Paul Tavilla was born in 1892 in Guidomandri, Sicily. He came to the Boston area to join his older brother Joseph in 1920. He married Stella Zullo on September 14, 1921. She was born in La Croce, Sicily. They went on to have seven sons and three daughters.

Paul had originally come to America to work with his brother Joseph in his wholesale fruit business, Northern Fruit. His brother began as a fruit peddler with a cart and grew his business to become Northern Fruit.

The Birth of P. Tavilla Co.

Paul had ideas of his own. He and his wife lived on Western ave in Cambridge. Paul had a pushcart and in the early 1920’s, he bought his fruit at the Charlestown auction. He loaded his cart and sold the fruit from store to store throughout fashionable Back Bay. He sold only the “top of the line” fruit – so much so that he earned the nickname “Top of the line” at the auction. By 1925, he was itching to expand. He told his wife if he just had $300.00 extra dollars, he could buy a truckload of lemons and this would get his foot in the door of the wholesale fruit business. His wife, Stella, gave him $300.00 that she had saved doing domestic jobs and from her household budget.

P. Tavilla Co. Grows into Warehouse Space

After selling the lemons, he invested with his partner, Charlie Spagnolo, in a small fruit business on Commercial street in Boston. Every night, Paul brought home the bills and receipts and his wife did the bookkeeping. The company was called Spagnola & Tavilla. During the next two years, Paul formed another partnership with a Greek named Papadopoulos. But it too was short lived. By 1928, Paul had settled at 54 Commercial street and the company was called P. Tavilla Co. Paul was a stubborn man and wanted it all, so P. Tavilla Co. was well on it’s way!

P. Tavilla Co. Moves to Faneuil Hall Market

The company continued to grow. Paul always told his children that “People always have to eat. You will always have a job and never get laid off.” He also emphasized the value of a good name. The name on the door meant more than the money in your wallet. Even though he was a very proud man, he was never too proud to learn from someone else. He would always say “Stay with someone smarter than you and you’ll learn something!”

In 1945, the P. Tavilla CO was outgrowing their building. 50 Clinton st was up for lease and after some wheeling and dealing, Tavilla moved in. With the move, Tavilla began selling vegetables wholesale as well. This change also marked the beginning of growth and extensive diversification.

In 1947, one of Tavilla’s friends, Red Marcus offered to teach him the basics of the vegetable business. They also began to buy up businesses who were phasing out. They acquired several businesses and began working on consignment with farmers. The move was a solid success. The company had to change it’s location yet again! The city and state began to modernize the highway system in and out of Boston. 50 Clinton st, the home of P. Tavilla Co. was to be leveled.

They moved to North Market street. It was a corner location and had street frontage on three sides. One North Market street was the home to P. Tavilla Co. for the next 17 years. In 1952, Tavilla began handling Maine Potatoes. This was when they purchased their first tractor-trailer truck. Eventually, a new company was formed, Tavilla Trucking Corp and they had a fleet of trucks, 46 trailers, 37 tractors and 11 regular trucks. They were hauling produce up and down the East coast and sometimes across the country. The next growth phase for P. Tavilla was receiving Florida produce. Several brothers met with Norm Coffin, a Stop and Shop buyer who was living in Florida. The brothers made him a proposition: the next time his produce order fell short of completely filling the truck, Coffin should fill the truck anyway. P. Tavilla would buy the extra crates for resale in the Boston Market. What started as a couple hundred extra crates quickly grew to shipments of up to ten trailer loads per week of produce.

In late 1954, Paul Tavilla had decided to retire. On January 1, 1955, his seven sons, with his permission, added the designation “Inc.” to the company name. The corporation’s 500 shares were divided equally between the brothers with the following 10 shares going to Paul. This was enough for each of them to buy a new Buick if they so desired!
In 1963, there was a dire need for a modern facility. Steve Tavilla (the oldest of the brothers) was in the planning stages for the New England Produce Center. The new market opened it’s doors on February 26, 1968. It was at the time the largest owner-operated produce terminal in the United States.

In the early 1990’s, all of the brothers retired leaving Paul Ralph Tavilla, Ernie Basil Tavilla and Richard Stephen Tavilla as the owners of P. Tavilla Co., Inc. Several years later, Paul Ralph Tavilla retired and the two cousins own run the business today. Brenda Tavilla Clifford’s husband Kevin Clifford has been with the company for over 30 years and in 1996, Susan Tavilla joined the company as well.

This is a brief history of the P. Tavilla Co., where it started, how it got to where it is today. Rich in history and family, we still rely on the Tavilla name to see us through.