Procacci Bros. Sales Corp., which has been in business for more than 70 years, continues to expand. As one of the largest wholesale produce distributors in North America, Procacci operates to grow and strengthen the business of its customers.

“In our newest move Procacci Brothers has just acquired, A.Vassallo, a longtime friend and adjacent store to our current three units on the Philadelphia market,” said J.M. Procacci, CEO of Procacci Holdings, LLC. “It was a natural expansion to our Garden State Farms operations on the Philadelphia Produce Market.”  

Front row: Alfredo Galan, Mike Keen, David Di Pascale and Mario Di Febbo. Back row: Paul Matthews, Sid Richardson, Mike Mc Cauley, Bob Ziernicki, and Dave King.When the company first started back in 1948, Joe and Mike Procacci’s company was simply known as Procacci Brothers, and dealt exclusively in tomatoes. Over the years, they expanded to include a diverse number of products, and that division took on the name Garden State Farms.

Procacci said the future of the terminal markets are strong and it’s important to have representation in every city at these markets.

“With the continuation of truck shortages, especially in the summer months, there will be a need for grower shippers all over the country to get good products to market, and terminal markets are the hub to distribute it from,” he said. “We’ve made a commitment to freshness and distributing these products directly to the market and the Philadelphia terminal market, because of its location is a natural for growth in this area.”

The DiPascale family, the owners of A. Vassallo, are close and long-time friends with the Procaccis, and as a single-unit operator next door to the company, it was a natural move to merge the two companies together as Garden State Farms.

“The fact that my father (Gene) and Joe Sr. go back many years, even back before my father got into the terminal market business, it’s a relationship that we know will work,” said David DiPascale, co-vice president of terminal operations. “Each one of us complement the other and the friendship has grown into working partners.”

Sid Richardson, co-vice president of terminal operations, calls the merge very advantageous at this time.

“It helps us expand our customer base and expand our product line,” he said.

DiPascale said while Procacci always had green beans among its product mix, A. Vassallo has a full line of beans, including green, cranberry, yellow wax and more.

“These are all good movers that customers do look for,” he said. “We also have all the hard squashes, which we carry 12 months of the year. We are also able to expand our tomato line because the Procacci Companies are one of the largest tomato growers in North America. The opportunity to sell to some of their customers — which are now all of our customers — is a great pair up for both of us.”

This merger gives Garden State Farms a total of four units at the PWPM. Mike Maxwell, president of Procacci Bros. Sales Corp. and Garden State Farms, noted the PWPM is very important to the company and with the market starting to see an influx of regional produce this month, with more local crops coming in from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and New York, it’s the perfect place to distribute produce from.

“We acquired A. Vassallo to help us do this in a more efficient manner and give us more display areas and feature more items, and distinguish us among our competitors,” Maxwell said.

“David has been a friend for a long, long time and he has built a great team over there, and we are very excited about the future of our market.”

Procacci operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from state-of-the-art facilities in South Philadelphia. Its warehouses are located just off the Delaware River, one of the East coasts busiest ports. It owns and operates NANCO Cold Storage, receiving the freshest produce from around the world. Procacci Brothers remains committed to building strong and unique programs for its retail partners.  

The Procacci umbrella also includes Santa Sweets, Inc. which is currently farming more than 500 acres of conventional and organic vegetables in South Jersey.

“We are developing new techniques every season, such as our improvements with high tunnel technology for protection against the elements,” said Rick Feighery, vice-president of sales for Procacci Bros. Sales Corp. “We started last year with experimental acres and this year have expanded to organic and conventional tomatoes. This will help us elongate our season and decrease water usage. It’s something we are looking forward to expanding even more in the future.”

George Binck, COO of Procacci Holdings, LLC and also chairman of the board for the Regional Produce Cooperative Corp., the governing body for the produce market, said the company’s message is lockstep with the board in “touting this magnificent modern facility” and “strive to make a great experience for the customer every day.”