I
t all started with a hard-working immigrant and a lemon.
It began when Erasmo Armata, the founder of E. Armata, came from Sicily to America in the early 1900s. His point of entry was, of course, Ellis Island.
Erasmo had to find a way to feed his family. To make money, this poor, yet hopeful, immigrant went to the Fruit Auction, which took place where the World Trade Center once stood. Erasmo would buy lemons and then walk the streets of Manhattan to sell them. He developed a route and then started selling other fruits. Finally he got a push cart ... a bold business move at the time.
In those days the Market had cobblestone streets and horse-drawn trucking. Big barrel fire cans to keep people warm were on most street corners.
The business grew. At the time the Washington Street Market on the West Side was the epicenter of the New York produce world.
All produce was unloaded by hand ... and to the chagrin of the lower-backs of the Washington Street Market workers ... the day of the fork lift had not yet arrived. There were no platforms, so produce was simply moved from truck to street level and sold. Men worked long, hard days. A sixteen or eighteen hour day was common.
Erasmo bought a small store in the middle of one of the blocks. In time, another store located on the corner of Washington and Chambers Street became available. It was bigger, a much better location, so Erasmo bought it.
Erasmo quickly became known for having the best quality fruit. Nothing was ever good enough for him (some things at E.Armata never change!).
If he had two secrets to success, they were that he always did business with honor and he always strived to know what the customer wanted.
Erasmo's family grew, too. He had five sons and one daughter. Four of the sons went into business with him. Those sons were Pete, Frank, Joe and Nick.
In 1967, the produce market had to move from Washington Street because plans for the largest builing in the world were approved ...
the contstruction of the World Trade Center began.
Up until this time E. Armata only sold fruit, but they needed to expand. Nick approached the family and said as much ... "we must get into the vegetable business."
And that meant going to California.
This was an important business move. Erasmo's sons, Nick and Frank went to meet people in California and they started developing relationships. This wasn't easy since they were Italian and from New York ... and in the 1960s that meant they may have well been from Mars. So it was decided that someone would stay in California to forge key relationships. It was dedided that Frank would would be the "West Coast guy."
Frank lived in Arizona, and followed the crops from Arizona to southern California ... all the way up the coast deep into northern California .
Frank often lived away from his Arizona home in dingy, second-rate hotels. But to ensure that only the best produce was shipped, it was mandatory ... he had to personally select the fields, the specific lots and even the individual vegetables that would be shipped to New York. Frank was known as the family's bird dog and the relationships he forged 40 years ago still exist today.
And the family tradition of honor, quality and hard work will go on.
Nick son, Chris, is now one of the partners of E. Armata, along with his brother, Paul. Chris has three children: 20 year old son, Nicky; 19 year old daughter, Chelsea; and 16 year old, Michael. Both sons -- Nicky and Michael want to join the family business. Nicky started working in the business when he was 15 and Michael started when he was 14.
So, E. Armata is soon to become a fourth generation business. But one thing has not changed for the Armata family ... this is still a hands-on business that they won't do remotely. And the Armata family still has an obsession for quality and a desire to sell nothing but the best produce at the fairest possible prices.
