Cara Donna Provision Company’s origins really bear very little resemblance to the broad line wholesale distribution organization known as Cara Donna Provision Company today.

Way back in the 1930's, Joe Cara Donna, Sr. started a tiny one-man business, based in the original Haymarket/Faneuil Hall area, selling fresh meats to local Boston businesses. Since Joe, Sr., quickly built a reputation for integrity and fair value, he began to get requests for other types of food products from his wholesale customers. Joe saw the benefit of having more items to sell at each of his stops and evolved into a miniature, wholesale distributor.

After honorably completing military service in the mid 1950’s, Joe’s sons, Joe Jr. and Leo joined their father in his fledgling distribution company. Operating from a shared bay in Boston’s Newmarket Square , Joe, Jr. and Leo drove the company’s two delivery trucks and learned the distribution business from the ground up. By this time, Cara Donna had expanded to include ten employees.

In 1970, the Cara Donna family purchased their first “full bay” distribution center at 55 Food Mart Road in Boston. In 1980, they bought an additional three bays and one more in 1987. By 1970, Leo Cara Donna and his brother, Joe Cara Donna, Jr. were firmly in control of the family’s wholesale distribution business. Smaller, local distributors all turned to Cara Donna as a reliable source of good quality, Italian deli meats and cheeses. Leo and Joe, Jr. also recognized that, while deli retailers were struggling with dwindling demand for ethnic specialties, the food service business was racing toward utilizing more and more “prepared” foods in their kitchens. The Cara Donnas capitalized on their dominant position in wholesale food distribution in Boston to introduce prepared foods as a logical extension to the Cara Donna product line. The shift was met with universal approval and Cara Donna Provision took its first steps into the world of broad line wholesale food distribution.

Fortunately, Leo, Sr. and Joe, Jr. each had two sons. This third generation of Cara Donnas; Leo, Jr., Joe, III, Joe Anthony and Chris are the most enterprising and far sighted of the family to date. Under their guidance, Cara Donna Provision Company has blossomed into an industry giant serving all of New England.