In the wake of the Great Depression (1936), my great-grandfather, Michael Caraccia, started a company that distributed R&H beer, as well as an ice delivery service. Back in the day, when ice was used as refrigeration, it was a daily necessity for everyone in the neighborhood. He sold keg beer to bars, restaurants, and the general public in the Queens and Manhattan area. They eventually reached the point of where they distributed with 12 trucks: 10 for beer and 2 for ice.
I have always found what my great-grandfather was able to build an inspiration. Knowing what I now know about what it takes to manage a business like this, let alone grow a business from almost nothing to the size that it became is extremely impressive!
Eventually, R&H started to distribute their beer themselves, so my great grandfather had to find other forms of income. This led to Triboro selling other brands of beer and also introduced soft drinks to the line up.
By 1950, retail sales of our newly diversified beer inventory started to grow: my great grandfather was literally selling it off the loading docks to the neighborhood. This ended up leading to a shift in our business model, and Triboro Beverage became the first cash-and-carry distributor of its time. Though we were still doing deliveries, we started to get out of the delivery business and onto building the cash-and-carry aspect of the business.
In 1960, after my great-grandfather had put in 34 years, the business was taken over by my grandfather and his cousin as they continued to grow the cash and carry. This was before grocery and gas stations were able to sell beer. So if you wanted a cold brew, Triboro was one of the few places to quench your thirst. All through the 1960's Triboro Beverage was known in Astoria as the “go-to” place for beer and ice.
In 1985, my father Carlo Sr., took over. When he came into ownership, there were a lot of changes going on. The 80's turned out to be a crazy time for our business. Grocery stores and gas stations started getting their beer licenses which opened up the market to more competition. We suffered a slight hit to sales, but throughout the 80's and 90's we held our own.
When I finished college at St. John's University in 2005 we had been going by the motto “if it's not broke don't fix it” for a long time. Dad had been doing a great job running the day-to-day business, but we had opportunity in front of us. There were a few things that made me feel like we could slowly bleed out if we didn't make some changes. It was fair to say that Triboro always had plenty of business, so there wasn't a NEED to update, but that's not the way that you take care of the community or your customers. A business should always stay sharp…so we began to make changes to keep up with the times.
Family has always had huge role in the business. I feel totally blessed the way that we have come together around the business to make it work. Triboro Beverage has always been family-owned because there was always another generation stepping up to help out. It just kept getting handed down- something I feel is kind of unusual these days. To this day, we always have family members (mostly younger kids in high school) come in for the summers and work to earn some money.
Over the last few years we have slowly added technology into the business to make us more efficient, eventually building the new store. We now run 3 trucks that service Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
Right now, our main focus is growing the retail craft beer segment and the wholesale/retail ice sales. One of the best parts about this job is that I get to spend a lot of time doing things I am truly passionate about (I LOVE beer). Right now, I feel fortunate that we get to be part of the craft beer movement going on in the beer world. There are so many companies that are expanding the scope of what is capable in beer. It is a extremely exciting time to be a part of what is going on.
I'm confident that the future for Triboro will be long, prosperous, and a lot of fun! While I feel that it will be constantly subject to change, I'm not worried because we are good at changing when we need to. The business that we are in today is way different than it was- not only from when we started, but even from year to year… and I am so proud to be a part of it.