The story of Manhattan Fruit Exchange began with two brothers and a dream of making it in New York City. In 1977, Delio and Vito Latilla began making deliveries out of a step van to a handful of restaurants on the Upper East Side. Quickly, that handful of restaurants turned into dozens and eventually into hundreds, and all by word of mouth. Their first warehouse was in Hell’s Kitchen but they quickly outgrew it and moved to the “Meat Market” on 15th street. In 1997, they were approached by the developer of the Chelsea Market and he invited them to be one of the first tenants in the market. They would go on to operate their wholesale and open their first retail location there. The move to Chelsea Market really put them on the map, being in the trendy Meatpacking District where chefs and locals alike had easy, 24/7 access, to the biggest produce distributor in Manhattan. Manhattan Fruit Exchange became a staple and was featured frequently on major NY news channels and Food Network, with chefs such as Alex Guarnaschelli, Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, and Masaharu Morimoto shopping the store.

Manhattan Fruit Exchange resided at Chelsea Market until 2015 but then left to focus on expanding their wholesale operation. They moved to a 40,000 square foot warehouse in Ridgewood, Queens where they reside today. The wholesale expansion included branching out to more of the boroughs as well as New Jersey and Long Island.