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marketing for John Vena Inc. in Philadel- phia. “Wholesaling is an aspect of the work we do as a full-service produce partner,” she says. “We’re a specialty produce wholesaler, but we also do distribution, ripening, packing and importing. e real value we bring to the table comes from our suite of services, and the decades-old relationships we leverage to build partnerships that last much longer than a single transaction or even an entire season.”
e reality, explains Rick Feighery, vice president of sales for Procacci Brothers Sales
“ e real value we bring to the table comes from our suite of services, and the decades-old relationships we leverage to build partnerships that last much longer than a single transaction or even an entire season.”
— Emily Kohlhas, John Vena Inc.
Corporation in Philadelphia, is that retail chains are procuring most commodity items directly but need wholesale distributors as
much as ever. “We, as a vertically integrated wholesaler, are very service-oriented,” he says. “Managing low volume items, niche catego- ries, specialty pack sizes and reduced packs are di erentiating factors of a wholesale repack distributor. I feel like we sometimes undervalue what we do. We work hard to make supply continuity seamless, and there is an internal cost that can’t be passed along.”
Wholesalers also ll a need as the retail playing eld becomes more competitive in terms of labor cost. “ ere are many time constraints on personnel at the store level, so any services to get the job done e ectively and e ciently are always a plus,” says Joe Granata, director of sales for FreshPro Food Distributors in West Caldwell, NJ. “ ese are extras setting wholesalers apart; for example, consolidation of deliveries from di erent vendors, store assistance for resets, or intro- duction to new technology.”
MOVING THE BALL
Wholesaler game plans have evolved to incorporate a more innovative role in moving product from point A to point B. Increased transportation costs and regulations result in greater demand for cross-docking and forward distribution, according to Feighery. “ ese days, buyers with less-than-load volume need to use a forward distribution person,” he says. “ is forward distribution model has been in play with our cold storage operation and imports for a long time, but now we see need increasing with the West Coast. Shippers cannot manage the business alone, yet receivers rely on the shippers to do it. So we step in to ll this gap.”
New formats with just-in-time business models, including limited assortment stores and convenience stores, have created greater need for wholesaler distribution. “ ese formats take advantage of forward distri- bution capabilities,” says Feighery. “Since they don’t have storage capacity, they want delivery several days a week. Ten years ago, a store could have a truck with a full load make four or ve direct drops, but the reality of doing this in today’s environment with timing, regulations and loading parameters is
72 / OCTOBER 2018 / PRODUCE BUSINESS