Vassilaros & Sons: Blending Tradition & Innovation

The family business expanded even more in the 60s and 70s when it won a government contract to sell coffee to the U.S. Army. Due to growth and demand, Vassilaros & Sons moved to its current home, a 25,000-square-foot plant in College Point. Over the years, the company was passed from father to son twice. John Anthony, its founder, handed it off to Anthony John, who then passed it on in 1972 to John Anthony, who was named after his grandfather.

The grandson, John Anthony Vassilaros, led the business into the 21st century, but passed away after a difficult struggle with cancer in 2015. He was survived by his wife of 23 years, Alexandra Vassilaros, and their three teenage boys, Adonis John, Luka John and Stefano John.

The name and legacy of Vassilaros & Sons took on even more meaning after John’s death, especially to the next generation of the family. According to Kasselakis, though there was no clear line of succession in place, it was a “tight-knit family business.”

“So we all did whatever we had to do,” she said.

Her husband, George, who was the general manager of Vassilaros & Sons for decades, helped to stabilize the business along with her daughter, Stefanie, an attorney who stepped in temporarily to help lead the company as plans for the future were weighed and considered. John’s wife, Alexandra, whose grandmother and grandfather also immigrated from the island of Ikaria, stepped in as president to continue the legacy of her late husband and his storied family coffee business.

She sensed there were opportunities to pursue as a new women-owned business. Though daunted by the recent loss of her husband, Vassilaros said she was determined to be a model of resilience and fortitude for her family. As her interest and dedication grew, her strategy was to preserve the relationships that kept the company thriving for 100 years and pivot toward growth. The other part of the strategy was thinking outside the box and innovation.

“You have to take risks,” Vassilaros said. “Family businesses, even successful ones, are complex and quirky.

“They are often functionally dysfunctional, but at the end of the day, they have a duty to one another,” she added, “especially if they care to keep the business healthy and vibrant.”

Even John John Moore, the business’s first CEO hired from outside of the family, acknowledges that the “cornerstone of the company” is the relationships built over the last 100 years, as well as the new relationships they are making now, especially as a women-owned business.

Moore has had a long career in the coffee industry. He started in 1993 as a young barista, and has worked in every part of coffee’s complex value chain, literally from seed to sip. In addition to coffee farming, trading and roasting, he has previously served as the CEO of two coffee companies and a partner in another. In addition to leading Vassilaros & Sons, Moore is also a Certified Q Grader and Head Judge for the Cup of Excellence competition. Moore said he has a profound respect and admiration for the 100-year history at Vassilaros & Sons.

“We have been, for 100 years, New York City’s authentic cup of coffee,” Moore said. “That’s just something that is in the DNA of this organization.” Many of the company’s customers are businesses that started with Vassilaros coffee, and have never changed over multiple generations.

“So long as the needs of that community are consistent, the coffee will be rock solid and consistent as well,” he said. “We don’t intend to change anything with that.”

But Moore also knows there’s a “whole new generation of coffee consumers” who are looking to try new things. He believes Vassilaros & Sons will satisfy the needs of those customers too. By early next year, the company will launch new brands of coffee into grocery stores and markets.

“We’re looking to get into the face of the average consumer,” Moore said, “by creating a consumer-facing retail package that will be relevant and beautiful.”

He added that their current facility in Queens, which was developed to fulfill large-scale private contracts, has everything it needs, having roasted for the U.S. military.

“We have all of that capacity and capability to bring to bear for emerging opportunities,” he said.

After three generations of men leading the company, Vassilaros & Sons is now wholly women-owned and is currently going through the Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) certification process.

“That enables us to participate with city, state and federal channels of the market we might not have been able to compete in otherwise,” Moore said. “It gives us a competitive advantage.”

Alexandra Vassilaros, formerly a writer and Pulitzer Prize finalist, said she’s still learning what it means to be a woman leader in a business built by men. This month, she will be honored by the Queens Chamber of Commerce with a “Business Person of the Year” award. She said she’s grateful for the opportunity to talk about the legacy of the company, which means so much to her.

“We are very proud of our identity as immigrant-grown and now women-owned,” she said.

Kasselakis added a reminder that it was her grandmother who was behind it all from the start.

“We also want to honor the women in the family who supported the ambition and hard work of these formidable men,” Vassilaros said. “One-hundred years in business is a testament to great product, great customers and a strong family.”