Joseph Fedele (known as Joe Fedele, born C. 1962) is an entrepreneur who co-founded New York-based online specialty grocery FreshDirect in 1998 along with investment banker Jason Ackerman. Fedele served as CEO and co-chairman from 1998 to 2004. Prior to FreshDirect, Fedele was CEO and president of Fairway Market on West 132nd Street in Manhattan from 1993 to 1998. He helped the conversion of the business from Fairway to Fairway ("Like No Other Market"). During that period, the company disintermediated its supply chain for perishable and specialty products and introduced just-in-time inventory stocking. Early life Fedele was born in Brooklyn, New York and graduated from Hofstra University, acquiring a BBA in Accounting, Finance, Economics and Mathematics in 1980. Career PFI In 1982, he founded PFI, one of the largest protein and perishable trading companies in the US with customers such as Marubeni, Komatsu Gosho, Sumitomo, Price Club, Walmart, and others. By Choice By Choice was a Harlem supermarket opened by Fedele and his partners in February 1991 "that closed a year later." The New York Times wrote that "Fedele got his perfect partners when the owners of the Fairway Market at Broadway and 74th Street signed on as partners." Fairway market(s) Fairway Market was founded in 1933. Fedele's involvement came when the founder's grandson Howard Glickberg's flagship store (Broadway/West 74th Street) helped restart the failed By Choice. In 1991 Fedele had helped found the "Business Process" that later converted Fairway from its small format original single store on 74th and Broadway to the new Fairway ("Like No Other Market"). This independent store in Harlem was attracting more than 20,000 customers a week within two months of opening. A combination of variety, quality, and low prices in a marketplace atmosphere, attracted shoppers from all over the New York City area, from the Upper Manhattan to the then-inner-city neighborhood where it was located. Fairway achieved high quality products at low prices by cutting out all middle distributors. The store bought from "the guy who takes it from the land, takes it from the sea, puts it in a can or slaughters it. This way, it's four to five days fresher and 30% cheaper," said Fedele. Fedele, who calls himself a food technologist, believes that direct buying ensures quality. Perishables that go through layers of distribution experience temperature fluctuations and inevitably suffer from adulteration. Quality is also reinforced through selectivity. "Our expertise is