Brooklyn's Progress
June/July 2005

By Harold Egeln

Arthur Mondella's family tree, rooted in Italy and transplanted to Brooklyn in the 1940s, is a family cherry tree, thanks to his grandfather's and father's business which now thrives in Red Hook.

Dell's Maraschino Cherries Company, Inc., at 175-177 Dikeman Street, is now in the midst of an exciting expansion, branching out into retail business in metropolitan area supermarkets, which represents a growth upward for the famly-run business.

Though the best and worst of times over the decades, Dell's now stands out in Brooklyn and the city as a success story. Dell's has been aided not only by its president's steadyfast determination but by Dell's friends. They include the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, the city's
Department of Small Business Services (SBS) and the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation (SWBIDC), lending their helping hands.

"Recently we've doubled our sales and we are ready to go into the retail market, giving us a brand identity in the city's neighborhood supermarkets," said Dell's President Arthur Mondella, happy about the expansion.  On a tour of Dell's larger plant and warehouse, four times its original size from 45 years ago, he pointed out the sparkling all-new equipment which will handle the increased volume beyond Dell's longtime wholesale business requirements.

Mondella remembers well how it all started, when his grandfather, Arthur Mondella, immigrated from Naples, Italy in the 1940's and landing a job at Goodman's produce, which sold cherries, olives and related items.

His grandfather went into the retail business, with a storefront from 1948 to 1960 at Columbia and President Streets in neighboring Carroll Gardens. Then, in 1960, 45 years ago, his grandfather purchased a plot of land at Dikeman Street in Red Hook, where the present Dell's
Maraschino Cherries Company took root in its first plant built on the site.

"From 1960 to 1971 our business enjoyed lots of success.  Then hyper-inflation struck the country and the price of sugar, used in the maraschino process, got way out of hand," explanied Mondello. His father, Ralph Mondella, was faced with the economic doldrums of the 1970s and Dell's employees went from over two dozen to only a handful.

Then the 1980s came and Mondella's father struggled to keep the business in shape, never giving up. "I was on Wall Street then and doing very well in those great economic times," Mondella said.

"Then my father had open-heart surgery, which was successful," he said. "And one day I came in and saw him having a hard time moving a barrel of cherries. That's when I decided to leave Wall Street and help him re-build the family business."

Coming into the business, he knew how it worked. The difference between fresh cherries and maraschino cherries is that the latter, Dell's business, need preservatives and organic red dye, and are rinsed in a solution which bleaches them. Maraschino cherries are usually large cherries preserved in natural or imitation maraschino.

They came in 55 gallon drums weighing 500 pounds a drum, and Dell's was able to produce 7,000 pounds a week in the late 1980s. The process was cumbersome, Mondella noted, and he had to find a better way to
increase volume, which would boost sales and marketability.

"There's got to be an easier way to do this, I told myself. I
wanted to do it faster and make more," Mondella said. He found a highly efficient and productive process, spending his own money, earned from his Wall Street days, to make it happen, increasing production dramatically to 40,000 pounds a week.

All through the entire 1990s Dell's business thrived. But in 1999, suddenly, it ran into trouble because of changes with his supplier in the price of West Coast cherries, driven up by 33 percent. Mondella saw trouble brewing for his family's business.

"There were only two maraschino cherry businesses in New York City and everything became tighter and tighter," Mondella said.

To cut his costs, he sought to install his own electric generator, and ran into a snag of paperwork and time-consuming run-a-rounds to get approval for generator.

In December 2003, getting nowhere, Dan Holt, Chair of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and Courier-Life Co-Pubsiher, heard of Mondella's frustrations. He stepped in to help. "Dan Holt went directly to Commissioner Robert Walsh of the city's Department of Small Business
Services."

Commissioner Walsh responded quickly and final approval from the appropriate agency came in 2004, a great relief for Mondella. "Walsh got it done," he said.

Mondella also got help for his business in other ways, thanks to SWBIDC, through its Empire Zone Incentives program. Red Hook and Sunset Park are in a state-designated Empire Zone, which permits expanding businesses to apply for a wide variety of incentives and
benefits, giving them a chance to operate on a nearly tax-free basis for several years. "SWBIDC was of tremendous help to us," Mondella said.

Still, there is a persistent problem with suppliers, with the cost of West Coast suppliers still high. Mondella had to find new suppliers beyond his West Coast supply source. And, again, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce intervened to help, a process still in the works.

"We're searching for different supplier options for Dell's," said Randy Peers, the Chamber's Vice President of Economic Development. Among places being checked out are cherry market suppliers in Ukraine, China and elsewhere.

The Chamber, Mondella said, has been instrumental in finding additional employees for Dell's, for which he is also grateful. And with a facility four times larger than the building his grandfather built, the place was buzzing with energy and work as Mondella conducted a tour
for this article.

Working in Dell's main office are Mondella's mother, Ann Mondella, who lives in Bay Ridge, and his sister, Joanne Capece, keeping the Brooklyn "can-do spirit" alive, within the family and in Brooklyn. His grandfather would be bursting with pride for his grandson.

Very soon, shoppers will see the "Dell's Maraschino Cherries" brand label in their local supermarkets. Be proud. It's a Brooklyn product and a delicious taste of success.

Dell's Maraschino Cherries Web site is at http://www.dellscherry.com/ and
its telephone number is 718-624-4380.