Vega family business still expanding 60 years later
Vega family business still expanding 60 years later
CHICAGO — A third-generation produce family is thriving on the Chicago International Produce Market.
Jose (Pepe) L. Vega said his father, Francisco Vega, entered the produce business as a grower in Mexico in the 1950s. In 1972 Francisco opened La Hacienda on Chicago’s old South Water Street Market. La Hacienda was a vendor of Mexican produce and Mexican canned foods.
In 2004, La Hacienda became La Galera Produce, which has enjoyed strong growth on the relatively new Chicago produce terminal.
Pepe Vega, age 59, is known as Pepe Sr. to differentiate him from his nephew, Jose D. Vega, whose nickname is Pepe Jr. Pepe Jr. is the 34-year-old fraternal twin of his Chicago workmate, Francisco Vega Jr., who is known as Paco Jr. The twins’ father (Paco Sr.) is a grower, packer and shipper in Michoacán, supplying a fair portion of La Galera’s inventory. Paco Sr. grows peppers, tomatillos, tomatoes and grey squash, all of which are packed in the La Galera label. “Mostly he ships here,” said his brother, Pepe Sr. The Michoacán produce enters the U.S. through McAllen, TX. “It’s a big help to have our own stuff,” Pepe Sr. said. “We can rely on that.”
Pepe Sr. said La Galera has handled mangos and tomatoes since the beginning. The firm has grown “very fast. “We have increased products, increased customers and, of course, our sales force. We now have five people on sales.”
Chicago tomato market veteran Wayne Passoff recently joined the sales staff. Pedro Valadez is the fifth member of La Galera’s sales team.
Pepe Jr. and Paco Jr. “do most of the buying. I buy a few items,” Pepe Sr. said.
While Mexican buyers are an obvious market for La Galera, Pepe Sr. said “we serve all ethnicities: Chinese, Indians, Greeks and Italians. But Hispanics are a bigger percentage, no doubt.”
La Galera has customers in the metropolitan area and downstate Illinois, as well as in Wisconsin and as far as Indianapolis.
