family recipe.

When Guisseppe arrived in America in the early 1900's, he worked digging subways for the City of New York, and was paid only fifteen-cents per hour! Yet, upon that meager wage, Guisseppe somehow managed to save enough money to bring his wife and first son to America from Italy, in addition to his brother and sister and their families.

A few years later, he was able to buy a plot of land in the Bronx on Gun Hill Road, and began a farm which became the most well known and successful farm in the City through the Depression and World War II, a testament to the long hours Giuseppe and his family worked, and the quality of service of delivery to every family. This was before there were grocery supermarkets on every corner, and the personal service the Porricelli Family delivered was unheard of, and became the family's prime business method of operation, and still is to this day.

This was a family business, but although they grew food, regular customers meant survival by providing for other necessities of life during the Great Depression, and Guisseppe offered many families in the neighborhood anonymous food baskets delivered through the local church, Immaculate Conception, to families in greatest need. It was often said that"it didn't matter if you had much money in your pocket or not, when you went to Giuseppe's farm you left with enough vegetables to last for two weeks for 25 cents!", a statement said often by Jerry's childhood friend, Joe Izzillo, also a second generation Italian, who also moved to Greenwich and became a very successful Town Attorney for many years."If you had no money, you would pay him when you did", said Joe. Needless to say Giuseppe never became wealthy as the world defines wealth, but he died a very"rich" man.

Because of that early childhood experience - all Giuseppe's sons were expected to work on the farm each morning, starting at 4 AM - Jerry Sr. knew what working was about. He also learned the real beauty of"working the land" interacting with customers, who instantly became"famiglia". He also learned early on what freshness meant, the value of truly serving your customers the best and freshest food, but also with the greatest humility, respect and kindness which together became his trademark.

Jerry Sr. brought that unique service philosophy to Old Greenwich, and soon was delivering to customers' homes, to golf clubs, and serving prepared foods for local events and charities. He encouraged his brothers, Anthony"Tony" and Frank, to join him in the business, and carry on the family philosophy of great service and great product. At any one time there were at least a dozen family members working in the store, including Tony's son, Steven and Frank's sons, Lorenzo"Larry" and Frankie, forever favorite produce manager and Guinness World record-holder for most cups of coffee drunk in one day and Joe Sr's son Michael and Jerry Jr.'s daughter, Jeanette.

Jerry then decided to obtain the services of some of the best people in the business to serve Old Greenwich: top butchers in the industry: Andy DiGuisseppe,"Sonny" Bisesto, his nephew, Sam Molgano, and Jack Cassidy offered Greenwich the finest cuts of meat available; produce manager Rudy Scarano, also a nephew, was one of the New York area's most well known green grocer who hand selected the freshest produce daily for the Old Greenwich Food Mart at the Hunt's Point New York Market; and Jerry also was fortunate to hire grocery manager, Mauro"Murray" Franciosa, whose charm and style with customers set the tone for the floor staff to live up to for more than three decades. Just as important was Grace Rich, his secretary, personal assistant, office manager and everything else she needed to be, who came with Jerry to his new Old Greenwich store in 1950 and remained for over 40 years and who still lives in Cos Cob today!

Further recognition needs to go out to some other special people who have played a continuing role in the Porricelli's success. In an industry where the average length of service averages in single year digits, five people, in addition to Nick Sarica, have been a part of the Company over four decades.

Eileen Cole came to the Company in 1976 in Old Greenwich and continues to be employed in the produce department at Cos Cob. She is looking forward to her much earned retirement in 2008. Barbara Morrell started with the Company in 1975 when the Cos Cob store was purchased, where she had been working for the predecessor company for several years. She was, and is, a particular favorite of many of the"locals" having spent her entire career attending to "her" customers as a cashier. Almost all the customers are on a first name basis with her, and although she formally"retired" from the Company over 10 years ago, she continued, as many retirees have, on a part time basis until just recently, but who knows, if she will"un-retire"! Lee Engelbretson also started with the Company at Cos Cob in the late 70's, also at the front-end and remains there today. Despite a very debilitating motorcycle accident over 10 years ago, Lee is a battler and resumed his place in the batting order in Lou Gherig style. Phil Cerrone, a"Bronxite" like each of the Porricelli's, gets the award for the longest continuing member of the team. Phil, married to the daughter of Jerry, Sr. and his wife, Esther's, closest friends in the Bronx came to work in 1972, first as a butcher and then as the Old Greenwich meat manager. Phil advanced to Director of Meat and Seafood as the Company grew and, although he too"semi-retired" over ten years ago, continues to develop the weekly meat and seafood plans and still can be found at the cutting table whenever and wherever needed. His wife, Virginia, remains eternally grateful that her husband is busy at his beloved"hobby" and gets to be out of the house!

