Two young boys carry a 10-pound basket of tomatoes between them as they follow their father, the late Anthony Volante, through a farmers' market.

The boys look forward to a treat after their father chooses fresh produce for the family business. Later on, perhaps that night, when it's time for some recreation, the produce van gets cleaned out. A mattress and blanket is set into the back, and the boys and their sister get to watch a movie at the drive-in.

As John Volante reflects on the family's almost 100-year-old company, now named Anthony's Original, Inc., he says when he and his siblings were growing up, business was synonymous with family life.

He remembers helping with the cleaning when he was in elementary school and going with his dad on some of the deliveries.

He, Anthony Jr. and their sister, Roseanne Pappas, all were trained in the business because, John says, their father, who recently passed away, had a certain philosophy.

"He didn't care if the kids got into a different industry, but they should be educated in the business to have knowledge of it and as a backup."

All his children have ended up helping run the business. There were gaps, John says, as they paused to get college educations, and Anthony Jr. tried his hand as a registered nurse. Now Anthony Jr. runs operations, and John is in charge of sales.

Roseanne, who runs the office, has stayed with the business for 28 years. Her husband, John Pappas, is buyer and has been in the business 24 years.

Pointing to his namesake's picture hanging on the wall of the Fifth Avenue business, John says Volante's actually began with his grandfather.

Starting out as a fruits and vegetables huckster, selling his produced door to door in Coraopolis, the senior John Volant grew a business that sustained his offspring and his offspring's offspring for almost a century.

His family, including the late Anthony Sr., lived on the second floor of the building where the business still is housed today. Anthony and his wife, Elisa, also lived there with their children.

The business, which started as a wholesale company, expanded into a retail store with three locations. The Coraopolis facility expanded three times, with not only produce being offered but a deli, ice cream and a bakery as well. The wholesale facility continued to run out of the back of the building.

The three locations eventually consolidated, and the retail business was eliminated in 1993.

When John passed on, Anthony Sr. took over the business, and now that Anthony has passed, his children are continuing the legacy that began in 1912.

John says the company is back to all wholesale, just like it was at the beginning of his grandfather's career.

"We get produce from all over the country," John says as he points out all the fruits and vegetables showing off their brilliant colors in a myriad of boxes placed throughout the facility.

There are purple potatoes from New York, eatable orchids from Hawaii, herbs from Florida, produce from Italy and wild mushrooms from Oregon.

They and traditional produce like apples and bananas, are sold to restaurants, country clubs and hotels all over the area.

Although a few aspects about the business will change, as they do with all businesses, John says, he and his siblings will continue to carry on what their father taught them about the basic value of a hands-on approach.

For more information, call Anthony's Original, Inc. at 412-264-5885.