The Bronx Business Breakfast was held at the Anheuser Bush headquarters located at 550 Food Center Drive in the Hunts Point Market area. Ms. Marlene Cintron of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation opened the meeting giving a brief history of Bronx business expansion since Ruben Diaz Jr. was elected Bronx Borough President. She finished by saying that the Bronx was no longer number 1 in unemployment, a position the borough has had for to many years, and it was the hard efforts of BP Diaz and that of BOEDC that changed that statistic.
The keynote speaker was Mr. Andy Unanue (a name many mispronounced) who gave his life story including the business his grandfather began that became the largest Hispanic food company, and the reason it was not called Unanue Foods, but Goya Foods, Andy is the managing partner of AUA Private Equity Partners, former CEO of Goys Foods, and Chairman of the Board of the Associated Supermarket Group that owns the Associated, Compare, Met, Met Fresh, Metropolitan City Market, Pioneer, and Victory Market banners.
Ed Fitzsimmons and Joe Viscowitch were on hand from Anheuser Busch to tell of the 350 employees in its 6th years of operation in the Bronx to which Manhattan and Queens are also serviced from. The warehouse was the first green building in the Bronx, and solar panels were just recently installed on the roof. Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr. it was said helped bring Anheuser Busch to its current site, and BP Diaz Jr. mentioned the 1,300 jobs at the Bay Plaza Mall, and the new Trump Golf Course as only a few examples of where the Bronx has grown.
Keynote Speaker Andy Unanue after speaking of his family business that his grandfather had started, and when it came to pick a name for the growing company bought the name Goya for $1.00 and the rest is history. Andy said that he ran the business for a while, but he wanted to do more to help others like those in his family be able to have their own dreams seen, and that was why he left the family business to start his own company. He added that while he remains on the board of Goya Foods, that he loves his family, but working with family is very tough on you. He now can continue to love his extended family that is still involved in Goya Foods.
In 2008 Andy bought the Associated Coop group, and when I asked about the Associated Coop Group having been in the supermarket business, I learned about how they are growing under Mr. Unanue's guidance where as before the stores were just numbers. I also met a former owner of a Pioneer Supermarket from Riverdale who now owns two stores, one in the Bronx and one in Brooklyn. Andy's investments include the recent acquisition of the 100 store Tex/Mex Restaurant which he wants to bring to the Metro New York area. He also wants to expand the Associated Food Stores to 350 by the end of this year.
Ms. Marlene Cintron of BOEDC mentioned that the BIC division of BOEDC lends money from Twelve -hundred dollars all the up to the limit of $5.5 million dollars. The photos below will tell the rest of the story.
Right - BP Diaz with Anheuser Busch VP Ed Fitzsimmons.
Left - BP Diaz with the Bronx Week 2015 banner behind him.
Right - Keynote Speaker Andy Unanue.
Andy Unanue holds citation from BP Diaz.
That was not all Mr. Unanue received, as he was also given the Bronx Quilt.
