Race Street Foods - Our History

Based in San Jose, California, our history began in 1947 when Gino Barsanti, his uncle, Ugo Stefani, and his brother-in-law, Perry Riparbelli bought a retail market for fish and poultry converted from a small house on Race Street. Race Street Fish & Poultry, as it was originally named, still stands as our flagship retail outlet serving customers that have come to rely on the quality and service that we have become famous for.

After Ugo retired in the mid 1950´s, Perry and Gino continued to build the business, slaughtering and processing poultry on the premises and having fresh fish flown in daily. Our wholesale business began at this time when Gino landed our first wholesale customer, Vahl´s restaurant. Although we stopped slaughtering chickens in the early 70´s, we still sell to Vahl´s as well as over 2000 other wholesale customers in 10 Bay Area Counties.

By the mid 70´s we had five retail outlets in addition to a thriving wholesale operation. The wholesale business was outgrowing its humble beginnings and Perry and Gino were considering retirement, hoping to hand down the business to their two oldest sons, Jim Riparbelli and Dan Barsanti. Jim and Dan had learned the business while they were growing up by working for their dads, helping process chickens, sweeping, making deliveries or waiting on customers in our retail store. They were now both in their 20´s and had been operating a chain of fish and chip restaurants.

In 1980 Jim Riparbelli and Dan Barsanti agreed to take over the business. Although still retaining their titles as Chairman of the Board and President, the dads agreed that Jim and Dan would have free rein to run the company. Among the first changes implemented by the second generation was to add a night shift for our wholesale distribution operation and build the 63,000 square foot, state of the art processing and distribution facility where our wholesale operation currently resides.

Shortly after taking over the business in 1980, Jim´s younger brother David Riparbelli joined the business, followed a few years later by Dan’s younger brothers, Mike Barsanti and Steve Barsanti. We now have four second generation family members running our operation, all of us having learned the business from our fathers. We each hold the equal title of Vice President and together, as a family, we make the decisions that shape the future of our company.

In the early 90´s we decided to phase out of our retail operations and concentrate our efforts on further expanding the wholesale side of the business. Having sold all of the retail stores except the original store on Race Street, the focus then shifted to expand our offerings on the wholesale end to become a true "Center of the Plate Specialist." With the addition of a full line of beef, pork and lamb products, we became much more than just Fish & Poultry. Therefore, in 1995 we changed our name to Race Street Foods.

We now focus on being the premiere "Center of the Plate Specialist" in the Bay Area, providing our customers with the quality products and services they have come to expect from over 50 years of experience.