Five big commercial factories located in LIC, Astoria, Jackson Heights, and Ozone Park

Queens has a lot of wholesale business going on. In western Queens, and in particular Long Island City – it was known for a long time as a manufacturing area, and was full of factories. Parts of LIC are still home to factories, especially bakeries – some of the excellent bakeries in the area include Le Pain Quotidien, Pain d’Avignon, Tom Cat and Amy’s Bread.

In greater Queens there are some big deal commercial factories. Here are five of them.

Image source: andrewmalone on Flickr

Wonton Food Inc. 52-10 37th Street, Long Island City (GMAP). This is the “largest manufacturer of Noodles, Wrappers and Fortune Cookies in the United States.” They make 4 million Golden Bowl brand cookies each day, which go out to 400 distributors, and those cookies are made in the the fortune cookie factory, located in the far eastern edge of LIC near the Calvary Cemetery. Tours are not the norm, unless you’re a bulk-buy customer, but they can be arranged for certain purposes.

If you’ve ever eaten a fortune cookie, you know that on one side there is usually a series of numbers that one could consider using when buying a lottery ticket. One particular series of numbers enabled 110 people to win $100,000 each in a May 2005 Powerball drawing.

Image source: Steinway & Sons

Steinway & Sons Pianos. 1 Steinway Place, Astoria (GMAP). Located in the northern reaches of Astoria, this is a working factory that produces hundreds of real deal Steinway pianos – uprights to grands. There are regular tours (here’s how to take one) and the process of building a piano is fascinating. Forbes has rated the Steinway factory as one of the top 3 tours in the US. Right here in Queens.

Image source: Despaña Fine Foods

Despaña. 86-17 Northern Boulevard, Jackson Heights (GMAP). Despaña is one of the most well-regarded brands in Spanish food products. You may have run across their products in high-end food shops in Manhattan to smaller businesses that carry a few items (usually chorizo). In the back of Astoria’s own La Rioja restaurant is a little Spanish food market that stocks their products. But you can go straight to the source and get it at the retail storefront attached to the factory, located on Northern Blvd in Jackson Heights. There, they stock their famous chorizo as well as a variety of other meat products, as well as cheeses, dry staples, and cooking tools.

On Saturdays they open up their retail boutique to wholesale and retail customers with a day-long tasting. As they say on their website, don’t be surprised if you’re offered a glass of wine while you’re there!

Image source: Dallis Brothers Coffee

Dallis Brothers Coffee. 100-32 Atlantic Ave., Ozone Park (GMAP). This is delicious coffee. The Russian-born Dallis Brothers started the company in 1913, and they delivered coffee door to door throughout Queens and Brooklyn. As the years went by, they grew, expanded, automated certain things, and were eventually acquired by Brazilian Octavio Café. The Dallis name remains and they continue to do work in Ozone Park. Tours of the facility are held the first Saturday of each month, incorporating a bit of local history, a tour of the facility, and a coffee tasting. Tours are $10. They have one request, “Due to the tasting component we ask that all participants keep perfumes and colognes at home.” [excerpt from the Food Lovers’ Guide to Queens]

Image source: Alps Provision

Alps Provision. 22-70 45th St, Astoria. There’s a good chance you’ll see the Alps Provision products hanging at your local Italian deli or salumeria, and there’s a reason for that – their cured meat products are considered to be some of the best around. They do their work in an unassuming brick warehouse in a quiet section of Astoria, adhering to practices from the old country. They produce wonderful salami, including spicy soppressata (some sweet, some hot, or piccante), cacciatorini (seasoned with spices, garlic, and wine), and coteghini (a northern Italian specialty). They are a wholesale distributor only.