The traders at Albert Crescent are very much part of a thriving market, with forward-thinking investment, the diversification of products and services, and the introduction of high-profile wholesale brands keeping them at the top of their game.
The privately owned market is based just a few miles from a city centre in the final stages of a massive regeneration project, and is positioned as the gateway to the South West. The businesses on the site have gone from strength to strength in recent years, with the traders carving themselves niches in what is potentially a very wide-ranging customer base.
The market is in good shape compared to others around the UK and, in total, there are 11 businesses trading from the fully occupied site. Total turnover for the market is well in excess of £100 million.
The entrance of a fresh produce superpower into the market has seen more changes come about in the last 12 months than in recent years but, in the main, tenants have taken this on the chin and continued to work hard to grow their businesses.
Fresh produce heavyweight Total Produce bought out Redbridge and Bristol Fruit Sales in January last year, and then took over The Greenery in October. The three businesses under the Total Produce umbrella now operating from Bristol market - Total Produce, Redbridge and Bristol Fruit Sales - have continued to operate under their own separate names, with all three retaining their autonomy.
The takeover has opened up a number of opportunities for those in the Total Produce fold. All three businesses have benefited from streamlining their operations in terms of suppliers, deliveries and staff, by pooling and sharing their resources. This has allowed each of the businesses to aim for leaner operations and increase their margins, in order to become increasingly profitable set-ups.
Total Produce has acquired 11 new units on the market, bringing the total to 53 units, and a rolling investment plan has been put in place.
Nick Matthews and Steve Payne are joint managing directors of Bristol Fruit Sales, as well as regional directors for Total Produce in Wales and the South West.
“Total Produce, Redbridge and Bristol Fruit Sales are three really strong brands, and we have grown by reinvesting money back into the business, the people around us, and the vehicles we use,” says Matthews. “We are committed to running the business and keeping the choices for our customers. We work in partnership, and we want to help them grow their businesses in the best way they can.
“When the Total Produce deals were announced they were the talk of the market for a few days but, once people saw we each carried on trading, the talk died down.
“When you think of the amount of investment that has been put into the market and the volumes of product that are brought in, it can only be a good thing.
“The situation may have meant a change of culture for some but, on the whole, all the businesses were well established and successful in their own right. You would think that with the number of changes it would have been very difficult, but it has gone remarkably well.
“There will be further consolidation on all UK markets, and this will allow us to give more to our customers, and see a rise in the standards of the fruit and vegetables available and the vehicles we use,” he adds.
The takeover may have meant minimal changes on the face of it, but it has given all three businesses the chance to work together for the first time. “We have reduced our number of suppliers, and we are keen to work with the same people right the way through the season, to build a better relationship with them and a better understanding,” says Payne. “In a sense, we are doing the same thing, but more of it, and we will continue to reinvest in the business.
“The market is in a very healthy state, and the traders are more inclined to invest in their buildings and facilities than most because they do not have the uncertainty of being a council-owned site,” he adds.
The takeover has gone some way to opening up the way each of the businesses operates, says Alex Hawker, branch manager on the Total Produce stand, which previously operated as The Greenery. “We are doing a lot more inter-trading with Redbridge and Bristol Fruit Sales, and we have picked up a few more senders of product. The good thing about it is that we can help each other out with staff and deliveries.
“The change seemed to come out of the blue, but we have had a lot of support from Steve Payne and Nick Matthews,” Hawker adds.
Those in the Total Produce fold have felt pressure to increase their margins and profits, says Chris Upham, who works in the exotics department at Redbridge. But he admits there are advantages when the businesses work together. “We are still autonomous, self-generating profit centres, and we still have our own budgets,” he says. “But we do work together on the procurement side, which would never have happened before. This helps with profitability, because we have a lot of pressure on us margin-wise.
“We want to keep on doing the best we possibly can. We have always had a name for being the Rolls Royce of the market, and we have always tried to procure the best possible product,” he adds.
A hand-held Nation Wilcox IT system is being rolled out across the Total Produce businesses to make their processes more efficient.
