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Piazza Produce to form IF&P. In 2012, IFP purchased Circle City, a produce wholesale company owned by another Danny Corsaro.
Caito is the last name of Daniel and Greg’s grandmother. Her uncles were the founders of Caito Foods, a large Indianapolis distributor that recently sold to grocery distributor and retailer SpartanNash. When Indy Fruit was operating in Indianapolis and throughout the Midwest, Caito was a competitor with the same customer base and value proposi- tion. Now, Indy Fruit competes with produce distributors and grocery distributors in 15 states. It also competes with terminal markets in Detroit and Chicago, “so it’s really tough on the retail side,” says Greg Corsaro.
On the foodservice side, in the Midwest, Piazza’s main competitors are the regional produce distributors and broadline distribu- tors, such as Sysco, U.S. Foods and Gordon Food Service.
Competition among family members in other companies is friendly, but in the case of Indy Fruit, competing distributors exist outside of the city, says Daniel Corsaro. Indi- anapolis Fruit delivers to retailers in 15 states, from Minneapolis to the north, Kansas City to the west, Pittsburgh to the east and south to Atlanta.
SPREADING DISTRIBUTION
Indianapolis differs from other cities in that there is no terminal. During its heyday, “the terminal was relevant because everyone had a specialty,” says Daniel Corsaro. “One customer would buy from suppliers in the terminal. My father’s specialty was potatoes and bananas, but nobody had everything. Now, every company supplies every kind of produce.”
Today, Indianapolis Fruit carries about 4,000 items, 500 of which are organic. Eighty-five percent of that is produce, says Daniel Corsaro.
This area is dominated by big box retailers. “The bigger retail grocery stores have been good at delivering an experience that is boutique, and they have become the local grocer without being the local grocer,” says Daniel Corsaro. “There are falls in that model, though, and they are still the big boys at the end of the day.”
The other difference between Indianap- olis and other cities, when it comes to selling wholesale produce, is the lack of small inde- pendent retailers.
Daniel Corsaro believes the market would be more receptive to a smaller retailer now. “The community is passionate about where we live
and what we’re about as citizens. If someone came here and could provide that experience at a high level of quality at a fair price, I think the community would embrace it.”
HELLO, FRESH
HelloFresh and other meal-kit services, while dealing with subscriber retention, have branched out to retail markets. “It’s a fun program for us because that category is not just meal kits,” says Daniel Corsaro. “The whole category of delivering a turnkey meal
solution is appealing for us. We are excited to be in a partnership with HelloFresh because they have brand equity in the market, they’re a robust organization in terms of their scope, and they’re an international company. The markets that we serve — Cleveland, Chicago, Nashville, Minneapolis, Madison, Milwaukee, Detroit and St. Louis — those are popula- tions of extreme diversity, so a company like HelloFresh can offer that international flair. We feel confident that they will lead the market.” pb
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