Growing up in an Italian neighborhood in Union City, we had five Italian delicatessens or stores around our house. They would compete with each other for the neighborhood. When we moved to Marlboro in the 1970s, I really missed all those great Italian delicacies. Now Marlboro has Tuscany Italian Market and so does Manalapan and Freehold.

Tuscany has been around since 1997. The idea came when owner Vinny LaFranca came to New Jersey and realized there was no real Italian food here just some sort of imitation. "We opened a little shop in Manalapan at 1,800 square feet and now 26 years later it's a legacy. If you ask anyone, 'who's the mayor?' They don't know. But if you ask, 'who's Vinny Tuscany?' Everybody knows."