For almost a century, Sansone Foods has been a wholesale vendor to Italian food stores in the metropolitan area. To kick off its 90th year in business, the company officially opened a new market on Friday that continues to bring the taste of Italy to Long Island, in smaller portions.
“The only main difference is a block to your left you get 10 pounds of veal, and here you can get a half pound no problem,” Sansone’s director of operations, Robert Hawkey, said in a sitdown interview with Blank Slate Media.
Sansone’s warehouse is located at 2133 Jericho Turnpike in Garden City Park, while the newly opened market is located a block down at 2147 Jericho Turnpike.
Hawkey has served as the company’s director of operations for the past three and a half years after spending five years working for one of Sansone’s distributors. The idea of creating a marketplace intrigued Hawkey enough for him to join the business and play an integral role in its planning and construction.
“I had a strong familiarity with the company from my last job, so the transition was pretty seamless,” Hawkey said. “But after hearing the plans for this market, I knew this was something I wanted to be a part of.”
Before the market, the building had been left vacant for more than 30 years, with its only use being a storage room for excess products the warehouse could not accommodate.
When designing the market, Hawkey said that ownership wanted to find a good balance between a look that had a modern feel and the traditional storage and warehouse “vibe” as he described it, to retain the classic client base.
Sansone Foods is one of the metropolitan area’s most renowned and utilized wholesale Italian food vendors. Its products range from an array of cheeses to barrels of olives. Maintaining Italian roots is so vital to the company that even the cleaning products on display are imported from Italy.
The company’s warehouse has been in the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park area since 1986. Hawkey said retaining customers in the area has been vital to the company’s success and he hopes that they continue to react the same to the market.
“We have a pretty significant following from the Italian population around the area,” Hawkey said. “We also like to think that we play a significant role from a convenience standpoint. A lot of our customers would travel to Brooklyn and Queens for specific Italian products without wanting to buy them in bulk from our warehouse. Now, we saved them the 30-40 minute trip.”
When asked how the market could compete with stores with imported items such as Uncle Giuseppe’s and online shopping with Amazon for hard-to-find products, Hawkey touted customer service and fair prices.
“Though we’re all still getting used to a more intimate customer service experience with the market, we feel our products and knowledge of what tastes best for each person gives us an edge,” Hawkey said. “As far as Amazon is concerned, our items in bulk end up being cheaper than if you were to order them online.”
As far as recommendations go, Hawkey touted the hand-crafted and authentic gelato, coffee, espresso, pastries and pizza. The oven used for pizzas is an electronic one that simulates the cooking of an authentic wood-burning stove.
“The leopard-spotting that comes on a Neapolitan pizza is a traditional Italian flare,” Hawkey said. “That, along with the handmade gelatos and other desserts we have available are worth customers coming in for.”
