Founder Atlanta Foods International

While attending Emory U. in Atlanta, GA in 1967, Russ started a small specialty cheese and wine shop.  This lead to a 5-6 store chain, but after suffering through a deep and painful recession, McCall changed his business from retail to wholesale in 1976.  The McCall Cheese Shop name was dropped, and eventually, the Atlanta Foods International name was born.  Those were exciting days, finding a wider and more receptive audience for imported delicacies, just as the country was being educated by personalities like Julia Child and Alice Waters.  Atlanta Foods and later, Atlanta Wines, imported products directly from all over the world, for distribution on temperature controlled trucks to markets not historically served in the Southeastern US.  While the companies were steadily growing, Russ took time to conserve valuable farmland from development in his boyhood hometown on Eastern Long Island, NY.  In 1997 he planted 11 acres of Pinot Noir (4 clones that were chosen from a famous vineyard in Oregon), and 10 acres of Merlot (clones from the best properties of Pomerol).

Today the family is proud of their conservation efforts and the wines (see mccallwines.com) being produced and sold in Cutchogue, NY.  Along the way, Russ became very interested in the American specialty cheese revolution.  He was a member of The American Cheese Society and became the chief of judging for this group for 6 years, which gave the company key insight into this emerging industry.  In 2005, the wholesale wine division was sold so that primary attention could be paid to the development of the company, now spreading throughout the US and the Carribbean, with regional offices in Boston, Denver, and Florida.  Today, with hundreds of members of the Atlanta Foods and Gourmet Foods team, Russ is still very proud to be part of the outfit that delivers quality throughout the country.

                                                                                                                                       Grand opening of Atlanta Foods in 1967

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