siness
Food For 1116oulivit
Business partners have different
ethnic backgrounds, but one common goal.
PHOTO BY GLENN TRIEST
STEVE STEIN STAFF WRITER
John Rainney, Ervin Edelstein and Pete Seman.
id you hear the one about the
Orthodox Jew, the Chaldean
and the Catholic who went
into business together?
That sounds like the be-
ginning of a joke you would
tell to your colleagues around
the coffee machine or to your
family at the dinner table.
But, Ervin Edelstein (the Or-
thodox Jew), Pete Seman (the
Chaldean) and John Rainney (the
Catholic) are the ones doing the
laughing.
Despite their widely different
backgrounds — Mr. Edelstein
was born in Transylvania, Ro-
mania; Mr. Seman was born in
Baghdad, Iraq; and Mr. Rainney
was born in Michigan — they
have launched a successful busi-
ness.
A little more than two months
after opening the new Detroit
satellite branch of A&W Foods, a
$200 million nation-wide whole-
sale food company based in the
Cleveland suburb of Maple
Heights, the three men are hav-
ing a difficult time containing
their enthusiasm for the venture.
In their first week of operation,
with help from office manager
Jennifer Izzo, the three account
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executives compiled more than
$250,000 in sales. They say the
momentum hasn't slowed and
they recently added two sales-
people to the staff.
A&W, which is owned by Jeff
Weisberg and Glenn Pollack, pro-
vides wholesale foods, including
kosher products, for independent
retail stores. Offerings include
meat, dairy, frozen and dry goods
products.
In addition to Detroit, there are
satellites in Buffalo, Pittsburgh,
Toledo and Youngstown, Ohio.
The Detroit satellite's clients, of
which more than 90 percent are
Chaldean, are located from De-
troit to Saginaw, Ann Arbor to
Mount Clemens.
During an hour-long late-af-
ternoon interview last week in
the three men's modest office on
Greenfield Road in Southfield,
the phone rang incessantly.
Clients must place their orders
by 5:30 p.m., and the goods are
trucked here from Cleveland six
nights a week.
The men work long hours,
from 65 to 80 per week, but they
say they don't mind.
Mr. Edelstein, who had been
in the wholesale meat business
for 14 years, and Mr. Seman, a
35-year veteran of the meat busi-
ness, handle the Detroit clients,
while Mr. Rainney, whose work
background is mainly in restau-
rants, works the suburbs.
"It's the nature of our business
to put in a lot of hours, especial-
ly when you're starting up some-
thing," Mr. Rainney said. "You
have to take care of your cus-
tomers."
"Because of our contacts in the
community, we were accepted
from the moment we started,"
Mr. Edelstein said. `People didn't
know A&W Foods from W&W
Foods, but they knew us. Be-
cause of that, we've exceeded the
corporation's expectations.
"If we play our cards right, this
could grow into the biggest satel-
lite office in the company.
"Our goal is to service our
clients to their full potential. We
want to provide one-stop shop-
ping. That philosophy comes
right from the corporation's own-
ers."
Mr. Edelstein was 12 when his
father brought his family to De-
troit to escape Communist op-
pression. After attending
Yeshivah Beth Yehudah schools,
Mr. Edelstein became Orthodox
in the 1970s. He graduated from
Wayne State University with a
bachelor's degree in business.
Mr. Seman also came to De-
troit when he was 12. His father
brought his family here so his
young sons wouldn't be forced
into joining the Iraqi army.
Mr. Rainney bought a restau-
rant when he was 24. He sold it,
then started selling wholesale
food to restaurants and retail
markets.
The three men got together to
run the A&W satellite in Detroit
because of Mr. Seman's efforts.
He went to Maple Heights in late
February and convinced A&W of-
ficials that a Detroit branch
should be formed because of the
city's extraordinarily large num-
ber of independent stores.
Mr. Seman, a Troy resident,
brought Mr. Edelstein of South-
field and Mr. Rainney of West
Bloomfield on board. The three
had worked together for a whole-
sale food company in Detroit
which went bankrupt, so the
A&W opportunity came at a good
time.
Mr. Seman, who has known
Mr. Edelstein for 14 years, finds
it difficult to believe that people
of different religious beliefs and
ethnic backgrounds can't work
together.
When they aren't talking busi-
ness, Mr. Seman said, the three
men discuss politics, religion, just
about anything under the sun.
"I like to say we work in one-
heart harmony," Mr. Seman said.
"I love working with these guys.
We're all equal and we give each
other a lot of support.
"I don't know why people want
to insert politics into everything.
Let the politicians handle that."
Both Mr. Edelstein and Mr.
Seman say Jews and Chaldeans,
most of whom are Catholic, are
allies in many respects. Even the
Hebrew and Chaldean languages
are quite similar.
"Because both groups were
persecuted in Iraq, they did a lot
of business together there and
that has continued here," Mr.
Edelstein said. "Jews support
Chaldean causes and the
Chaldeans do the same for Jews.
"Jews owned most of the inde-
pendent stores in Detroit in the
1950s and 1960s. They started
moving out after the riots in 1967
and the Chaldeans moved in. The
Chaldeans rebuilt the city. It
would be a ghost town without
them.
"Chaldeans learned to be store-
keepers in their native country.
When they really started arriv-
ing in Detroit in the 1970s, it was
only natural that was where they
would find work.
"I've never had problems deal-
ing with Chaldean people. They
respect my beliefs and they re-
spect the fact that I'm an Ortho-
dox Jew." 0,