The business partners of Anthony's Own are Tony Rodriquez, a former Chicago fireman, and his 24-year-old son, Daniel, who has cerebral palsy and learning disabilities.
"With every bottle sold, helps me employee disabled Americans," said Anthony.
Located on Chicago's West Side, Anthony's Own produces flavored liqueur.
" We make apple pie ligueur. We make banana foster liqueur, and we make peach cobbler liqueur, and all of our products follow the same formula: juice, cane sugar, corn shine, and we add a little bit of cinnamon stick flavoring, and sometimes a little vanilla flavoring, and that's it," said Anthony. "We're in about 10 Whole Food [stores]. We're in six Binny stores."
They started the business two years ago.
"Daniel [is] involved in all facets of the business. He comes here and cleans the bottles, and he caps. Occasionally, we start having him filling up, putting them in our boxes, and then, we go out to the stores. We go together and sell our products to the different stores and bars," said Anthony.
"I'm the boss," Daniel said.
"He's a product of the Chicago Public Schools system," Anthony said. "Daniel was mainstream his entire career. There was occasional classes where he's need specialized work, but other than that, the teachers at both schools would create a curriculum, and we would match it to his level. But we stayed with the same subject as his class."
"Daniel can live within our society. He can move amongst us with freedom and realization and that's because he always been part of society."
Anthony's Own is a small business with big dreams.
" The purpose of this business is to hire people with a disability, and its important with our philosophy to be a not-for-profit company because that's the only way we believe that becomes part of our society," Anthony said.
Daniel says the best flavor is Anthony's Own apple pie liqueur.
To learn more about Anthony's Own and where you can buy their product go to www.anthonysown.com.
