Despite being a distribution center for 1,100 brands of beer from all over the world, L. Knife & Son in Kingston still remembers its roots and how Budweiser helped put the company on the map.
Back in 1898, Luigi Cortelli, a shepherd from Bologna, Italy, changed his name to “Louis Knife” so he could get the bank loan he needed to start his own business. The word knife translates as coltello in Italian. Produce was Knife’s specialty, and he sold his goods outside in front of the Cordage Company rope factory, now home to Cordage Park.
Domero, the son in L. Knife & Son, was known as Tim Knife. Luigi Cortelli’s great-grandson, Tim Sheehan, the son of Maureen (Cortelli) and Jerry Sheehan, now serves of chief operating officer and general manager at L. Knife & Son. At 78, Jerry continues to be very active in the company, working six days a week.
Knife started out by selling local beer brands such as Pickwick Ale. Then, a St. Louis, Mo., microbrewery offered L. Knife the opportunity to distribute its signature beer, Budweiser, first produced in 1876. The family accepted and the product that made L. Knife famous started rolling out its doors May 17, 1934.
“Anheuser-Busch was one of the first breweries to learn how to pasteurize beer,” Tim explained.
In 2009, L. Knife & Son is celebrating its 75th year as an Anheuser-Busch distributor. Coincidentally, it’s also the 75th anniversary of the Budweiser Clydesdales, which August A. Busch Sr. received as a gift from his sons to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition. This fall, Sheehan has arranged to have a team of Budweiser Clydesdales visit Plymouth for America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration.
Anheuser-Busch has 600 distribution centers in the United States, according to Sheehan, and L. Knife & Son is one of the largest. He said it has been a great partnership with an innovative company that continues to be an industry leader, boasting the number one brand of beer since 1958.
Since the early 1970s, L. Knife & Son has concentrated primarily on distributing beer. Tim remembers when that wasn’t the case. He recalls going to the family’s retail store at 359 Court St. when he was very young to watch the cases of beer being opened and looking at the bottles inside.
He also remembers the stacks of animal food and all the locals who would stop by the store to stock up on feed, hay and grain, as well as produce and beer. Tim officially began working at the store at age 14.
“You could get beer, cigars, animal food, hay and grain,” he said. “It was a general country market.”
After college, Sheehan worked for Anheuser-Busch before joining his family at L. Knife & Son. He has also worked at other company locations, which include facilities in Danvers and Milwaukee and two in New York state. Tim started working in Kingston in 2000.
About 10 years ago, a woman he didn’t know approached Tim. She immediately recognized him as a Knife and told him that back in 1915, when she first arrived from Italy to join her father, who was working the local bogs, Tim’s grandfather picked her up at the train station in Plymouth in his horse and buggy and drove her to Sandwich.
“She had been doing business with us since the 1920s,” he said.
This chance encounter may have been unusual, but long-term business relationships are not, Tim said.
“We have three and four generations of customers who have been with us,” he said. “It’s pretty remarkable.”
In addition to building long-term business relationships, L. Knife & Son also has many long-time employees. Five current employees have more than 200 years of combined service to the company. The business also has a World War II veteran on the payroll.
“We’re very lucky to have lots of long-term employees who have been part of the company’s success,” he said.
L. Knife & Son has about 800 full-time employees and distributes about 22 million cases of beer a year operating in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin. The company also recycles about 6 million pounds of aluminum every year and another 20 million tons of glass.
Sheehan said it’s been important to his family through the years to support the local community. In 1993, the Sheehans established the Sheehan Family Foundation to support the communities in which they do business. The primary causes they support are early childhood education and water resource protection.
Every year, the Sheehans open an old L. Knife barn on Hedge Road in Plymouth for the use of the America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration parade committee. There the floats are built and stored until the parade, which this year is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 21.
Sheehan said though Knife & Son has been distributing Budweiser for 75 years, it’s about more than beer. It’s about giving back to the community and the environment while serving future generations of customers.
