New York Metro Produce Companies Shape Services for Retail and Foodservice Customers

New York metro produce companies shape services for retail and foodservice customers through a better understanding of the end consumer.

Moving beyond the duties of receiving and jobbing, New York and New Jersey’s distributors and importers provide a wealth of support to help their customers serve the final consumer.

“We should always have the end consumer in mind when building programs to drive sales through distribution,” says Vic Savanello, vice president merchandising and business development for Katzman Distribution in Burlington, NJ. “This means we need to deliver top-quality products that drive increased sales and reduce shrink for our customers.”

An understanding of the end consumer is crucial, agrees Jonathan Steffy, vice president and general manager at Four Seasons Produce in Ephrata, PA. “The more each of us in the supply chain can understand or anticipate the needs and notions of consumers, the more we can help growers/shippers connect their products with the right market niche,” Steffy notes. “We can help retailers delight their target shoppers with the right grades, sizes, variety, price points, attributes, and merchandising strategies for those products.”

Being adaptive in the sales approach to help cater to the target consumer is also important, says Angela Fessler, vice president of sales at Vision Global Group in Wyckoff, NJ. “At the end of the day, every single one of us is a consumer of fresh produce — what drives our purchasing decisions?”

At the end of the day, every single one of us is a consumer of fresh produce — what drives our purchasing decisions?

— Angela Fessler, Vision Global Group, Wyckoff, NJ

Ami Ben-Dror, chief executive of BDA/Dorot Farms headquartered in Melville, NY, looks at the end consumer and then works backward. “I’m constantly figuring out what we need to develop to best meet their needs,” he says. “I go into the stores and visit customers, talking with each one to find out what their customers say. By learning about their business, it gives me a great perspective. At the end of the day, the end customer is the expert.”

In the end, our business is to help our customers serve their customers.

— Anthony Serafino, EXP Group, North Bergen, NJ

Having a touchpoint with the consumer helps distributors stay focused on what works for their customers. “We’re in the people business, not the produce business,” says Anthony Serafino, president of EXP Group in North Bergen, NJ. “When you’re in the people business, your goal is to understand the clientele. We need to understand the entire supply chain and that involves understanding the consumer. In the end, our business is to help our customers serve their customers.”

Ben Friedman, owner and CEO of Riviera Produce of Englewood, NJ, explains it feels good to be in touch with what consumers are doing. “Whether helping with a seasonal menu change or connecting customers with a farmer who has a great product, we strive to be that connection between the dirt and the plate.”

INFORMATION LINK

Being connected to the consumer, as well as the rest of the supply chain, means developing communication channels. “The more information I get, the better to help me communicate with produce managers and customers,” says Marc Goldman, produce director for Morton Williams Supermarkets in New York City with 17 stores. “When our produce managers call our distributor, they’re finding out how the product is and what we should know about it. It’s good information, and it helps us better serve our customers by being knowledgeable.”

Fessler says consumers’ purchasing decisions are based on many factors, such as weather, seasonality trends, holidays, special occasions and economics, and Vision Global Group offers comprehensive market updates on each commodity to help inform customers about crop trends and future forecasts that impact pricing, availability and quality.

“The more you know, the more you sell,” she says. “We work with our customers to take advantage of peak-seasonality trends — transitioning sourcing regions, varieties, and sizing to cater to all the factors impacting consumers’ purchasing decisions.”

To get consistent supply, you must have great communication, agrees Ben-Dror. “Good communication is needed all the way through the chain, from the grower through supermarket,” he says. “It’s very important to be in touch with the farms to know exactly what’s going on. Then we can better help our customers know what is happening and how it might benefit or affect their business and customers.”

Good communication is needed all the way through the chain, from the grower through supermarket. It’s very important to be in touch with the farms to know exactly what’s going on.

— Ami Ben-Dror, BDA/Dorot Farms, Melville, NY

Serafino says when EXP staff visits customers, “we get to know them and their customers.”

“We help them grow their business because their success is our success. It’s truly a partnership. Produce is a team sport. Everyone has to work together to provide the best supply chain, ultimately for the end consumer.”

Riviera has become valuable to customers for its constant communication with the chef or purchasing manager, says Friedman. “Every week, we check in to find out what their pain points are and where they specifically need help. We offer a solution to the chef and purchasing agent to get through constant supply chain hiccups.”

FINDING PRODUCT

Providing a wide variety of products based on an understanding of the consumer marketplace is also key. “Product variety and availability are vital to our business,” says Goldman. “There are certain things we need our wholesalers to provide, such as organics, to have the variety we need to satisfy our customers. We rely on our wholesalers to know what we need and provide it to us consistently.”

