A Family Business Built on Peanuts and Candy Picture it! 1880! Three young brothers leave their Sicilian roots to embark on a new journey. They immigrate to Baltimore where they have relatives who find them jobs and teach them English. By 1884 they know enough English to start their own business. They decide to open a produce store. They name it "John Jeppi & Brothers." It is located on the 200 block of South Sharp Street among a strip of houses which have been converted into a large produce market. Four years pass and although the business is doing well, they decide to switch from produce to peanuts in the shell. They purchase a peanut roaster and decide they will sell the peanuts piping hot to their customers. Each week the peanuts come into Baltimore's harbor on large old bay line ships from Suffolk, Virginia. The Jeppi brothers load bags of peanuts into their horse drawn wagon, roast them in their peanut roaster, and then serve them piping hot to their customers.