Tony Fissette is managing director of Enzafruit Continent, a member of the Turners & Growers group of companies. Enzafruit is a topfruit marketer with exclusive rights to a number of new apple varieties, including Jazz.
How did you first get into the fresh produce business?
TF: I started around 36 years ago at Mack & Mansfield (which now operates as Fresca) in the old Covent Garden Market in London. I had moved over to the UK from Belgium to learn about the fruit business. It was a great experience. We learnt about all types of fruit.
I did this for six months. Then I started working in a fruit company owned by my father called Fibe Trade, which imported fruit into Belgium – 95 per cent of it from New Zealand.
Now, of course, it is a New Zealand company. It became Enzafruit in 1989. So technically, I’ve been working for the same company for 35 years. I started as a salesman, then moved on to sales manager, and since 1998 I have been managing director of Enza Continent.
What do you see as the biggest challenge facing the fresh produce industry?
TF: The main challenge is to make sure your brand gets the best possible results for your suppliers and your customers. These are difficult times and it is important to make everyone happy, both suppliers and customers. It is far from an easy challenge, continuing to innovate while keeping everybody happy.
Describe your typical day-to-day schedule?
TF: My day-to-day schedule is split between the summer and the winter. In the summer, I visit wholesale markets at four or five in the morning, whether they be in Austria, Germany, the UK – wherever. I get a lot of information and a lot of extra sales from these visits. During the winter, I do not visit the wholesale markets so much, but I do email and visit our growers in New Zealand.
What’s the first thing you do when you sit down at your desk in the morning?
TF: The first thing I do is look through my emails. It has always been this way, except 20 years ago it was faxes and 30 years ago telexes.
Do you prefer to do business over the telephone or via email, or both?
TF: Face-to-face meetings are absolutely essential. Second best is a phone conversation. I still only really use email for communicating with people in New Zealand, since time differences make it difficult to talk on the phone. Customer relationships, including respect and recognition, are so important.
How much travelling is involved in your work?
TF: I spend around 65 per cent of my time travelling. I like to see my suppliers and customers as often as I can.
Where have you been to lately and where are you planning to go next?
In October alone, I travelled to Los Angeles for PMA, to the Loire Valley for some Jazz meetings and to New Zealand to visit our growers.
What do you love in particular about your job and what, if anything, would you change?
TF: What I love most is the relationships with the people. I’ve done this for 35 years. In all business in the fruit sector, your word is still your word. This old-fashioned idea is still possible – no contracts, just words.
If I could change one thing it would be to encourage specialisation. Many in the business should stick to their core competency rather than trying to do everything. If you try to do everything, you end up doing nothing.
What do you do to unwind after a tough day at work?
TF: Wherever I am, I like to sit and relax with a nice wine or beer on a terrace somewhere.
