Joe Fedele

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Entrepreneur Joe Fedele is the founder and CEO of New York-based online grocer FreshDirect. Previously, Fedele was the founder, single largest shareholder and president of the uptown branch of Fairway from 1993-1998, a local supermarket chain. Joe Fedele was the recipient of the NASDAQ's Enterprenuer of the Year Awards' in the Northeast in 1996 for Fairway and 2003 for FreshDirect.

[edit] Controversy

Since leaving Fairway to start FreshDirect in 1998, Fedele has been embroiled in a series of disputes with the owners of his former company. Fairway's management accuses Fedele of over-representing his role in the creation of Fairway's Harlem branch. Fedele, for his part, claims that his description of himself as the branch's "co-founder" is accurate.

In 2002, Fairway began hanging signs in its aisles attacking Fedele's credibility and the quality of FreshDirect's produce, touching off a spirited fight that continues to this day. Chris Smith of New York Magazine wrote (Mary 24, 2004):

The FreshDirect posters blaring that the company was BROUGHT TO YOU BY A CO-FOUNDER OF FAIRWAY UPTOWN and featuring a photo of Fedele made [Fairway owner Howie] Glickberg furious. He posted signs inside the 74th Street store reading FAIRWAY IS IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH FRESHDIRECT. FreshDirect jabbed back by sending staffers dressed as giant fruits and vegetables to pass out flyers in front of Fairway. Then the FreshDirect Website added a lengthy description of Fedele's role in the uptown Fairway, headlined: HEY FAIRWAY, WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? Fairway threatened to sue.