Lamberto Jose Martinez, head of produce at Twin City Supermarket in Plainfield, NJ, with 10 stores, says his supermarket must carry almost everything. “Our customers require a lot of variety and especially items from their specific country of origin,” he says. “Our distributors do a good job of having the variety we need. It’s important to the competitiveness of our store to have the variety our customers want.”

Helping customers procure the right products to meet consumer needs is a valued service. “We constantly help customers help find unique items,” says Bruce Klein, marketing manager for Maurice A. Auerbach in Secaucus, NJ. “For example, we may have a customer ask for specialty radicchio, and we procure it for them on a special order basis. That’s one thing we do really well. Another example is black garlic, which is especially demanded by our foodservice customers because chefs often want something unique.”

According to Savanello, Katzman has strong relationships with leading growers, which allows the distributor to access difficult-to-find assortments and varieties. “We’ve been asked to source many specialty items for our retail partners and pride ourselves on delivering on our promise to be a partner that gets it done,” he says.

“We also partner with many of our industry’s category leaders as forward distribution partners, to bring their nationally recognized products to the New York market.”

Four Seasons Produce helps retailers access a huge selection of items across both conventional and organic offerings. On the conventional side, that could be high-end varieties of berries, grapes, apples and tropical fruit, says Steffy. On the organic side, the variety expands broadly with special, unique, or heirloom vegetables, tomatoes and citrus. “Retailers can tap into this broad variety that Four Seasons Produce offers in a low-risk way to experiment with what their customers will respond well to.”

CUSTOMIZING ITEMS

Friedman of Riviera says the demand for unique and specialty produce is booming. “The increase of Mediterranean trends, especially in foodservice, is amazing. We’re carrying a lot of different products to meet that demand.”

Dorot offers rainbow carrots especially for foodservice companies. “Colors are very trendy now,” says Ben-Dror. “These unique items are important because they provide additional options for the category, giving our retail customers more to offer to shoppers, and our foodservice customers something fun and unique to offer their chefs.”

One of Dorot’s biggest foodservice sector items is its jumbo carrot. “The quality, size, color and food safety of this product is very important for our foodservice customers,” says Ben-Dror. “Our consistent supply, with consistent quality product, is crucial so customers can count on product being the same size, quality, color and taste as what they expect.”

Variety also comes in the form of local offerings. “We’re filling the need to deliver local produce on a refrigerated truck right outside the restaurant door,” says Friedman. “With our local program, our customers let us know what they want to incorporate in their local program. We call ourselves the friend of the farmer. For example, in the summer, we carry over 30 different Jersey Fresh items.”

Variety also relates to packaging options. Auerbach offers private label packs for some customers, and a variety of packaging options, including net bags, plastic trays, form-filled bags and more, to help serve the needs of all their customers, says Klein.

FREEING TIME WITH DELIVERY

By offering delivery, distributors free time for stores and operators to focus on customers. “Delivery is a huge portion of how we serve customers,” says EXP’s Serafino. “Adequately serving our customer means helping them efficiently receive the products they need for their customer.”

“The service of delivering directly to our supermarket and maintaining a good temperature is very valuable,” says Twin City’s Martinez. “This helps us easily have high-quality product to offer our customers.”

Katzman delivers products to its retail partners every day of the week through a fleet of refrigerated trucks with real-time temperature monitoring and GPS tracking.

Off-day deliveries, such as on a Saturday or even holiday, are important. “For example, our distributor, Four Seasons, makes deliveries to us even when other companies are closed,” says Goldman of Morton Williams. “Knowing we have reliable delivery allows us to focus our attention on the customer and not worry about our product coming. Especially if a customer requested something, we want to be sure it’s going to come.”

Flexibility is another aspect of the business. “More and more customers want delivery because it helps them better serve their customers,” says Klein. “They can focus their time in the store or operation and they have flexibility because they’re not planning so far in advance. For most retail customers, we offer next-day delivery.”

To help foodservice customers serve their patrons, Riviera runs second and third deliveries, Saturday deliveries and advance booking Sunday deliveries. “This is key to helping our customers service their customers because they can inventory less, but still have fresh, available product,” says Friedman. “By responding on a dime and sending extra deliveries, it keeps our customers in product for their customer. We also tailor the delivery time to what the customer wants. They may not want to wait for a 2 p.m. delivery for all their product, so we will deliver at 8 a.m., or vice versa.”

EXP also serves foodservice customers based on its logistics capability. “If a customer calls me at 10 a.m. and needs two pallets of product, we can be there by 2 p.m.,” says Serafino. “The emphasis on logistics in our company allows us to be valuable in providing more to customers, which, in turn, helps them always provide for theirs.”

