Tony's Timeline
Tony Ingoglia Sr. was born August 20, 1911, in Catania Italy to Adolfo and Anna Ingoglia. His parents had earlier emigrated to the U.S., but returned to Italy to search for relatives after an earthquake devastated Sicily in 1908 to find 11 of their siblings and both sets of parents had perished.
July 1912
Arrived at Ellis Island with his parents and older brother Joe. The family then traveled to Boston where Adolofo secured a job in Sales with Musolino-LaConte, an importer of Italian specialty foods owned by Anna's uncle. Anne and Marie, sisters were born after the family arrived in Boston.
1926
Left grammar school after completing the 7th grade to find a job to help support the family. Attended night school at Arlington, Mass. for one year to supplement his education.
1927
Secured a delivery job with a dental lab in Boston in the hope of becoming a dental lab technician. He was there about a year and doing well until one evening when his delivery responsibilities conflicted with a date he wanted to keep with a girl he had just met. He thought it would be okay to make the deliveries the next day. It was a bad decision, the dentist complained and the following day he was fired.
1929
Reginald Mussolino, his favorite cousin arrived from California to visit with family. Reggie saw the family was in trouble and needed work, so he invited them to San Martin where Reggie operated a cannery. He wanted Adolfo to become a sales rep and Tony to work in the office. They began working for the cannery and 6 months later sent for the family. Tony worked two jobs, the other was for the Percolator, a sandwich shop and pool hall at night.
1931
The cannery burned down, and Tony was out of a job again. The family moved to San Bruno where his sister Anne introduced him to a friend from Burlingame High School. It was Adele, his wife to be then 16. Meanwhile Reggie began a specialty food distribution company called San Martin Cannery in San Francisco peddling olive oil, romano, parmesan cheese, tuna, tomato paste, garbonzo beans, etc. He hired Tony and there he met salami companies from around the Bay area.
1934
The business failed. By this time Tony had began dating Adele, the two were engaged on Valentines Day, and Tony was without a job. His future father in-law got him a job bottling champagne at night with Cresta Blanca, only to lose it again when the company folded that same year. He then heard about a possible sales position with the California Salami Company in Oakland. He got the job and talked his boss into letting him sell cheese and other style meats. He was soon their best and highest paid sales rep. Tony and Adele were married in September and immediately moved to Sacramento.
1935
Tony Jr. was born. The next few years, Tony Sr. would make the drive to San Francisco to load up his truck and return to his Sacramento customers. He was allowed to do pretty much everything a business owner would do in those days. This was back when keeping the product cold meant keeping it cold with ice during the summer months.
1938
Tony Sr. was officially in business for himself. His boss begged him not to leave; told him he would never make it. At that time his customers included Raley's, Cardinal Stores, Lynn and O'Neil, Stop N Shop, Arata Brothers, just to name a few. After Tom Raley's store in Placerville burned down, Raley opened another one in Sacramento located on Stockton Blvd. Tony Sr. showed up trying to sell salami to Tom who refused to believe anyone would buy sausage with mold on it. Tony guaranteed it would sell, and finally agreed to leave it on consignment if he could build a nice display on top of the meat case. A week later Tony returned and it was gone, when asked what happened to it Tom said, "Someone stole it." They were friends ever since.
1954
Tony hired his first employee. Until that time he and Adele did all the work.
1964
Tony Sr. incorporated his business.
1972
Tony built his first warehouse, 8,000 sq. feet.
1979
Built second warehouse, about 42,000 sq. feet across the street from the first.
1991
Warehouse moved again this time to a 120,000 sq. foot facility on 16 acres located on Reed Avenue, where we are today.
1994
November 10, Adele passed away. Tony and Adele celebrated 60 years of marriage on September 2, 1994.
2001
The new generation is running the company; Tony's now has over 600 employees, and distributes over 7,000 items. Tony Sr. is still very active in the company, supporting, advising, and observing. It has been a long journey since Boston; but to Tony, it is like yesterday.
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3575 Reed Avenue, West Sacramento, CA 95605 
Phone: (916) 374-4000 Fax: (916) 372-0727
Toll Free: (800) 464-5429 or (800) 952-5429 Customer Service: (916) 374-4150