Marshall’s lifetime recognition caps sparkling night at FPC Fresh Awards
Wholesale markets a dead end? No reason to pursue a career in fresh produce? Forty five years later, Gary Marshall certainly can tell a different story. Friday night at the glitzy Grosvenor House on Park Lane, the owner of New Covent Garden Market’s Bevington Salads and Chairman of the Covent Garden Tenants Association was honoured […]
Wholesalers: Do you have a plan to address food waste? If you don’t, you should.
“Produce is an art, not a science.” These words resonated with me during my first week at DNO Produce in Ohio, as I toured our bustling warehouse. I quickly learned how true that is when managing procurement, inventory and sales in the produce industry. Our teams grapple with rapidly turning products, rejected shipments and unpredictable […]
Pristine new Buyer’s Walk area in New Covent Garden Market offers tenants more space, opportunities
For the first time in 50 years, New Covent Garden Market opened a new section on its Buyer Walk earlier this summer. The Market, a vital conduit for getting fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers to its customers in and around London since 1670, welcomed in three of its inaugural tenants to spaces in that sparkling […]
Potatoes have a lot of problems, but here are 5 ways to give them a lift in foodservice
Potatoes have a problem. Maybe more than one problem. Right now, historically low prices are the biggest challenge for grower/packer/shippers. This leads menu R&D professionals to take them for granted as a low-cost, always-available ingredient. Potatoes have a high menu penetration, and are often viewed by foodservice professionals as a cheap plate-filler. When portions are […]
How amazing AI can simplify difficult tasks and break down barriers for wholesalers
As a teenager growing up on Long Island in the early 1990s, I got my first job working in wholesale produce. After an adolescence spent playing team sports, I loved the team atmosphere of the warehouse. I continued to work my way up the ladder and eventually formed what is now Krystal Produce. Even now, […]
As wholesalers, we have an obligation to not just ‘sell what we want to sell’ but listen to customers
It’s no secret that the biggest problem currently in the industry is the cost of labor and the lack of it (followed by the high cost of transportation). Within this same supply chain-squeezing climate, consumers have become more demanding for quality, service and sustainability. Regional and local produce wholesalers sit in a prime position to […]
Getting it ripe: Wholesale, retail and foodservice strive to deliver ready-to-eat fruit
For produce retail stores and foodservice alike, ripening is a key part of the process of getting desirable produce to consumers. Although it doesn’t benefit shelf life, ripening — or pre-conditioning — delivers fruit ready to eat. After all, soft, ripe avocados or bananas are considerably more appealing than rock-hard products that are still a […]
Why wholesalers should view marketing as a necessity and not an afterthought
Q. Why is it critical for wholesalers to market themselves? A. Wholesale is sort of the “dark underbelly” of the business that doesn’t get talked about enough. We tend to be viewed as a necessary outlet for most of the major players in the produce industry, but not the top choice. We need to market ourselves […]
