Everyone rose from their seats to give Daniel Rodriguez a standing ovation at his high school graduation. It was bittersweet for his parents, Carmine and Anthony; they felt worried, like most parents of children with special needs when their kids finish school. All they ever wanted for Daniel, who has cerebral palsy, was for him to be happy.
“When he graduated, we were looking into the abyss,” says Anthony, a retired Chicago firefighter. “What do we do now?”
He found the answer at his mother’s kitchen table, while he was enjoying a delicious homemade cocktail called Apple Pie.
“Firemen are solution driven,” he says. “We can never say, ‘There is nothing we can do, call us back later.’”
Having worked on arson cases with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Anthony knew that Americans spend about $130 billion a year on alcohol.
“A lightbulb went off,” he says of the idea to launch a business to give Daniel a career.
Anthony’s Own, Inc. is a Chicago company that manufactures all-natural, gourmet liqueurs. Available at Whole Foods, Binny’s and other select stores, the product comes in dessert flavors like Apple Pie, Bananas Foster and Peach Cobbler.
Daniel, 25, has been involved with the business since the construction phase. He washes bottles, fastens on caps, and works tastings at stores where Anthony’s Own is sold.
Anthony only hires adults with disabilities. He finds them through organizations that serve individuals with special needs. Mostly they work tastings, because the best way to sell the product is to have people try it. His employees are the face of the company. They greet customers, check IDs, pour liqueur and pass out recipes for cocktails, desserts and entrees that incorporate Anthony’s Own.
In business for three years, Anthony lit up talking about his recent turnover. An employee with a physical disability, whom he trained in sales, left for a more lucrative job selling cable TV services.
“A lot of people talk about doing something like this, but he’s actually doing it,” says Matt Wren, I.T. director of Chicago Ideas Week, who consults with Anthony on the business. “He’s not creating a job for the purpose of creating a job. You need the job for marketing the product.”
The more profitable the business becomes, the more jobs Anthony can fill.