So how have the traders reacted to the entrance of Total Produce and the consolidation it brought with it?
Tim Down, chairman of Wholesale Fruit Centre (Bristol) Ltd, which oversees the running of the market, and owner of Percy J Down Ltd, insists the move has had little impact on the market. “People were quite wary of it to start with, but it has not affected the market negatively in any way at all,” he says. “There are no obvious ways in which the running of the market has changed, and the volume of business has not been affected.
“Traders might look at Total Produce and wonder but, generally speaking, it is very serious about the way it does business, and that has to be a positive for the market.”
The consolidation on the market has put the customer back at the centre of how businesses operate, says Chris Rudd, sales director for fruit at Mack Bristol. “If we do not look after them, someone else will,” he says. “We have to keep on top of what our customers want by communicating with them. We send out information to our customers, including a daily newsletter with news on availability, varieties and price lists, and that does very well for us.
“We want our customers to get a very good service. They can fax through an order from 50 or 60 product lines at 7pm, and get it by 7am the next day.
“In this trade you can be too egotistical, but you are only as good as your customers say you are. We do not blow our own trumpet; we just want to get on and do what we do,” he adds.
The entrance of Total Produce into the market has not phased the existing businesses. Independent traders on the market are determined to use their individual identities to their own advantage. Mike Jenkins, company director at Percy J Down Ltd, is upbeat about the future of the market and the wholesale trade. “We see ourselves, along with GF Mercer, EW Jenkins and M&D Kidner, as the last of the independents on the market, with Mack as an ally,” he says. “We do not see the other companies as the enemy, but we have to look after ourselves. We are proud of our independence, and we see a future in the trade.
“This is a sound and profitable market, and the fact that we are privately owned has its advantages,” he adds.
The most valuable tool for independent traders on the market is customer service, says Colin Harvey, general manager at family-run business Class One. “The personal touch is important,” he says. “We have some customers now that we have had from when the business was set up 50 years ago. This is because we try our best to support our customers, especially when they forget products that they need. The good service we provide has no doubt helped us build a dialogue with our customers, so they don’t have to deal with a faceless wonder.”
M&D Kidner Ltd, which opened in 2000, is one of the newest firms on the market, and deals with fruit and vegetables, organics, and flowers and plants. Mark Kidner, who runs the family firm with his brother David, says the business has shown promising growth in the last few years. “We have really grown in the last two or three years, selling into everything from small, independent shops and farm shops, to festivals such as Glastonbury, WOMAD and the Big Chill,” he says. “We have a whole range of customers because of our individual customer service. You have to be competitive, but it’s not all about price, it’s about quality and service. We are growing and going forward all the time.
“The organics part of the business has really grown in the last 18 months,” he adds. “A lot of our customers want organics, but not the whole range, so we have started supplying them with small organic boxes. We have managed to recruit 19 different customers in the past four weeks, when we started off with one box for one customer.
“We are really proud to say we buy British first. We have five different types of English apples on sale, even at this stage in the season, for instance.”
All the traders at Albert Crescent have new opportunities to look forward to this year, irrespective of the size of their businesses.
The biggest city centre regeneration programme in Bristol since its post-World War II reconstruction is set for completion this autumn and, once the Cabot Circus development is up and running, it is expected to open up additional business for the market.
The Cabot Circus project will provide around 1m sqft of high-quality retail and leisure facilities, as well as apartments, offices and public spaces in the heart of Bristol. It will feature an expanded shopping district, including a new landmark department store and 15 major stores, a wide range of leisure facilities, including a 13-screen Cinema de Lux, more than 200 new homes, a 2,600-space car park, three new pedestrian streets and dedicated public spaces, including a European-style piazza.
The way the market operates is evolving to reflect these changing opportunities, and the potential new customer base.
The majority of trade is still carried out on the front of the stand, but the number of deliveries is fast increasing, as customers look for a more convenient and time-effective service. “The wholesale trade is more of a service industry than it was 10 years ago,” says Rudd.
