BEST INDEPENDENT RETAILER AWARD 2026 — Rooted in Produce: Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace

An old-world market experience where produce sets the tone.

When shoppers step into an Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace, or Uncle G’s for short, the experience is immediate and unmistakable. The aroma of signature, made-from-scratch garlic focaccia, baked fresh daily, draws customers straight into the prepared foods department, intentionally positioned at the front of the 12-store, Melville, NY-based chain for maximum sensory impact.

There are also scents of warm house-made mozzarella, crafted daily behind glass-enclosed rooms where customers can watch the process; classic Italian entrées like chicken Parmesan and sausage and peppers; and a subtle sweetness from freshly piped cannoli and hand-dipped chocolates. Add the in-store crooners who sing classics from artists like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, and the tone is set, echoing the hospitality of the old-world Italian markets once prevalent on Long Island.

From there, the experience naturally leads to produce, reflecting the DelPrete family’s roots as produce wholesalers for more than four decades and the launchpad for its retail business.

This immersive, end-to-end fresh-food strategy is a central reason Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace earned the Produce Business Best Independent Retailer Award for 2026. From scratch-made foods and in-store theater to a produce department shaped by decades of wholesale expertise, the chain exemplifies how strong merchandising and product knowledge drive fresh produce sales and usage.

The industry-nominated award honors independent retailers that excel at buying, presenting and selling fruits and vegetables to elevate customer experience and encourage greater consumption.

ROOTS IN PRODUCE

“Produce has always been central to what we do,” says Carl DelPrete, chief executive officer and co-founder of Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace. “My brother and I have been in the produce import and distribution business since the early 1980s, operating RBest Produce on the Hunts Point Market in the Bronx until our move to Port Washington, NY, in 2012. It’s a full-line produce distributor that supplies independent supermarkets from Philadelphia to Rhode Island, including our own retail stores.”

Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace, named after one of the brothers’ uncles, started in 1998 as a small neighborhood produce market. It was initially opened by Carl and his brother, Philip (who passed away in October 2025), under the name East Meadow Farms, in Nassau County’s community of East Meadow, NY.

The idea was simple: sell great quality, fresh produce to local customers. As the store grew, the DelPretes realized customers were looking for more than produce. They wanted fresh foods, including deli items, breads and prepared meals. In 2001, fellow produce wholesaler Tom Barresi joined the brothers as an operating partner, and the trio rebranded the business to Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace. Their first store, a 7,800-square-foot store in East Meadow, NY, opened that November.

“The vision became creating a market that felt like the places we grew up shopping as kids, where you knew the butcher, the deli made things fresh, bread was baked in-house, and fresh, great produce was always the foundation,” says DelPrete.

Today, the chain’s dozen markets are located across Long Island, Westchester County, and in New Jersey. The most recent is a 40,000-square-foot facility, opened in Bohemia, NY, last November. A 56,000-square-foot Uncle G’s is scheduled to open in Greenvale, NY, early this year in a space vacated by a Stop & Shop, followed by a Levittown, PA, location formerly a King Kullen, later this year.

BEST-IN-CLASS SOURCING & SELECTION

Fresh product in Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace averages 8% to 10% of the store’s total square footage. Here, there are 1,000-plus produce SKUs, with 12% of fruits and vegetables organic. Local is based on seasonality and availability, while imports are primarily about ensuring consistent quality and availability. When there’s something unique that makes sense, the retailer will bring it in. But they aren’t focused on chasing specialty items or trends for their own sake. As DelPrete says, “the basics always come first.”

The primary source of produce supply is the family’s company, RBest Produce Inc.

“We work closely with national brands, such as Driscoll’s, Del Monte and Dole, and these are long-standing partnerships,” says DelPrete. “At the same time, we’re always open to working with local growers when the season allows. When local products are available and meet quality standards, we buy local. We pride ourselves on our partner relationships with growers and products, large and small.”

Uncle G’s has a dedicated produce leadership team that manages procurement.

“Today’s customers are looking for quality, variety, and confidence. They want to know that when they buy produce, it will last at home and taste as it should,” says DelPrete.

They’ve seen growth in organic produce, and DelPrete notes there’s also been growth in items once considered specialty, such as dragon fruit, star fruit, ginger and turmeric.

“Those items have become everyday purchases for many of our customers,” he adds. “We always keep an eye out for new and interesting items, whether that’s new varieties or different colors, like purple potatoes.”

Convenience is also essential, which is why Uncle G’s value-added produce program is strong. Dedicated teams of staff members cut fruit and vegetables in-store multiple times per day. Offerings include zoodles, cauliflower rice, stir-fry mixes, and cut fruit, as well as value-added and packaged salad programs that are constantly evolving.

“What makes our produce departments different? It’s really the standards we hold ourselves to,” says DelPrete. “We’re not trying to be a specialty-only store or chase unusual items. What we focus on is quality.”

