The oldest family-owned, continuously operated, highly diverse food service company in the United States is Lessing’s Hospitality Group in Great River, New York. The company was founded by Maxwell Lessing in 1890 and is operated to this day by 15 family members representing six generations of Lessings. This highly diversified company feeds more than 40,000 guests a day at over 100 corporate, educational, country club, and manufacturing plant locations throughout the Northeast. Lessing’s Hospitality Group also operates seventeen high-end wedding and catering venues, 10 full service restaurants, a historic hotel built in 1751, and has entered into a franchise agreement with Blaze Fast Fire'd Pizza to develop a chain of pizza restaurants. The Lessing family has provided food service to New Yorkers for over 125 years without interruption. Both the longevity and the success of this legacy company is unprecedented, especially in the food service and restaurant business.
