More than a century ago, a young Sicilian boy dreamed about life in America. Without knowing a single word of English, he decided to jump aboard a boat around 1910, and headed to New York. He made his way to Chicago, where he made ends meet by selling produce out of a cart. ​This cart eventually became the LaMantia Bros-Arrigo Company— the largest in the nation between the 20s and 60s. The LaMantia name also expanded with the birth of who we deem as the Patriarch of L&F Distributors: Joe LaMantia Jr. Joe Jr. joined the family business at a very young age, eventually becoming responsible for operations in South Texas. One of his greatest accomplishments during this era was the joint venture he negotiated with Farmers in Mexico, which positioned The LaMantia Produce Company as the only one in the country to sell asparagus year-round. One of Joe Jr.’s greatest love was beer. Together with his business partner, Fred Farias, he made several attempts at contacting national breweries, requesting wholesale licenses for distribution rights. During the 70s, his dream became reality as Anheuser-Busch granted them distribution rights within Hidalgo County for their household beer brands like Budweiser, Busch and […]