An example of that is sugar testing, he adds. “When melons arrive, they’re tested, and we won’t send anything to stores unless they reach a minimum Brix of 12, and usually 14. If it doesn’t meet that, it doesn’t go out.”

That’s important, “because there’s nothing worse than buying a melon, taking it home, and it tastes like a cucumber. We work very hard to avoid that.”

That same standard carries through to cut fruit. “Everything in our cut fruit program comes from fruit that meets those same quality standards, so customers know that when they buy cut fruit, it’s going to be sweet and it’s going to be good.”

“In the end, it comes down to trust,” says DelPrete. “Customers trust that when they buy produce from us, it’s been checked, tested, and held to a higher standard than they might find elsewhere.”

THE ART OF SERVICE & SELLING

The keys to Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace’s register-ringing displays and merchandising tactics are to build theater around seasonality and abundance, then layer in education.

Examples include color-blocked vegetable walls that make selection intuitive and appealing in photos and in person; organic, imported and conventional sets merchandised side by side so customers can compare appearance and price quickly; marketplace storytelling at peak times, such as citrus mountains in January, corn and tomato stages in summer, and apple orchards in the fall; and signage that calls out taste cues, “sweet,” “crisp,” “buttery;” and storage tips that protect guest value at home.

“The produce department has a warm personality, and it really comes from our people. Our produce managers and team members live and breathe what they work. They know the product, they care about it, and they enjoy talking to customers about it,” says DelPrete.

“A good example of that happened recently. I witnessed a customer ask our manager about the difference between SugarBee and Honeycrisp apples. Instead of just explaining it, the produce manager said, ’One second,’ went back, grabbed a knife, cut the apples, and let the customer taste them. That’s a good example of how we operate. We don’t just point and tell people what to buy. We take the time to show them, let them try things, and help them understand what they’re getting.”

Ultimately, he adds, “we’re selling produce, but we’re also providing service.”

The produce departments at Uncle G’s offer several other services. There’s daily cut fruit and vegetable prep for grab-and-go, with rotating seasonal combinations; chef-driven demos and sampling that teach simple techniques; made-to-order fruit platters, crudité trays, holiday centerpieces, and custom gifts with cheese or charcuterie add-ons; and cross-department meal ideas that pair produce with seafood, butcher, bakery or cheese.

Produce promotion is multifaceted. One way is sending out millions of circulars every week, and produce is always a big part of that.

“Featured are items customers are already looking for, and the aim is to be highly competitive on them,” says DelPrete.

It’s not just about price, though, he adds, pointing to regular tastings, demos, value-added promotions, and, in some cases, chefs or team members speaking with customers about how to use specific items.

“The idea is that produce shouldn’t just be something you grab and go. We want customers to feel confident in what they’re buying, understand what they’re getting, and feel good about bringing it home,” says DelPrete. “That’s really the focus of how we promote produce.”

BEYOND PRODUCE

The sights and attention to detail in every department make a trip to Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace more of an experience than a store visit. The Italian-themed alfresco atmosphere is everywhere, from the Roman columns to ceilings painted to resemble the sky, with puffy white clouds overhead, especially in the produce department, and murals that transport customers into an old-country Italian street scene.

Strategic theater-style lighting makes food displays pop, adding to the high-energy, part-market, part-show atmosphere. Despite the old-world aesthetic, newer locations feature modern amenities, such as 55-foot cooking hoods, temperature-controlled rooms for cheese, and high-density, energy-efficient LED lighting.

Like produce, each department — especially perishables — offers a distinctive delight. Shoppers listen for the sound of the bakery’s bell. It’s rung about every half hour as from-scratch loaves come out of the oven. The in-store butcher makes Italian sausage daily to stock the meat department, while live lobsters swim nearby in seafood. In addition to the cafe coffee bar, serving espresso as well as cappuccino, there’s also a gelato station next to the candy station, and often, chocolate fountains ripe for dipping fresh fruit.

Plus, produce doesn’t live just in the produce department at Uncle G’s, it’s used throughout the store. The full-service deli and prepared foods department, with its ready-to-eat meals, soups, salads, side dishes, and pizzas, relies heavily on fresh fruits and vegetables sourced directly from the sales floor. The same goes for the retailer’s in-store chopped salad programs. The bakery features fruit pies and desserts made with produce department ingredients. Nothing is ordered pre-made; it’s all made daily on-premises using ingredients Uncle G’s already sells.

“One of the benefits of having kitchens and bakeries in every store is that produce is culled multiple times a day,” says DelPrete. “Items that are pulled from the floor don’t go to waste; they’re used immediately in prepared foods or bakery production. That helps us maintain quality on the sales floor and ensures we use product responsibly.”

“Produce is part of what ties the entire store together and helps us maintain freshness and consistency across everything we sell.”