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markets like Philadelphia and New York,” says Emily Kohlhas, director of marketing at John Vena Inc., Philadelphia.
“What’s most exciting about that trend for us is an increase in attention on specialty produce, which is becoming central to the lexicon of food culture and media.”
Many wholesalers on both sides of the Canadian border treasure historic rela- tionships with local markets that often go back generations.
“We have always had a very strong connection to the local independent retailers in our market, and will always make them an important part of our customer mix,” says Hutch Morton, director of compliance and business development at J.E. Russell Produce, Toronto, Canada. “Their desire and need for fresh produce daily makes them ideal customers.”
J.E. Russell Produce wholesales and delivers a full line of conventional, organic and local fruits and vegetables from its facility in Toronto, and is the exclu-
sive source of numerous brand names in Ontario.
Successful wholesalers have found new opportunities in the face of consoli- dation that reduces the number of large retailers.
“Over the past decade with consolida- tion running rampant in the food industry, we’ve inched higher in the food chain, working increasingly less with produce managers and chefs and more with the distributors that serve them,” says Kohlhas. “But with more and more entrepreneurs opening up shop and looking for alter- natives outside the typical supply chain, we’ve had the chance to strengthen our line to the end user – and it’s great to have an ear-to-the-ground on the front lines.”
Even with invaluable help from their produce wholesaler partners, however, independent markets are in a battle, and they do not always survive.
“The independents we used to sell to 10 years ago are all gone,” says Peter Carcione, president of Carcione’s Fresh
Produce, South San Francisco. “Twenty years ago we used to sell to the large supermarket chains.”
Carcione’s has offered fresh fruits and vegetables from its location at the Golden Gate Produce Terminal Market in South San Francisco for the past 50 years.
“Working with a wholesaler is bene- ficial for just about everyone, especially for ethnic independents or white table- cloth segments of the foodservice industry where access to niche products is a must to keep chefs engaged,” says John Vena, president of John Vena Inc., Philadelphia. “The only instance I can think of in which a wholesaler would drive up the cost of product would be in the very specific case of a large-scale retailer who is buying full truckloads direct. Any other scale of retailer would be well served to have a wholesaler partner. Because a whole- saler tends to keep a tight ship with slim margins, they can often offer pricing at, or below, the level a retailer will see from a traditional retail distributor.” pb
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