A number of the businesses trading out of Albert Crescent have introduced their own fleets to transport product straight to the customer and, though a handful of traders are reluctant to go down this route, the majority see it as the best way forward for the trade.
“Bristol is the gateway to the South West, and not all of our customers are close by, which is why it suits our customer base to receive deliveries,” says Down. “The delivery process and the skill in packing orders to the customer’s satisfaction will have to be maintained, as they are the future of the market.”
Those who have chosen not to start delivering orders have done so in an attempt to preserve the traditional market atmosphere. Eddie Cannon, owner of Brunel Flowers, is keen to retain a true market environment by encouraging customers to continue coming to the market. “If you want it, you have to come and get it,” he says. “Some traders here are wholesalers with a retail mentality, and they deliver to customers, but I don’t believe in that.
“By delivering, it forces people’s arm so that they rely on what is put on a fax to them,” he explains. “If the customer were here, they would see something different or new. It is a mistake to keep customers away. If you have got the customer here you can entertain them, you can tell them about new seasons starting and actually show them the produce, face to face.”
Traders right across Bristol market have caught on to the idea that the creation or introduction of high-profile brands will be key to securing customers, particularly those who make orders online or over the phone and who want to know the reputation of a product before they buy it.
Bristol Fruit Sales has exclusive rights on the market to the Cape and Outspan brands from South Africa, Primaflora Spanish salads, Casi tomatoes, New Zealand onions from Greenz, and Applemax apples from New Zealand. A new project with Kenya-based Greenlands is also underway.
A premium brand to highlight the provenance of Cornish fruit and vegetables will be launched by Bristol Fruit Sales at the end of March. The Growfair - Pride of Cornwall brand is intended to fill a gap in the market for a strong Cornish brand.
Mack has introduced its own-branded grapes in the last few weeks. The first arrivals of Mack Platinum from Chile are now available on the market. Supplies kicked off with Thompson Seedless and will include Crimson fruit from April. A supply of both white and red fruit from GlobalGAP-accredited sources will be maintained all year round. This is the second brand to be launched by Mack onto the wholesale scene, following the success of its branded bananas. “We are looking at six months to a year to get Mack Platinum up and running how we want it with real continuity, but we see this as a long-term project,” Rudd says.
The diversification of product portfolios has stood wholesale businesses in good stead, says Chris Jenkins, owner of EW Jenkins Ltd. “We now sell everything right across the spectrum,” he says. “Our business is going as well as ever. We have a bigger part of a smaller cake.”
Whatever happens at the Bristol Wholesale Fruit Centre - be it further consolidation, a possible move, or changes to the customer base - the traders on the site have the right attitude, and will continue to invest in their businesses and build on their profits in the future.
TO THE POWER OF EIGHT
Tim Down has been chairman of Wholesale Fruit Centre (Bristol) Ltd, which oversees the running of the market, for two years. He took on the role alongside his position as owner of Percy J Down Ltd. His duties, along with those of the seven other board members, involve organising the annual levies paid by the tenants, service charges and the budget, as well as making arrangements for the cleaning and maintenance of the market, health and safety, and traffic management.
All eight board members must play their parts, alongside running their own businesses.
The non-profit organisation strives to make decisions on behalf of tenants, without taking into account any of their own interests, says Jonathan Mercer, who owns flower and plant firm GF Mercer Ltd and sits on the board. “It is our responsibility to make decisions selflessly, on issues such as where we get our amenities from, and to devise incentives to get people to come into the market, although that is rarer now,” he says. “The work we do does not make an impact on the way the tenants trade their goods.”
The stability of operating from a privately owned site has encouraged traders to invest in their businesses in the long term, especially in comparison to tenants on council-owned sites, who often have to take their uncertain futures into account.
“We have succeeded in operating within our budget over the past few years, and have not had to bring in any increases in service charges for a number of years,” says Down. “The fact that the site is privately owned gives the tenants security. There is a fine balance between our expenditure, such as how much to send on tarmac, or what conditions are acceptable, but this is probably a reasonably priced market in which to operate.”
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