About Tony
Tony Stallone comes from a long line of people passionate about produce. Tony’s great-grandfather was one of the biggest buyers and sellers of lemons and oranges in the US. Some say he was bigger than Sunkist at the time.
Tony’s fresh market history began at age 5, when, after church, Tony and his father would travel to the produce market to repack tomatoes for the Monday morning business (back in those days the first customers arrived just after midnight). Each summer thereafter, Tony worked at the market. The market at that time was a collection of jobbers (or merchants) who sold to independent grocery stores, wholesalers delivering to restaurants, and peddlers who typically sold their products out of the back of their trucks. Tony learned the art of buying produce from his father who would bring him along each morning as he did his daily purchases. Our “Produce Guru” has been in training for more than 40 years!
After 20 years in the family business, Tony started his own food consulting firm in 1996 with Scotty’s Home Market (online grocers) as one of his customers. Tony helped raise a 10 million investment for Scotty’s from Nordstrom. In 1998, Tony went to work for Scotty’s as the Vice President of Fresh Markets (a.k.a.: Produce Guru). In October of 2000, Scotty’s/Streamline was bought by Peapod.
Tony has standing television segments on ABC 7 in Chicago (the first Sunday of every month at 8:50am) and on ABC 2 in Baltimore (the third Wednesday of the month at noon). He is also a regular on NBC 4 in D.C. for Tricks of the Trade. Produce is Tony’s destiny and he truly enjoys sharing his passion with anyone who enjoys fresh fruits and vegetables.