Common Threads Publishing Presents:
The Land Of Milk And Honey
An Immigrant Tale Of Rags To Riches In America
The Land Of Milk And Honey is the long-overdue biography of one of America’s most successful immigrants. Joe Benvenuti was and remains a symbol of all you can achieve with grit, determination and a belief that anything is possible in America.
About the Author
Deron R. Benvenuti
Deron R. Benvenuti is a first-time author who has spent most of his career in commercial real estate. He began outlining this book in 2010 and began writing it shortly after his grandfather’s passing in 2012. Deron is the father of three wonderful daughters and an equally wonderful son-in-law and grandson. He lives in Sacramento with his wife, Aimee, and their daughter, Olivia. Riley and husband Miguel live in Sacramento with their son, Liam. Abigail lives in New York City.
From Chapter 16
The event was considered newsworthy enough that even the New York Times dispatched reporter Jane Nickerson to cover the store opening. Nickerson agreed that the store was clean, affordable and likely to do booming business. She was also awestruck by the technological innovations on display at the Grand Union. Like other reporters, Nickerson was captivated by the Food-O-Mat “that dispenses packaged groceries with neat economy from a rack of sloping shelves. The items the Food-O-Mat displays in about 108 feet would require 500 feet of ordinary shelf room.” As described in Science Illustrated, Feb. 1947: There was also the “Spectaculat,” a giant screen that proudly displayed an ever-changing list of store specials reminiscent of the display screens at Grand Central Station. The Times scribe was especially keen on the concept of a self-serve butcher. “It is the Meateria that is this department store’s most interesting department. Seventy-eight feet of reach-in refrigerated counters hold every kind of fresh and smoked meat and poultry, all pre-trimmed and cellophane- wrapped in a behind-the-scenes shop, where they also are labeled as to price a pound, total price, and type of cut.” Nickerson continued, “Select anything that suits the palate and purse—a cut-up fowl, half a leg of lamb, eight-ounce steak. And if you don’t see what you want, you’re invited to ask one of the ‘hostesses’ to fetch it for you. A grocery store hostess. Those were the days.”
So after nearly four years of struggling to restore his business to the trajectory of its pre-war growth against stiff competition that had wiped out his customers, Benvenuti decided it was time to heed the call. He learned early on from his father that if something’s not working for you in the place you call home, don’t be afraid to seek opportunity somewhere else. On February 13th, 1948, a third child, Gary “Bud” was born to Joe and Nancy. With a growing family and declining earnings, the time had come for a journey across America. “By then, we had three children, recalled Benvenuti. “There was Richard, Nancy and then Bud. He was the last one born there, by the same doctor in East Orange which was about 15 miles from where we lived. During the war, all of the guys would say ‘go west, go west my boy. When you get home, go to California, the land of milk and honey.’ When I got home, I went right back into the business, you see. And three years later, in 1948 they opened the Grand Union here (New Jersey), like the Costcos here and Walmarts. And they knocked out all these little stores—I only sold to the stores by this time, I wasn’t goin door to door no more. And I was doin real good. And when Grand Union came out, all those little stores folded up, and they all owed me money cuz I used to trust ‘em; you know you would buy a load of merchandise and they’d pay you for the last one. They always owed you one ahead. And when they all went broke nobody could pay me, and it was a lot of money. I must’ve had two hundred thousand dollars coming, and in them days that was a lot of money (about $2,500,000 in today’s dollars!). So, I lost everything, I couldn’t get no money, I couldn’t sell no more food cuz they all closed.” And everybody (shoppers) flocked to these big stores,” Benvenuti continued, throwing up his arms in frustration. “So I remembered ‘go west my boy go west’ so what was I gonna do? I didn’t have no other business, didn’t have no other things I was doin and I didn’t want to go work at a factory no more, so I said I’ll go west.”
“So I remembered ‘go west my boy go west’ so what was I gonna do? I didn’t have no other business, didn’t have no other things I was doin and I didn’t want to go work at a factory no more, so I said I’ll go west.”
