Gianna Piazza, 25
Citrus Saleswoman , Community-Suffolk, Inc. , Chelsea, MA
June 10, 2025 | 2 min to read
SHORT BIO
Hometown: Boxford, MA
Hobbies: Working, Horses, Relaxing in the sun, Exploring gluten-free places to eat
Motto in life: Everything happens for a reason. Always be humble, and kind.
Piazza is a fourth-generation produce wholesaler and a stand-out on the New England Produce Center (NEPC). She started working with her father about five and a half years ago, first learning the basics in the office, including billing customers, managing inventory, and understanding freight. Before long, she began to work alongside him in the warehouse, learning and dealing with pricing and logistics behind every item the company sells. She built solid trust with customers and cultivated a deeper understanding of the lime market — a category that, at the time, the company only minimally stocked.
With her father’s support, she began expanding the company’s lime offerings, turning a few pallets into a full inventory line and eventually earning her own desk and lime program. She has now taken over the buying and sales of limes entirely, offering every size to meet the needs of both retail and foodservice customers. Today, she is known as “The Lime Queen” in Boston. What started with a few pallets of limes has grown into an operation requiring two to three full truckloads weekly to meet the demand of a loyal and diverse clientele.
Q: What do you know now you wish you knew when you first started your career?
Stop trying to control the trucks’ arrival — they will show up when they show up, you can’t change it.
Q: What advice would you give someone new to the produce industry?
Sleep when you can. You will thank yourself later.
Q: What is the one thing in your business that you are most passionate about?
How many different customers and companies rely on me to supply them with limes and avocados, and truly how far I have come in the past six years.
Q: How has the industry changed during your tenure?
Community-Suffolk is lucky enough to have two different warehouses/locations. One is inside the NEPC (bays 126,127,128) and the other is at 95 Market St. We recently just completely renovated bays 126-128. It looks absolutely gorgeous, and we are so lucky to have been able to finally do this. It looks like a whole new building.
Q: What do you think consumers will desire in the future?
Customers will continue to desire top quality and freshness when it comes to produce.
Q: What accomplishment are you most proud of in your career?
Being known as Boston’s Lime Queen.
NOMINEES
