Isadore A. Rapasadi & Sons, Inc
Grower & Shipper of Onions and Potatoes
 


Products History Facility 3 Generations People Logistics

Isadore A. Rapasadi - From Onion Sharecropper to Entrepreneur!


When Isadore A. Rapasadi was just a boy, at the tender age of 8, he got his first sales experience marketing produce by selling apples in a public market for "$1 and a peck" a day.  Many years later, he is now the successful owner of Rapasadi and Sons, Inc., located in Canastota, New York.

In 1920, when Rapasadi and his family came to this country from Italy, Canastota was a dominant area in New York State onion production.  At the age of 14, Isadore's father presented him with a "scuffle", that was a hoe with both edges sharpened used to weed between and around onion rows. Though with no formal sales education nor experience, young Isadore was quick to learn how to sell - by listening to his father's sales transactions.  Isadore saved every penny he earned.  He purchased a car and started to sell his products on the road.  From Utica to Watertown, Isadore was selling his bags of onions.  However at the end of the day, many of the bags still remained in his car.  Realizing he needed a larger automobile to deliver his products, Isadore bought a truck for his deliveries.  He began marketing onions grown by area producers to local nearby markets.  On one occasion, with only $3 in his pocket, he stopped to purchase supplies from several local growers, promising them that he would pay them back when he returned.
On his first trip, he expected to get about 100 bags at 3 cents a bag, but the farmer, without asking, loaded 300 bags onto his truck.On his trip to Schenectady, he sold every last bag on his truck to one buyer.  He rushed home with $50 in his pocket and paid the farmer.  Isadore continued selling until he married his wife Kate in 1936.

Isadore and his wife Kate worked as sharecroppers after they were married. However, a year later they decided to purchase a plot of land where they would grow their own onions.  In two years, they saved $8,000 and developed an arrangement with Caruso, Rinella & Battaglia, an onion packaging firm.  They heard of Rapasadi's persistence, and offered him a wholesaling job.  Isadore earned $25 a week, and 50% of the profits.  For the next 20 years, he spent working for the company before going into the business for himself in 1960.

In 1961, Rapasadi built a warehouse in a strategic location, just off the New York State Thruway.  Large shipments could come and go with ease as a result of the location of his warehouse.  The business began to grow, and Rapasadi sold his farm in 1971.  He began to specialize in packaging and buying onions and potatoes, and some garlic and locally grown cabbage, which is what he has done since then.  From Idaho to Florida to California, Rapasadi bought and repackaged onions and potatoes and shipped them to stores and wholesalers throughout the Northeast and Midwest in company owned tractor trailers. 

Rapasadi attaches the label "Raps Blue Ribbon" to his packages of onions and potatoes.  Isadore A. Rapasadi, Inc. currently employs about 60 people and is currently owned and managed by Isadore and his sons, Frank and Sam, and grandson Bob.  When asked about the secret of his succes, Isadore smiles and replies: "If you do what you like, you'll succeed.  You'll work harder.  I wanted to succeed because I wanted to make my family and myself happy".