Joe Fedele
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Joseph Fedele (known as Joe Fedele, born C. 1962) is an entrepreneur who co-founded New York-based online specialty grocery
FreshDirect FreshDirect is an American online grocery company and among the first enterprises to sell and deliver perishable foods to consumers without maintaining a retail operation. It offers its services via a website and mobile app. On December 15, 20 ...
in 1998 along with investment banker Jason Ackerman. Fedele was CEO and co-chairman from 1998 to 2004. Prior to FreshDirect, Fedele was CEO and president of
Fairway Market Fairway Market is an American grocery chain founded in 1933 by Nathan Glickberg. The brand is owned by the Wakefern Food Corporation, whose flagship supermarket cooperative network is ShopRite. The flagship Fairway location at Broadway ...
on West 132nd Street in Manhattan from 1993 to 1998. During that period, the company disintermediated its supply chain for perishable and specialty products and introduced just-in-time inventory stocking.


Early life

Fedele was born in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, New York and graduated from Hofstra University, acquiring a BBA in Accounting, Finance, Economics and Mathematics in 1980.


Career


PFI

In 1982, he founded PFI, one of the largest protein and
perishable Decomposition is the process by which dead organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter such as carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts. The process is a part of the nutrient cycle and is esse ...
trading companies in the US with customers such as
Marubeni (, OSE: 8002, NSE: 8002) is a '' sōgō shōsha'' (general trading company) headquartered in Otemachi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the largest ''sogo shosha'' and has leading market shares in cereal and paper pulp trading as wel ...
, Komatsu Gosho, Sumitomo, Price Club, Walmart, and others.


By Choice

By Choice was a
Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...
fresh market opened by Fedele and his partners in February 1991 it was converted to Fairway "Like No Other Market." ''The New York Times'' wrote that "Fedele got his perfect partners when the owners of the Fairway Market at Broadway and 74th Street signed on as partners."


Fairway market(s)

Fairway Market was founded in 1933. Fedele's involvement came when the founder's grandson Howard Glickberg's flagship store (
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
/
West 74th Street 74th Street is an east–west street carrying pedestrian traffic and eastbound automotive/bicycle traffic in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs through the Upper East Side neighborhood (in ZIP code 10021, where it is known as East ...
) helped restart the failed ''By Choice''. In 1991 Fedele had helped found the "Business Process" that later converted Fairway from its small format original single store on 74th and Broadway to the new Fairway ("Like No Other Market"). This independent store in Harlem was attracting more than 20,000 customers a week within two months of opening. A combination of variety, quality, and low prices in a marketplace atmosphere, attracted shoppers from all over the New York City area, from the Upper Manhattan to the then-inner-city neighborhood where it was located. Fairway achieved high quality products at low prices by cutting out all middle
distributors A distributor is an electric and mechanical device used in the ignition system of older spark-ignition engines. The distributor's main function is to route electricity from the ignition coil to each spark plug at the correct time. Design A ...
. The store bought from "the guy who takes it from the land, takes it from the sea, puts it in a can or slaughters it. This way, it's four to five days fresher and 30% cheaper," said Fedele. Fedele, who calls himself a food technologist, believes that direct buying ensures quality. Perishables that go through layers of distribution experience temperature fluctuations and inevitably suffer from adulteration. Quality is also reinforced through selectivity. "Our expertise is to pick the best quality grades in meat, fish and produce," he said.


FreshDirect

In 1998, Fedele launched
FreshDirect FreshDirect is an American online grocery company and among the first enterprises to sell and deliver perishable foods to consumers without maintaining a retail operation. It offers its services via a website and mobile app. On December 15, 20 ...
. He initially raised $120 million and leveraged a no-store concept to develop a better plan: start by dealing directly with farmers, fishermen, and slaughterhouses and build a single super-efficient manufacturing and distribution facility to hold down costs. That kept gross margins high enough to cover the added costs of reliable delivery, offered in densely packed neighborhoods. Kenneth Boyer, an associate professor at Michigan State University's business school who studies online grocers, says a visit to the company "really blew me away."


Controversies


Harlem Fairway Certificate of Occupancy

At the reopened/retitled Fairway facility in Harlem, as of early 1996 they lacked a
Certificate of Occupancy A certificate of occupancy is a document issued by a local government agency or building department certifying a building's compliance with applicable building codes and other laws, and indicating it to be in a condition suitable for occupancy. ...
. Co-owner Dave Sneldon claimed to have "a temporary certificate of occupancy to operate a wholesale business." Fedele said "we don't charge retail prices." A NYC commissioner claimed that they didn't apply.


Fairway/FreshDirect: Fedele's role(s)

After selling his interest in Fairway (to Glickberg and his partners) to start FreshDirect in 1998, Fedele became embroiled in a series of disputes with Fairway's owners, who accused him of over-representing his role in the creation of Fairway's Harlem branch. In response, Fedele says that his description of himself as the branch's "co-founder" is an
understatement Understatement is an expression of lesser strength than what the speaker or writer actually means or than what is normally expected. It is the opposite of embellishment or exaggeration, and is used for emphasis, irony, hedging, or humor. A part ...
. He was quoted saying, in response to Glickberg, "my former partners at Fairway did business in the traditional retail way for 30 years before we became partners, having multiple distributors between them and the products that they sold. I guess after I became their partner they had this epiphany of totally disintermediating of supply chain which resulted in the "highest value proposition possible to the consumer. Getting them better, fresher food at 30 percent savings and giving us a sustainable, competitive and differentiated advantage." Fairway began hanging signs in its aisles attacking Fedele's credibility and the quality of FreshDirect's produce. ''
New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...
'' wrote (May 17, 2004):
The FreshDirect posters blaring that the company was BROUGHT TO YOU BY A CO-FOUNDER OF FAIRWAY UPTOWN and featuring a photo of Fedele made airway owner HowieGlickberg furious. He posted signs inside the
West 74th Street 74th Street is an east–west street carrying pedestrian traffic and eastbound automotive/bicycle traffic in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs through the Upper East Side neighborhood (in ZIP code 10021, where it is known as East ...
store reading FAIRWAY IS IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH FRESHDIRECT. FreshDirect jabbed back by sending staffers dressed as giant fruits and vegetables to pass out fliers in front of Fairway. Then the FreshDirect website added a lengthy description of Fedele's role in the uptown Fairway, headlined: HEY FAIRWAY, WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? Fairway threatened to sue.Smith, Chris (2004). ''New York Magazine'', May 24, 2004.
Fairway never sued, but the accusatory-claims and counter-claims continued.


Awards

* Fedele and FreshDirect co-founder Ackerman won the
Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...
Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2003 for the Metropolitan New York Area, and Fedele was nominated for the national
Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...
Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2003, eventually won by John Mackey. * Fedele and his partners at ''Fairway Market'' won the
Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...
Entrepreneur of the Year Award in New York City in 1996.


See also

*
FreshDirect FreshDirect is an American online grocery company and among the first enterprises to sell and deliver perishable foods to consumers without maintaining a retail operation. It offers its services via a website and mobile app. On December 15, 20 ...
*
Fairway Market Fairway Market is an American grocery chain founded in 1933 by Nathan Glickberg. The brand is owned by the Wakefern Food Corporation, whose flagship supermarket cooperative network is ShopRite. The flagship Fairway location at Broadway ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fedele, Joe American businesspeople Hofstra University alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Frank G. Zarb School of Business alumni