THE BEGINNING In 1949, a provisions truck jobber—Joseph Vallario Sr.—and a small wholesale food distributor—Joseph Mello—established the M & V Provision Company. The new company manufactured and sold only three products: ham capicola, prosciutino and cooked corned beef rounds. Ham capicola was a unique product produced by combining Italian capicola with boiled ham—a product only manufactured by M & V Provisions. Thus, M & V had the distinction of being, “The Originators of the Ham Capicola.” At that time there were no employees. Mello and Vallario were the salesmen and the production managers. Their market was limited to the Italian specialty trade, and their channel of distribution was to any customer who would pay their price. After overcoming some startup challenges, sales grew as they established their niche. Eventually other companies learned the process and the realities of competition set in. To meet the challenge, M & V expanded product lines to include boiled ham and roast beef. Things were going along okay until Mello and Vallario developed differences of opinion on the direction of the company. The strain of the two different viewpoints resulted in a split of the partnership in 1962. Joe Mello proceeded to go into business with his son and several other former employees. They went into direct competition with M & V for the same customers. In the process, they created a very fierce price war. Joe Vallario found himself betrayed and hard-pressed to run this growing company by himself in the face of very destructive circumstances. With both companies spiraling downward, Joe Vallario invited his son Paul and his nephew Tony Ciuffo to join him. In 1963, both Tony and Paul joined the company fulltime. Paul assumed responsibility for the manufacturing, and Tony took over sales duties. They also shared administrative tasks within the company.
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