Farmer

George J. Cornille was a farmer, descended from the settlers of the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, who eventually settled in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago.  While he loved his work, he was asked by the other farmers in the Chicago-land community to represent them when the Chicago International Produce Market was created to make sure that they were being fairly represented amongst the Big City merchants.  He took their trust seriously and set a prescient for quality, service, & honesty that are still core tenets of our business today.

Wholesaler

Henry J. Cornille worked with his father to carry on the tradition and was instrumental in adapting the business to bring fresh produce to the people during the World Wars and afterwards.  

He cultivated many relationships with regional farmers from the Midwest and was far ahead of the locavore movement.  

He believed that if you bought from good people & sold to good people, that was the only way to have good business.

This is a core tenant of our operations to this day.

Specialties

You might say Thomas Cornille had produce in his blood and that passion ran deep.  He went away to college, but couldn't resist the call of the family business.  Tom was intrigued by the different varietals and exotic specialties that were just coming into vogue during the 1980s.  He brought to Chicago items from corners of the globe that had previously only been available in local regions & his warehouse became a Chef's Playground.  Before there ever was a Food Network, there was only one person to call for Chefs who were trying to find hard-to-get global goodies - Tom Cornille.

Present Day

Tom Cornille is still present and intricately involved in the day-to-day operations.  Three of his four children can also be found taking part in the family legacy.

Renée can be found in the Office - Managing Customer Service, Accounting, Social Media, and so much more.  Tommy is found in the Warehouse overseeing incoming & outgoing products. 

Dale is often out on the Truck, bringing our fantastic finds to our Customers so they can be transformed into exciting edible creations!  Each of them has their own unique niche, but couldn't do it without each other... like Family!