The gritty vibes of the Italian Market, with its crates of colorful produce next to a rusted, flaming trash barrel, have been brought uptown to tony Rittenhouse Square.
Venditore, and its Italian Market connection, is Marcello Giordano, 50, whose family has been in the produce business since 1921, when his great-grandparents, Paul and Frances Giordano, opened their landmark stands and store at Ninth Street and Washington Avenue. His cousins run them now. But on March 17, 2020, when COVID-19 shuttered his restaurant and catering clients, Giordano began offering grocery boxes to his neighbors and partnered with such nonprofits as Manna, Philabundance, We Are Philly, Puentes de Salud, and the Garces Foundation.
The future demo kitchen, in turn, would be open to his chef customers, and even retail customers who might want to test recipes and concepts with Venditore chefs Lynda Murtha and Brianna Mirarchi, as well as manager Barb Stefani. Venditore also is directly across Walnut Street from the Rittenhouse Square Farmer’s Market, which operates Tuesdays and Saturdays.“My grandfather said competition keeps you honest and hungry,” he said, saying that while his produce would be priced affordably, “I won’t lowball. They will have some products that we don’t have, and if [the farmers] have products [that Venditore needs], they can sell us stuff.”Giordano said he was preparing a storefront in Manayunk as its first location.