Boston wholesalers continue to see demand for regionally grown produce.
Dominic Cavallaro III, general manager of Chelsea, Mass.-based John Cerasuolo Co., said product from nearby states like Vermont, New York and Rhode Island usually becomes available in June.
“Everyone supports the local growers,” Cavallaro said. “Everybody wants local grown stuff.”
Maurice Crafts, vice president of Chelsea, Mass.-based Coosemans Boston, said greenhouse tomatoes from Maine have done well for the company.
“People want to know where it was grown, and the closer the better,” Crafts said. “They like the tomatoes, they’re fresher, they’re been on a truck for a few hours as opposed to a few days ... Another good item for us, we sell some microgreens from a local grower that do very well.
“But you know, obviously — and I say it every year — that stuff is great, but you’re not going to get it in February up here in New England,” Crafts said. “It’s a nice little niche market in the summer, in the spring, early fall, but eventually you’ve got to go back to getting it out of Los Angeles and Salinas and Arizona and Mexico.”
Steven Piazza, president of Everett, Mass.-based Community-Suffolk, said the company often sees interest in product from Quebec, Canada.
“We do quite a bit out of Quebec, and people are looking for that product when it’s available,” Piazza said. “Because it costs so much less in freight to get it here, it usually presents a pretty good value.”
Allen Lisitano, vice president of Chelsea-based Lisitano Produce, noted that greenhouse tomatoes from Canada have done well.
“We’ve definitely over the last couple years expanded the volume on that,” Lisitano said. “Our customers really support it and they like it, it’s a nice clean product, it looks pretty on the shelf and it tastes good, so win-win. And the shelf life is very good, because — number one, it comes in fresh as possible. It’s basically overnight from Canada.”
