Detroit Fresh Produce Market is Dynamic, Diverse and Growing

Independent retailers and wholesalers are the cornerstones of the Detroit market.

The Detroit metropolitan region in southeast Michigan is a dynamic, diverse market that has recently enjoyed economic growth. It reinvigorates traditions, including in the Eastern Market food district, and supports local growth.

Independent supermarket and grocery operators are important to the Detroit region. Of course, many chain operators are also in the market, including Kroger, Walmart, Costco, Sam’s Club, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.

Meijer, Grand Rapids, MI, is among the strongest of the southeast Michigan operators, and, in 2021, opened an urban store concept in the city proper dubbed Rivertown Market, a 42,000 square foot store with an assortment that is stocked with attention to neighborhood tastes.

Independents are critical to feeding Detroit, especially in the city, but also throughout the immediate region. Some are affiliated with the wholesale business operated by SpartanNash, Byron Center, MI, which has two segments, food wholesale and retail under the banners Family Fare, Martin’s Super Markets and D&W Fresh Market, which mostly operate in Michigan.

SpartanNash also serves many Michigan independents, such as Saveland Supermarket in Taylor, MI, a suburb of Detroit, which has been in operation as a family-owned business for 30 years.

Mike Jaddou, Saveland’s produce manager, says the store is a basic supermarket that serves middle-class customers. “These are people who are looking for deals,” he says.

LOCAL STILL MATTERS

However, Jaddou adds customers are very supportive of local growers. Through the summer growing season, shoppers come for corn and tomatoes, then pumpkins. The circular, the store’s major advertising vehicle, identifies in-season local produce, most recently, Michigan apples.

Buying local is important in Michigan, and Argus Farm Stop, in nearby Ann Arbor, MI, bases its entire operation on area agriculture, offering shoppers local food seven days a week. Argus works on consignment, so farmers own the produce, set the price and keep 70% of the sale.

The Detroit region is home to broad demographics drawn from across the world.

Produce at the three-store operation comes from no further than the Michigan border, so it doesn’t sell fruit that can’t be grown in the immediate vicinity, such as tropicals. What it does offer are Michigan-grown pawpaws, a temperate climate fruit with tropical flavors.

As it turned out, 2024 was a good year for pawpaws, says Dani Cavagnaro, Argus produce manager, with the perfect weather for a big crop. And Argus customers were in the mood for something new.
“A lot of people, who never had them before, tried them,” she says. “That was a fun experience. Everyone was open to trying them.”

GROWING SEASON

The growing year started early in Michigan this year due to the weather. For example, the apple season began two weeks early. Cavagnaro says a lot of crops started early, and in the fall, late-season crops actually mixed with produce that had been subject to longer seasons, which created something rare in the state — a blend of summer and fall seasonal fruits and vegetables.

The mixing may be more than a one-year blip. Across the Midwest, controlled environment agriculture has taken off, especially in the form of greenhouses. Argus, in that case, has the chance to sell more products over the winter months.

“We’re well into October, and we have strawberries,” says Cavagnaro. “That’s highly unusual. We get them from a greenhouse. I’m hoping that’s indicative of more product availability through the harder months.”

FOODSERVICE ON REBOUND

As for Detroit region’s foodservice, John Corradi, owner of restaurant Rock on 3rd in suburban Royal Oak, says the metro Detroit restaurant sector has gained momentum, despite the hit it took in the pandemic and difficulties dealing with inflation, labor shortages, and spikes in food costs.

“We are very busy,” he says. “In January, it will be our 30th year in business, and we’re going almost full throttle.”

The labor situation has improved, he says, with more people seeking positions, and what he’s paying for produce has stabilized, which makes life a little easier.

He adds, however, that despite strong sales, profitability remains squeezed. Costs associated with labor and food are generally higher than they were not long ago, while he continues to try and adjust menu prices to be reasonable for his customers, but profitable for his business.

“We’re busy, but it is still expensive. People are coming through the door and that’s great. It might be a record year, depending on how November and December go,” Corradi says. “But I don’t know yet how that equates to net for the year.”

On the Detroit Produce Terminal Market, Dominic Russo of wholesaler Rocky Produce says he’s seen improvement in the region’s foodservice sector as well. “Foodservice is very strong,” he says. “It seems like the restaurants are busy and generally just plugging away.”

He credits the relatively strong economic growth of the region for part of the strength in foodservice, as well as independent grocery stores and supermarkets. “Our economy has been good for years, which is great.”

WHOLESALE MARKET STRONG

Dominic Riggio, president of Riggio Distribution, says Detroit is “a very unique market, very diverse culturally. We cater to many different cultures and cuisines. Detroit is a quality-oriented market, but also very competitive. Our customers demand the best product at the best prices.”

