Why these produce distributors expect a strong 2024

Produce distributors on the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market say they’re finishing 2023 with generally strong sales and are looking forward to another successful year ahead.

Filindo Colace, vice president at Ryeco Inc. on the market, said 2023 was a good year.

“We saw company growth, and we expect continued growth in 2024,” he said.

Ryeco enjoyed a good jump in sales for the Thanksgiving holiday, and Colace expected another business spike for Christmas and New Year’s.

Sales at this time of year often depend on weather.

“If we have a mild winter, it’s a lot easier for us to continue to grow our business,” Colace said. “If we have a hard winter with a lot of snow and ice, it makes it tougher.”

The company offers an extensive selection of fruits and vegetables, including squash, lettuce, apple and pears.

“2023 was a good year for the Philadelphia market,” said Rick Feighery, vice president of sales for Procacci Bros. Sales Corp, who added that the company is laying the foundation for another solid year in 2024, he said.

“We’re trying to maintain what we have and grow a little bit, like we do each year,” he said.

The firm expected “a nice increase in business” for the holidays.

“The fruit basket program we do has pretty good retail penetration,” Feighery said.

The floral category usually experiences “a huge period of business” from Thanksgiving through Mother’s Day, he added.

And the best may be yet to come, Feighery said.

“The last couple of years, the beginning of the new year has actually been busier for us than the close of the year, with the healthy eating habits and the health-conscious mindset that comes with the new year,” he said.

“We hope they stick with it this year and keep that momentum going a little bit longer,” he added.

Feighery said sales of juicing items like kales, ginger, apples, grapefruit, oranges and wheat grass tend to pick up in January.

“It’s been a decent year” at BRS Produce Co., said company President Rick Milavsky.

“Thanksgiving business was probably a little better than it’s been the past several years,” he said. “And we should do pretty good business between Christmas and New Year’s.”

Tomatoes, mushroom, greens, peppers, cucumbers and squash are some of the company’s bestselling items around the holidays.

Berries — strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries — are among the most popular items from Collotti & Sons Produce Inc., said company President Jack Collotti.

Collotti & Sons also offers a number of California vegetables, like lettuce, broccoli, celery, romaine hearts and carrots, along with cilantro, dill and a variety of beets from Texas. For the holidays, sales of Idaho potatoes, yams and strawberries perk up, Collotti said.

“Every day we have different items,” he said. “It’s always changing.”

Collotti & Sons had “pretty good” sales for Thanksgiving, and he said December has been busy as well. Customers visit the company’s market location from three or four states, he said.

“We try to give everybody good service and good quality,” Collotti said. “We bend over backwards for our customers.”

A couple of companies are planning to expand or remodel.

Ryeco is preparing to break ground on a new warehouse next to an existing building the company occupies on Lawrence Street, Colace said. It will be a 25,000-square-foot, four-story facility where the company will be able to cross dock product from the pier.  

Ryeco uses the existing building for repacking and to support inventory for the company’s main location on the produce market.

Groundbreaking is expected by March or April, and the facility is expected to be completed by December.

Procacci Bros. is in the middle of a remodeling project that should be completed by mid-second quarter of 2024, Feighery said.

The company is retrofitting a building in Philadelphia that will be used to consolidate repack labor, he said. The project has been in the works for a while but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and delays in obtaining equipment and supplies.

The location will be used mostly for repacking organic produce and tomatoes.