The fifth Honorable Mention is Giacomo"Jack" Derosa. Although not an employee of the Company then, Jack was on the Sweet Life Food Distributors Management Team in 1970's, the major wholesale food distributor in the northeast in the 1970's and 1980's. As part of the Team, Jack began to assist the Porricelli family when he started to offer his management services in 1979, visiting with management on a weekly basis. What began as a business relationship evolved into a very long term business and personal relationship that continues today. When Sweet Life became Supervalu over 15 years ago Jack continued to"cover" the Food Marts and when Supervalu left the northeast, Jack continued his relationship on a direct basis. Although Jack travels over 3 hours to and from his home in New Jersey twice a month, he continues to lend his valuable services to the Company and the family. He is family! Like Phil Cerrone and Nick Sarica, he is also a WW II Vet and enjoys a 50 year plus marriage Priceless!

In the late 60's and early 1970's, Jerry Sr.'s sons, Gerald (Jerry Jr.) and Joseph (Joe Sr.), joined the family business. They were fresh from college, and were eager to bring the family business to a new generation of Greenwich residents.

However, both sons received their training early, being involved in the business as teenagers, working part-time and continued to do so through college. Joe Sr. majored in physics and business at Iona College and joined his father on a full-time basis in 1966. Joe Sr.'s responsibilities today as company Vice President include grocery and produce supervision, merchandising, company advertising.

Jerry Jr. graduated from Fordham University and went on to obtain a Law Degree from Fordham Law School in 1974. After a very brief 18 months of practice, Jerry Jr. knew what he really wanted to do and returned to the family business in 1975. It was at that time that Porricelli's expanded from a one-store company to three when it purchased the Cos Cob and the Greenwich Food Centers. Today, Jerry Jr. is company President and Director of store operations.

In 1989, the Greenwich Food Mart location on Greenwich Avenue was closed when the landlord's expectations exceeded even what a successful Porricelli operation could support. Probably one of the most unique operations in the country, the Greenwich Food Mart was located on the town's main commercial street, contained no off street parking (customers had to feed meters with quarters when they found a spot) no basement, no loading dock and half of its 8,000 square foot sales area was on a different elevation than the other half (customers had to go up or down a ramp to shop the entire store)! And, two different landlords! When the store closed the result was a classic case of addition by subtraction. Since the Cos Cob location was only a few minutes away and customer loyalty was so high, the popular Greenwich store manager, Dominick"Nick" Sarica, was sent to the Cos Cob location to act as a true customer good will ambassador. The result? Over 75% of the Greenwich store's business was recaptured! And today, over 30 years later, Nick still works two days a week in Old Greenwich demonstrating Porricelli's original recipes and taking care of any customer's personal requests!

That was the very same year that Joe's son, Joe Jr., who had worked for the family business part time through school as his father and uncle had done before him, decided to join the management team. Joe Jr., also a graduate of Iona College, where he excelled on the baseball diamond, was promoted to Store Manager of the Old Greenwich store, where he is today, with additional responsibilities as Deli and Bakery Director.

Jerry Jr.'s youngest daughter, Melissa, who worked as a teenager in Old Greenwich, re- joined Porricelli's Market in 2005 as in the corporate office as Customer and Community Relations Specialist, and she sets the manner in which customer, and charitable organization, requests and needs are fulfilled as quickly and as friendly as possible.

Porricelli's is a special success story because of the personal touch that Jerry kept with not only his loyal customers but also his faithful employees. It is based on the concept of family and the Porricelli Family goes on down to the third generation, though Jerry Sr., died in 1999.

The overwhelming factor contributing to the Porricelli's success is their genuine affection for the people they employ as well as the customers, or friends as they are called, whom they serve.

Jerry Sr. had always considered his loyal customers and friends as "family" with Porricelli's Market reaching out to the community in many ways.

Porricelli's was one of the first companies in the area to offer discounts to Senior Citizens. Through charitable events, such as the Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament, the Porricelli's Food Mart has raised money over $1.0M for local charities and non-profit organizations such as the Hill House, the Mews, the Sienna Commission on Aging and ARC, now Abilis. They have actively partnered with other organizations such as the Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County, the Junior League, Neighbor-to-Neighbor, the Kennedy Center and many, many others.

In 2002, Porricelli's added their first location of business in Trumbull, and Porricelli's of Trumbull is a great success because of the quality of food and the quality of service, with customers consistently returning and offering suggestions and requests, along with letters of appreciation for the consistent style and humble attitude of Porricelli's Market staff. Much credit for this success can be attributed to the efforts of Store Manager, Ed Messina, who has been with the store since opening day and a real customer favorite and a local native. What has been most heartwarming, is Trumbull is also serving many second and third generation Food Mart customers who have migrated from Greenwich and can once again call Porricelli's their home!.

"The food market business has changed," said Jerry Jr.," and today, we offer a larger variety of fresh foods, and exotic foods, from around the world because of easier availability. But also, consumer knowledge and resulting taste for of a wider spectrum of foods has brought an ever-expanding menu that Porricelli's delivers to the marketplace."

"Our prepared foods menu is a specialty of excellence," Porricelli promises,"with long-held family recipes, and recipes from great chefs being offered to our customers for easy meal choices that provide natural nutrition along with spectacular and delicious taste!"

"Porricelli's Food Mart recently became known as Porricelli's Market," Jerry Jr. said,"because our business has grown in all areas of service, and the simplest way says it best. We are grateful for our past success and we look excitedly to the future as we explore new ways to improve and for new opportunities to bring our tradition to even more new famiglia!"

"Ciao, for now!"