Essendon Fields is a thriving commercial hub, home to car dealerships, bustling offices, and the historic Essendon Airport. But for many Melburnians, it has become a true destination landmark, thanks to LaManna.

More than just a place to buy groceries, LaManna has transformed an unutilised building – previously used in the war for production of Beaufort aircraft, and afterwards as a workshop for airline TAA – into Australia’s largest independent supermarket on a single site. It’s a retail phenomenon and a testament to the belief and risk-taking of the third-generation LaManna family. We sit down with Patrick LaManna, the current driving force, to uncover the bold story of how the family came full circle to occupy this iconic site.

The LaManna connection to this exact location at Essendon Fields stretches back over 75 years, rooted in a moment of arrival and hope.

“Actually, as we’re sitting here, I’m looking out the window right in front of me where they’re building a new hangar,” Patrick says, gesturing airside. “That used to be the international terminal for Melbourne back in the day, well before my time. And my grandfather, Pasquale, landed here at this airport and walked through that terminal in 1948.”

What Pasquale saw first wasn’t his father after a decade apart, but the massive industrial building that now houses the family’s retail dream.

“The first thing he saw before he even saw his father for the first time in 10 years was this building. So, our story is full circle where the first thing he ever saw in Melbourne was this building and now, we’re back here as Australia’s largest independent supermarket.”

Back then, the building was sitting vacant – a massive, industrial space holding stories of the war and of the golden era of aviation in its walls. Patrick explains, “The cranes are still in the back, you can actually lift them up still I believe… you can still see the old structure that was that building.”

While Pasquale had an accidental encounter with the building, it was Patrick’s father, Vince LaManna, who, roughly 50 years later, found the site and had the “crazy idea” to transform it.

The LaManna family was already succeeding with an online fruit and vegetable business, LaManna Direct, operating out of a smaller site in the eastern suburbs. They needed more space, but what Vince proposed was a radical departure.

“Dad was talking to agents… and he came across this site and he called me. I happened to be overseas at the time,” Patrick recounts. He was just 20, and his reaction was one of shock and disbelief.

“I said like, what are you talking about? Where is it?” Patrick recalls. When Vince told him it was at Essendon Fields near the DFO, Patrick drove out to the area he had rarely visited.

He initially looked airside from the DFO Essendon car park, confused. “I called him, I said, what are you talking about? There’s no building here. Where are we putting this store?” Vince redirected him to the other side.

“I was probably more shocked to be honest, because this was an unutilised building at the time,” Patrick reveals. “The immense structure had been used fleeting for both a shoe sale and as a police depot for repossessed vehicles and was practically falling apart. The front, where the bustling car park is today, was just grassland with a shed, tractors, and a terrible old power grid.”

He highlights that the interior was worse. “The smell was purely dust, you know that distinct smell of old, dust, dirty, most of the windows were broken, it was all open, it felt cold, barren, it was massive,” Patrick describes. His internal thought was: “What is he thinking? This building looks terrible. There’s no car park. How’s this going to possibly work?”

But Vince, the very successful banana wholesaler with no retail experience, held firm. “He goes; you need to trust me.”

“No one believed in him,” Patrick states honestly. “My grandfather didn’t. I didn’t. It seemed crazy. All industry people thought he was crazy.”

Yet, Vince’s belief was simple: “Maybe the decision making just has to come from your heart and what you believe in and your values and your principles and the rest will just flow.”

The Essendon Fields Advantage: A Destination Location

The sheer scale and unique location of the Essendon Fields site is the secret to LaManna’s success. While he mentions that they initially missed out on a prime suburban site in North Coburg, Patrick now sees that setback as a blessing.

“North Coburg would not be a destination shop. That would be for the locals, you know, we’d be surrounded by different types of competition,” Patrick explains. Essendon Fields, however, is a strategic anomaly.

“Being right here, the corridor of Melbourne, it’s perfect for us.” Situated just off the freeway, LaManna is easily accessible to customers who are willing to drive past several competing supermarkets to get there. Patrick mentions a friend who lives in Caulfield South who can get there in 35 minutes.

“If you live half an hour away, 40 minutes away… you just wouldn’t drive to North Coburg,” he notes. “We’re a destination on the weekends in particular.”

This destination shopping philosophy is critical, as the store is surrounded by aviation, light industrial, automotive, office and retail rather than dense residential streets. It relies on a pool of 6,000 workers who form the Essendon Fields community and, increasingly, customers from across Melbourne drawn by the quality, the experience, and the viral success of items like their hand-piped cannoli and cinnamon scrolls. In 2025 alone LaManna piped out 350,000 units of cannoli, and at the peak of their viral scrolls, were baking 9,500 units per week.

Importantly, LaManna’s success is part of a much bigger story: Essendon Fields itself has invested millions of dollars into the urban renewal of the precinct, transforming it into a vibrant commercial hub. LaManna is one piece of this puzzle, sitting alongside new offices, aviation facilities, green space and retail spaces that have reinvigorated the entire area.

The success of LaManna is built not just on fresh produce – a legacy from the family’s banana wholesaling days – but on an ethos of “unreasonable hospitality,” where the product is merely an ingredient in a greater experience.

“We don’t answer to anyone but our customers. Our customers, essentially, they’re our shareholders when you think about it,” Patrick asserts, highlighting the benefit of being an independent business. This allows them to be nimble and always prioritise the customer experience.

The core principle, however, is deeply rooted in the LaManna family’s traditional Italian values.

“If you think about this is our home… when our customers come in here, treat them like you would if they come into your home,” Patrick says. It’s about respect, care, and a sense of belonging.

Patrick connects this philosophy directly to his upbringing: “You know, growing up, I spent a lot of time in my grandmother’s kitchen… the importance of spending time together around the table, celebrating key moments and milestones in life.”

This translates into the store’s official number one value: “Family Matters.”

“If a customer was to ask you a question… If that was your mom, how would you like someone to respond to her? Treat her with respect and offer the service that she is looking for,” Patrick explains. “The answer is very simple: treat her like your mom.”

This commitment to the family and a singular focus on the Essendon Fields location is why Patrick is unlikely to open a second store. “This is our baby. We don’t need more than that,” he concludes. “Our name’s at the front of this building. We wear that every day, and we must protect that.”

LaManna remains a towering achievement and a fitting landmark at Essendon Fields, where the LaManna story began with a glance from an immigrant grandfather and was realised through the audacious vision of his son and grandson. It’s a place where Melbourne comes to shop, to linger, and to share in the warmth of a great Australian family business.