The 2023 Packer 25 — Gabriela D’Arrigo
Editor’s note: The following profile is from the 2023 Packer 25, our annual tribute to 25 leaders, innovators and agents of change across the fresh produce supply chain. (You can view all honorees here.) This feature has been edited for length and clarity.
Gabriela D’Arrigo — Vice president of communications and marketing, D’Arrigo New York
You are vice president of communications and marketing for D’Arrigo New York; you’re on the public relations advisory board at the iconic Hunts Point Market, where D’Arrigo New York is based; and, as of May 2023, you’re on the board of Brighter Bites. Your produce plate is full. What do you hope your legacy will be in the produce business?
I don't know if this is a legacy, but each avenue I touch, I hope to make it better or improved from when I arrived — to see positive impact and growth of some kind. That's my main goal. I want to contribute.
How do you juggle all the ways in which you contribute to the industry?
I do better when I'm busy. I'm not someone who likes to have a lot of idle time. I enjoy being part of different avenues and getting to touch the industry in completely different ways.
Brighter Bites was a breath of fresh air for me. [Brighter Bites CEO] Rich Dachman showed up on the dock one day and said, ‘We have this thing we want to build out, what do you think?’ And I said, ‘Let's figure it out and build it as we go.’ It's been really successful, and it's something that our company is very proud of.
Working with Brighter Bites, seeing how organized they are, how well they execute strategy and growing with them over the last 10 years, has been an incredible opportunity. When the opportunity arose, I knew I had to be a part of it.
It's a diverse board with intelligent people who have a very different perspective from mine and to me, that's gold. It's been educational for me to learn from people who are in other industries entirely or who are CEOs at major Fortune 500 companies.
In the near term, what drives you in this business and what is one goal you have for D’Arrigo New York/Hunts Point Market in the year ahead?
Diversifying the way our company does business — getting away from that traditional wholesaler mindset that exists across the country, not just in Hunts Point.
The wholesale segment of the industry is much more reactive rather than proactive compared to retail and foodservice. Trends tend to hit us later. I often say we're the redheaded stepchildren of the industry. We're kind of an afterthought, when actually we provide a great deal. We've just never marketed ourselves.
We're the people you remember when you need us, and I want to change that mindset. During COVID everybody remembered us because we were the only ones built and structured to deal with the instability. That's what we deal with on a regular basis. So, I want to better communicate this key role we play in the industry.
In can be difficult to toot one’s own horn.
It's tough because the way my family is and how my grandfather and great-grandfather were when the business began. It was always: Be humble, keep your head down, work hard, keep your nose to the grindstone, which has built the business to where it is today. And that's still very much ingrained in me. But to share what it is that we're actually doing would grow the business so much more. Because then people would know we don't just handle rejection. We're not just handling long or short product. There's a lot of other facets to this company, but it’s not talked about.
How you go to market matters. You can have the best thing in a box, but if you're not marketing it well to the consumer, there is no pull through on the other end. You've got to have the pull through all the way through the supply chain to the consumer.