Detroit’s location puts it in proximity to Ohio and Canada and a bit further afield, to western New York and Pennsylvania, as well as Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. At the same time, the Detroit metro area is the largest in Michigan and a critical driver of the state’s economy.

“Detroit’s geographic location, as a crossing point between USA and Canada, makes it a unique city for a produce market,” says Jordan Grainger, vice president of sales and business development at wholesaler Ben B. Schwartz & Sons. “Independent retailers are a big driver of what keeps Detroit’s product market unique. These retailers want to make sure they stay ahead of the competition, and it is our responsibility to make sure they do.”

“Independent retailers are a big driver of what keeps Detroit’s product market unique. These retailers want to make sure they stay ahead of the competition, and it is our responsibility to make sure they do.”
— Jordan Grainger, Ben B. Schwartz & Sons, Detroit, MI

The Detroit region is home to broad demographics drawn from across the world by employment and business opportunities in the automobile industry initially, but also by the evolving transportation and logistics, health care, defense and technology sectors.

The dynamic nature of the market is reflected in produce purchasing, but certain underlying priorities prevail. “Trends in varieties and packaging change over the years, however the need for quality, service and value remain the same year after year,” says Riggio.

The interplay between Detroit Produce Terminal and independent retailers is mutually supportive. “Independent retailers and wholesalers are the cornerstone of any market,” says Riggio. “The relationships we have developed over many decades are very important to us. We are doing business with second, third, and fourth generations of family-owned businesses. These relationships are the core of our business, both on the customer and the supplier side.”

Russo says both the independent retail sector and the wholesalers that support it have advanced since the doldrums of the pandemic. “The independent retail presence is very strong, and we’re thankful for that,” he says.

The independents today approach produce in a way that’s somewhat different than the big chains, with more emphasis on tradition and personalization. “Packaging has been a growing thing, for sure, but more in the large-scale retailers,” says Russo. “Independents, from our experience, don’t do as much as the chains. These guys are hands-on, do more bulk and develop beautiful displays because they want to show off the artwork produce is.”

Grainger says the uncertainty that crept into the economy on the back of post-pandemic developments has affected the produce terminal. “I do not think we have seen the market fully back to normal, due to inflation pressures,” he says.

Still, Russo says part of a wholesaler’s job is to provide value for customers. “The scenario is, we’re going to be here and bring in produce from all growing regions based on quality, size, price and our partnerships with growers,” says Russo.

Riggio underscores the point that wholesalers can help retailers and consumers make the best of the difficulties that the economy or nature creates. “Obviously, inflation affects every part of our lives, including fresh produce,” says Riggio. “Part of what we do is to provide value, and that value is relative to the choices and options our customers have. Fresh produce still provides a great value in the choices consumers have when feeding their families.”

When it comes to the basics, Russo says transportation isn’t the challenge it was a few years ago, and, although perhaps somewhat better, the staffing question remains tough to address. Still, he says, Rocky Produce has been able to draw available labor from a variety of sources, and works to hire, train, evaluate, and hang on to good people.

“Now, we focus on the quality and competency of labor,” says Russo.

TRANSFORMED EASTERN MARKET

A unique element of the Detroit food scene, the Eastern Market is undergoing significant change that could make it a more vigorous institution. The market itself offers stalls where growers and local producers can sell their wares directly to customers, including individual shoppers and foodservice.

According to Eastern Market, 2 million people buy food from its retail and wholesale independent operators.

Brandon Seng, director of programs at the Eastern Market, says the venerable institution is updating operations to make it more vital as an organization. The market wants, as a longer-term goal, to overhaul the district around it to upgrade the infrastructure needed to expand an already essential food resource.

However, Eastern Market already developed and is now upgrading a network of farm stands, essentially trucks that go into Detroit neighborhoods and set up shop to sell fresh produce in season. The launch used simple vans that rotated through 16 stops in Detroit, but, with the help of Wayne County, in which Detroit is situated, the program is upgrading with refrigerated trucks that will be able to visit 30 locations in Motown.

“That’s taking produce from our wholesale market, buying it from the growers here, and then making it available and selling it in places where fresh produce typically isn’t available in the city,” notes Seng.

In addition, Eastern Market has opened a new space devoted to wholesale. The Eastern Market isn’t home to full-time commercial wholesalers. Rather, Eastern Market wholesalers are mostly local, mostly small and midsized growers and related operators who operate from midnight to 6 a.m., Monday to Friday, April to November.

“The new shed is the first the market has brought on in 60 years,” says Seng. “We’re now undergoing a plan for the redevelopment of the space — all refrigeration needs to be upgraded. So, we’ll be rehabbing that building, which would accommodate some new larger growers, new midsized growers, and then some new very small growers. We’re building out infrastructure to accommodate farms of all sizes. We’ve seen this increasing interest in urban farmed products from our customer base, so offering space for small urban farms that might be on an acre.”