It’s the peak of the summer season, and business seems to be heating up for many Michigan produce distributors.
“Summer months provide an opportunity for many new sales opportunities, from California fruit to local vegetables and everything in between,” said Dominic Riggio, president of Riggio Distribution Co. on the Detroit Produce Terminal.
Organic produce plays an important role at Riggio Distribution.
“At RDC, we offer and stock close to 100 organic SKUs daily,” Riggio said. “The quality, availability and consistency of organic produce has greatly improved over the years, and those items have become regular stocked items that our customers rely on us for.”
The company strives to offer a full line of fresh fruits and vegetables year-round, he said.
Ben B. Schwartz & Sons Inc. on the Detroit Produce Terminal also offers a full line of produce and focuses on local Michigan items during the summer, said Jordan Grainger, vice president of sales and business development.
“People try to use as much local product as possible at this time of year,” he said.
Berries, grapes, melons and potatoes are some of the bestselling items during the summer, he said. In the fall, the company adds gourds, fall squash and pumpkins as needed.
The wholesaler also can ship a full line of organic items on request.
Good weather and good growing conditions mean quality should be good throughout the summer as long as the weather holds, he said. Volume should be similar to last year.
Superior Sales Inc., Hudsonville, Mich., was seeing improved quality the last week of July after the summer season got off to a somewhat bumpy start, said Randy Vande Guchte, president.
“We’ve had a lot of crazy weather between rain and heat,” he said. “We’ve had pollination issues on some of our dry veg, like cucumbers, bell peppers and squash.”
Early supplies on those items were light.
“Business as a whole is a little bit slower until you hit Labor Day,” he said, due in part to flourishing backyard gardens.
The company was kicking off its corn program in late July.
“That crop looks pretty good,” Vande Guchte said.
Squash, cucumbers and beans also were coming in.
“The bean market is really good right now,” he said.
Vande Guchte said he was pleased with this year’s spring asparagus deal.
“It did move well,” he said. “I was kind of surprised, I thought that with higher inflation we wouldn’t move as much, but the people who pick up that kind of product can afford it.”
Superior Sales focuses on local products.
“All of our growers are located in the state of Michigan, northern Indiana and northwest Ohio,” he said. “Everybody in Michigan and in the Midwest promotes local.”
Summer vegetable items will run until around Sept. 20 or into early October, then the company will switch to things like hard squash and root vegetables.
Pumpkins and ornamentals will be available for fall.
BelleHarvest Sales Inc., Belding, Mich., offers a summer dry vegetable program that includes green bell peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers and tomatoes, said Nick Teriaca, vice president of sales and marketing.
The program was just getting underway the week of July 17.
“Overall, it’s looking good,” Teriaca said. “Volume is there, demand is there; its’ shaping up like a typical year.”
Zucchini and yellow squash had a strong pull early in the year, he said, while tomatoes seem to be more popular in the fall.
Broccoli and cauliflower are good sellers in the early fall, and green bell peppers are more popular later in the year, Teriaca said.
Michigan produce distributors are doing their best to deal with inflation.
“The produce industry is not immune to inflation,” Riggio said. “Costs have gone up, and that is reflected in sales, however, fresh fruits and vegetables remain a great value for their cost as well as their nutritional value.”
Ben B. Schwartz has not seen a drop in sales, but Grainger said that might be happening at retail and foodservice level.
Labor costs had been rising steadily, but they seem to finally have stalled, at least at warehouse level.
“I haven’t seen an increase in the past year,” he said.
High labor costs have hit growers the hardest, said Vande Guchte of Superior Sales.
“The H-2A hourly wage and the expense that goes along with it increases every year,” he said. “It’s putting a lot of pressure on the growers to be able to make money, because if you don’t get more dollars for your product, you can’t cover your increased costs for your labor.”