IN-STORE SUPPORT

Assisting stores at point-of-sale with merchandising, promotion or ad planning is also important. “We help advise retailers on ad options since we know the product,” says Klein.

Four Seasons Produce offers merchandising services to many of its partner customers that can range from consultative visits and trouble-shooting — such as shrink, margin, sales, flow, assortment — to equipment recommendations to department resets to trainings to display builds and more.

“Ad writing, SRPs, promotional support, and display contests are offered to our partner retailers,” says Steffy. “Additionally, annual planning calendars, quarterly seasonal merchandising content, and weekly market news updates help produce directors, buyers and managers peak around corners so they can plan and execute at a high level.”

Katzman Distribution also offers a multitude of retail services, such as in-store merchandising guidance, execution and training, says Savanello. “Our boots-on-the-ground merchandising team is made up of long-time produce professionals with experience working for many of the top retail organizations in the country. Whether it’s transitioning a department at change of season, or helping a retail partner execute a refreshed go-to-market strategy, we are the partner you want to have.”

Vision Global Group supports customers with a variety of tools. “We provide a wide range of value-added options, hot-buy pricing and promotional periods for high-volume movement, as well as marketing material outlining product specifications,” says Fessler.

OPTIMIZING QUALITY

Customers need to know their end consumers are receiving quality product. “At the end of the day, customers find value from us because they know where the product is coming from,” says Serafino. “Quality merchandise is the most important thing for us. Whether you’re dealing with foodservice or retail, quality is reputation. So, do customers want to trust their reputation to just anyone? No. Our customers know what we stand for: quality, service, brand, culture. These are the four pillars of our company.”

The 70,000 square foot state-of-the-art Katzman Distribution facility in Burlington, NJ, is divided into three separate temperature zones with full truck and railroad receiving capabilities, according to Savanello.

“All products are inspected for quality, spec and grade at point of receiving and throughout their brief period of time in our building,” he says. “We are FSMA compliant, with complete case-level traceability, and SQF-certified, following the strictest protocols to ensure food safety. Our strong commitment to inbound quality and maintaining an uninterrupted cold chain throughout our distribution process ensures the best quality available on our retailers’ stands and in the consumers’ refrigerators at home.”

Dorot Farms starts by ensuring the quality and taste of its Fresh & Sweet carrots, so its customers are happy. “When you have control of all aspects of the product, from farming to logistics to customer service, you have a better understanding,” says Ben-Dror. “There is a lot to pay attention to and handle the right way to ensure quality, consistent product.”

One of the ways Four Seasons Produce helps retailers and their customers is by aggregating demand across many multi-store groups and scores of single stores. “This allows all of those grocers to benefit from fast inventory turns for excellent freshness and strong fill-rates from all of the arrivals coming in on a large scale,” says Steffy. “Better freshness means longer shelf life for the consumer and more trust and repeat sales for the retailer.”

Auerbach brings in full truckloads of product and amortizes the freight cost over different items. “That allows us to be price competitive while still offering excellent quality,” says Klein. “We highly value always being able to give our customers a high-quality product, and our customers know that.”

Confidence in the product delivered is a significant factor for customers who don’t want to disappoint consumers. “If you’re buying from California, you won’t get it for five days, but if you’re buying from us, you get it the next day,” says Klein. “Quality control is a huge consideration. You’re getting product that’s been screened through our screening process. We back up the product we send out.”

EMPLOYING TECHNOLOGY

Distributors and importers increasingly use technology to connect with customers and even consumers. Auerbach uses some of the proprietary systems of its customers to ensure orders are seamless, which allows for streamlining of orders, says Klein.

EXP is on social media and uses an app for its clientele to order digitally. “We are working on more strongly emphasizing this area,” says Serafino. “We have invested a lot in technology that benefits our customers, from ERP to quality control to ordering. The business is so much more than just selling merchandise, and technology is an increasingly important tool for us.”

Vision Global Group has a presence on various social media platforms, highlighting its product line and branding. It also shares promotional material and market updates to keep the public informed, says Fessler.

“Engagement is the goal. In addition, our branded bags and boxes include a QR code linked to our company website, where consumers can directly access our content to learn more about the beautiful produce they’re enjoying.”

Riviera Produce uses a variety of online tools. “We work with Pepper to drive our website and mobile app,” says Friedman. “Our app gives customers information on what’s available. I’ve become known as ‘Produce Master B’ on Instagram. I’m posting on social media twice a week to talk about what’s new and what’s trending. It’s important to keep the customer updated through social media as well as the old-fashioned method of having our sales staff reach out directly to customers.”