D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of New York, Inc., the last of the three companies to be founded, came into existence on July 4, 1948. It was always a dream of the two founders to open up a wholesale distribution company in the largest market in America. But the right person didn’t appear until Andrew’s oldest son, Stephen, was given the task.
Stephen, age 25, fresh out of serving his country in WWII in the Navy as an Ensign and completing his college education at Dartmouth, drove down from Boston on July 3rd and opened the next morning. The company’s original address was 308 Washington Street, located in what we now call Tribeca, and boasted 5 employees.
In the early years the New York Company specialized in the Andy Boy line of California vegetables and other western items, such as melons and asparagus. The great “Washington Market,” where the company was located, was made up of 250 competing firms all specializing in limited product lines.
After more than 100 years in Manhattan’s lower west side, in March of 1967, the Market moved from Washington Street to their new home in the Bronx, the brand new state-of-the-art Hunts Point Terminal Market.
Over the next 20 years, D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of New York, Inc. thrived under Stephen’s leadership. As the years progressed, the company expanded on its product line to the point where it became a full line fruit and vegetable business, offering one-stop shopping for its many customers. Stephen’s idea to expand the product line, offer more variety and fill more needs for the company’s customers, was an original idea in the wholesale industry of the day where specialization had ruled, so the company grew very quickly in the 60’s and 70’s because of this philosophy.