Background
The son of Giovanni Canale and A. Vaccaro, Domenico sailed to America in February 1859 at sixteen years old.
The son of Giovanni Canale and A. Vaccaro, Domenico sailed to America in February 1859 at sixteen years old.
Domenico was from San Pietro di Rovereto, a community within the municipality of Zoagli along the Italian Riviera, approximately 40 km southeast of Genoa. He landed in New Orleans after a 65-day voyage, and boarded the steamboat John Simon up the Mississippi River and settled in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1866, Domenico saved up enough money to start up his own produce distribution business, "Doctorate. Canale & Company," which grew considerably throughout the Southern United States as he imported fruits from around the world.
The company also packaged and distributed a fine bourbon whiskey called “Old Dominick,” and a number of beers including Pabst Blue Ribbon and Champagne Velvet.
lieutenant was a natural extension for a produce house to distribute beer, since beer at that time was not pasteurized, and produce houses had refrigeration. Liquor and beer sales ended during Prohibition, but once the law was repealed, the company shifted its interest to the distribution of beer and produce only.
Through the next several years, Doctorate. Canale & Company became the largest produce distributor in the South. Notable Men of Tennessee also remarked that " is prouder of having rightly reared eight children than he is of his splendid success in business."
Following Domenico"s death in 1919, the Doctorate. Canale & Company passed down to Domenico"s eldest son, John Doctorate., and then to John Doctorate. Canale Junior.
In 1956, Doctorate. Canale & Company sold the produce division, and the company entered the institutional food business.
In 1965, a restaurant material business was added, and another food broker was acquired, making Doctorate. Canale a force in the institutional food business with distribution in a five-state area. In 1982, the food and beer business was spun off from the parent company and Doctorate. Canale Food Services and Doctorate. Canale Beverages were formed. John Doctorate. Canale III became president of Food Services and Chris West. Canale became Chairman of Doctorate. Canale Beverages.
In 1999, Doctorate. Canale Food Services was sold to Sara Lee.
Doctorate. Canale Beverages, with a payroll of over 200 employees, sold over 5 million cases of Anheuser-Busch products annually and had a gross revenue of $80 million in 2009. Over many decades, it was the primary beer distributor for the Mid-South.
In September 2010, Doctorate. Canale & Company sold its beer distributing business to the Hand Family Beverage Company of Clarksville, Tennessee. Doctorate. Canale, a staple of the Mid-South economy for 144 years as one of the oldest businesses in Memphis, is now known as Hand Family Beverage dba Budweiser of Memphis. History of Memphis, Tennessee
List of Italian-American business people
Mary Solari
Canale Arena.