While Millennials are traveling far and wide to find their purpose in life, Chris Benedetti seems to have learned early on that he didn’t need to look any further than his own back yard to find happiness. At 27, he proudly represents the fifth generation of Arcangeli Grocery Co. in Pescadero. It’s a business that traces all the way back to his great-great-grandfather.

“I tell people I’m going to be here until I’m dead and buried like everyone else. I love it here,” says Benedetti. He manages the family store while his father, Mike, is the current owner.

Five generations of family ownership is rare. According to one study by the Family Business Institute only 3 percent of businesses operate at the fourth generation and beyond. Benedetti is more than happy to share the family’s secret recipe for survival.

“I think its because we’re honest people. We’ve made it this long with hard work, determination and just being good people,” he says.

And the owners aren’t the only ones with a history at Arcangeli’s. The customers also seem to share a long lineage of family memories.

“I talk to people who have been coming for generations. They say they remember when they were a kid and came with their dad and bought bread and went to the beach. Now they’re bringing their kids and buying bread and going to the beach. It’s like a good summer camp memory. I think that’s the feeling we give people,” says Benedetti.

“I really enjoy sharing our story. I think that’s a lot of the charm and the beauty about our place is that you can still come here and we’re still working. It’s still family-run. Its still family-operated,” says Benedetti.

Their story traces back to 1929 when the business was founded by Benedetti’s great-great-grandfather, Sante Arcangeli, an Italian immigrant who came through Ellis Island and worked his way across America on the railroads before settling in San Francisco with his wife and three children. Not long after settling, his wife suddenly died, leaving him to raise their three kids by himself. He ended up losing the children to the state. 

“He wanted nothing more than to get his kids back so he was working his tail off. He was delivering bread out of San Francisco,” Benedetti enthusiastically recounts. And despite the fact that he’s likely told this story a thousand times, its apparent he never tires of sharing it.

It was the Great Depression and there was no credit, which meant Arcangeli had to pay for the bread up front and was reimbursed upon deliveries.

“The story goes, he had a big delivery for bread here in Pescadero and when he got here with all this bread, they stiffed him on it. So he got stuck with all this bread and lost a bunch of money,” says Benedetti.

Instead of giving up, Arcangeli saw a light at the end of the tunnel. He opened up the first Arcangeli Grocery store right next to the store that had stiffed him.

Two years later, in 1931, he began building the store at the current site.

“So right after he finishes the building—the building is still in debt—he gets all the kids back and then he gets pneumonia and passes away at 55,” says Benedetti.

Santa Arcangeli’s daughter, Louise, who was only a teenager at the time, then took over the store. She is Benedetti’s great-grandmother.

“She was really good friends of everybody and took care of everybody. She had a rule that nobody was ever allowed to come to the store and be hungry,” Chris Benedetti said. “Growing up as a poor Italian, she wasn’t going to let anybody go hungry.”

Louise married and changed her last name to Benedetti. Later, she opened up a department store in Pescadero and leased out the Arcangeli building for a period of time. Then her son, Norm Benedetti, decided after returning from the Navy in the 1950’s that he would take back the business, and he changed the name to Norm’s Market. That is why it’s known today as both Arcangeli Grocery Co. and Norm’s Market.

The original store was a single counter in the front with all the merchandise behind the counter. Customers would come in and hand their grocery list to the clerk who would bag up their groceries.

“It was like the traditional Wild West kind of store. We were one of the first stores to put in aisles. That was a huge thing—the self-service grocery store,” says Benedetti. He says his grandfather Norm was trying to compete with the new supermarket-style grocery stores. 

But then when Norm’s son, Mike Benedetti, took over the store in the 1990s, he decided the future was to bring the store back in time.

“When my dad got involved, he realized that we’re old and that’s what we should play on, that’s what our real selling point is. So we started doing more specialty foods and redoing the look of the store back into what it traditionally was with the wood shelves,” says Benedetti.

“Every generation makes their own mark, their own improvement.” Benedetti credits his father for masterminding much of the specialty breads they’re currently known for, most notably their artichoke bread.

“My dad is an amazing cook. He deserves more credit than anybody with where we’re at today. It’s all self-taught. A lot of it was passed down,” he says.

Some of those recipes have been passed down from great-grandmother Louise, who died when Chris was in high school but not without leaving a freezer full of homemade sauces to keep everyone well fed.

“The family ate those sauces for years. I remember the last jar of Nana’s pasta sauce that we ate. It was a very sad moment—years later,” says Benedetti.

Chris has become as much a part of the narrative as the generations before him.

“There’s pictures of me in the mixing bowl as a baby. Literally, its been my whole life,” says Benedetti.

He joined the family business full time seven years ago after attending California State University, Chico.

“I had my time in life where I wanted to get away and see other things and work a couple different jobs and see what life was all about. I decided what I had at home really isn’t that bad at all. In fact, it’s really cool,” he says.

He says he’s made his mark as the tech wizard, fixing the computers and working on their website and social media. And perhaps one of his greatest marks will be holding onto the family history and retelling their stories. 

Old photos of each generation line the store walls. The original cash register sits in front on display. A picture of Benedetti’s great great grandfather Sante Arcangeli, the man who started it all, is printed on their products, a simple reminder of their roots.

Recently, Benedetti got married and traveled to Italy for part of his honeymoon. He visited the village near Lucca from where his family emigrated. He got to see firsthand the life they had left behind in search of something greater. And despite the 6,000-mile journey, he learned that all roads really do lead home. 

“It really meant a lot to me, and I learned that part of Italy looks a lot like the Bay Area. And I could see why my family settled here in Pescadero. It makes a lot of sense. It probably reminded them of home.”