Central location an edge for state suppliers

Geography is a precious business ally, according to produce suppliers in Connecticut.

Dealers operate with New York less than 100 miles to the Southwest and Boston about the same distance Northeast.

That’s an opportunity, not a disadvantage, said Kevin Bartolotta, minority owner and president of Bartolotta Inc., in Torrington, Conn.

Beneficial for all

Everybody across the region can benefit, regardless of where they operate, said Ken Yandow, president of FreshPoint Connecticut LLC in Hartford, a wholly owned subsidiary of Houston-based FreshPoint Inc.

“I think we all try to work together,” Yandow said. “I like product in New York and Massachusetts, just as some of the distributors and wholesalers and supermarket chains and the like buy out of Connecticut. Actually, we look at it as an advantage. We’re smack-dab in the middle and from an accessibility standpoint for distribution, it works out pretty good.”

Hartford is an ideal location to set up shop, said Bill Driscoll Sr., president of Heart of the Harvest, a Hartford-based fresh-cut company.

“This is the wonderful thing — we’re right smack in the middle between Boston and New York,” he said. “This is the goose that laid the golden egg with the state of Connecticut, with the regional market.”