Italian migrant turned supermarket mogul sees no retirement in sight
A man with grey hair straightens leeks on a supermarket shelf.
Tony Bernardi built his business empire slowly over many decades.
When Tony Bernardi stepped off the boat to Australia in 1955, the 17-year-old Italian had nothing but a few pounds in his pocket and some very big dreams.
Today, the 81-year-old oversees a supermarket empire spanning six stores and employs 500 people.
But for Mr Bernardi, success was a decades-long, uphill climb.
Black and white photo from the 1950s of a young man in suit, standing on a dirt road with mansion-type building behind him.
This photo shows Tony Bernardi in Italy, just before he left for Australia in 1955.
Upon arrival, he had to pay off his boat fare by working on his uncle’s farm in the western New South Wales town of Forbes.
For the next year he worked 15 hours a day, seven days a week.
He had left his large family behind in Italy and also said goodbye to his twin brother, Mario, who travelled to Canada to pursue work in a mine.
“Of course I was very much home sick; I wanted to go home but I didn’t have the money to go home.”
A black and white photo from the 1950s of four young men, all in white shirts and dark trousers, crouching in front of a car.
Tony Bernardi (right) in Forbes soon after arriving in Australia.
After leaving his uncle’s farm, Mr Bernardi purchased a Ford truck fitted with a canopy and began delivering fruit and vegetables house-to-house in western NSW.
He eventually opened his first supermarket in Forbes in 1969.
However the long hours did not stop there as Mr Bernardi said an 80-hour working week was the norm until recently.
“I was trying to achieve something for myself and my family,” he said.
“To get, you’ve got to give. Nothing’s easy, but you can do it.”
Finding love in a new land
Not long after arriving in Forbes, Mr Bernardi met his future wife, Helen, when he leased some land from her father.
She said locals were not too pleased about the influx of Italian migrants in the town at the time.
“He wasn’t well accepted when I first knew him because he was an Italian migrant and people didn’t like him, didn’t want Italian migrants,” she said.
A colour photo from the late 1960s of two parents with a young boy and girl in a store with fruit and cash register.
The opening day of the Bernardis’ first store in 1969.
“But he was undeterred and determined, it didn’t matter how hard it was, he just kept going.”
When Ms Bernardi returned to Italy with Mr Bernardi years later, she quickly picked up Italian and learned more about the poverty his family endured after World War II.
“Tony obviously left his family because things were so hard, and he came here for a better life,” she said.
“He’s like his father, his father had the same work ethic, he just simply worked and worked and worked. He had to, to provide for his family.
“But [his father] didn’t make much progress because he was living in an era with no farming technology except your bare hands. That was what kept him back.”
Hugely influential in the growth of the family business, Ms Bernardi said the fruits of their labour were sweet, but not without regret.
“We worked too hard and we gave up a lot of things while our children were growing up until they were adults and they went into the business,” she said.
“The downside of it was that I reared the family by myself.”
An older couple sits together. He has his arm around her shoulders. They smile gently at the camera.
The pair met when Mr Bernardi leased a small plot of land from Ms Bernadi’s father.
Passing on a family legacy
Today, Mr Bernardi’s three sons — David, Joseph and Peter — help run the family business.
They recently celebrated 50 years since opening their first supermarket, a milestone Joseph Bernardi said filled him with pride.
“I strive to try and emulate some of his success, it’s something that drives me, to see someone achieve that in a lifetime is amazing,” he said.
“He’s definitely an inspiration for me and full credit to him.”
Three men stand alongside an older man who is their father. They are out the front of a shop with fruit outside.
Two generations of Benardi men (from left) Joseph, Tony, David and Peter.
Despite having high expectations of those around him, Peter Bernardi said his father had been an “extraordinary” role model his entire life.
“He’s never been drunk, he doesn’t gamble, he doesn’t smoke,” he said.
“He’s an extraordinary role model, and with Mum it’s just been the right recipe really I think.”
No retirement in sight
Tony Benardi has reduced his working week from 80 hours to 40 and can still be seen sorting through fruit and vegetables at the entrance of his main supermarket in Forbes each day.
Eldest son David Bernardi said despite calls for his father to retire, it was unlikely to happen anytime soon.
“He’s on orders to retire, whether he will or not, I don’t know,” he said.
“There’s pressure coming from different parts of the family to retire, that’ll be interesting, he’s supposed to be but I don’t think he will.”
An older man in a check shirt holding a piece of paper which he is looking at. He is at a desk with printer in the background.
Mr Bernardi still handles the fruit and vegetable order for his stores.
More than 60 years since arriving in Australia, Mr Bernardi was happy to continue full-time work in his 80s.
He said his family in Italy was constantly on his mind, but Australia would always be home.
“I’m Australian now, I’m not Italian, but you can’t forget the country where you were born, of course,” he said.
“I left it when I was 17, you know, so long time ago but I’m lucky to be here.
“This country gave me an opportunity to do something with, and I took advantage.”
An older man with grey hair and glasses on his head, smiles while looking at fruit and vegetables.
Tony Bernardi does not intend to retire anytime soon.
