Peter Castellana Jr.

Peter Castellana Jr. and his son, Peter Castellana III, are high-ranking executives of low-cost supermarket chain Western BeEF, which is based in New York City. Western Beef, which serves ethnic, inner city communities where other supermarket chains lack a presence, uses the slogan "We Know The Neighborhood".

Overview

Peter F. Castellana III is an American Businessman from Queens, New York. He is the President and CEO of Cactus Holdings, the parent company of Western Beef, as well as such brands as Juniors Food Outlets, FoodNation, Property Management of New York, Awesome Transportation, 1906 Butcher Shop, and International Security Force, abbreviated as ISF. Cactus Holdings, also owns and manages over 2 million SF of real estate within the 5 boroughs of New York.

Castellana Jr., the father and elder of The Two, has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company since 1995.

Castellana Jr. says that he once considered changing his surname to avoid being linked with the Castellano crime family, to whom he is distantly related.

Early Life and Education

Peter III was born in Brooklyn and is the son of Peter and Marie Castellana. He and his family moved to Long Island where he graduated from Chaminade High School. He attended NYU and while still in college Peter founded a technology company at the age of 19 and successfully operated that business before getting involved with Western Beef's Florida division as President. After 14 months in Florida, he turned around the division and eventually became President and CEO of Cactus Holdings Inc., the parent company for Western Beef.

Career

Cactus Holdings owns and operates several divisions including Western Beef which consists of 30+ high volume supermarkets with a diverse ethnic variety predominantly servicing the Hispanic, Caribbean, African American and West Indian communities with locations in New York, New Jersey, and Florida. Other divisions under the Cactus Holdings umbrella include Junior’s Food outlets which is a discount grocery food outlet, meat and produce wholesale divisions, a food brokerage division, a trucking division, as well as real estate ownership and management. Western Beef is known for living up to their slogan “We know the neighborhood”.

Other business ventures include Castellana III’s 50 percent ownership of two lots in New York City’s Marble Hill neighborhood, which are adjacent to the former site of a legendary Hell’s Kitchen recording studio, that were purchased for $14M by Castellana and a group of fellow investors.

Philanthropy

For his charitable efforts, Peter Castellana Jr. was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2002 by the National Ethnic Coalitions of Organizations, commonly abbreviated as NECO, with the announcement stating that "Peter believes strongly in giving back to the neighborhoods and his generosity is well known".

Western Beef works with communities by donating to local charities, sponsoring various local fund-raising events, and by providing employment and growth opportunities to typically underserved neighborhoods located throughout the five boroughs of New York. The Castellana Family and Western Beef have donated over $10M to various charities and organizations in need and now operates as the Castellana Foundation.