The fresh produce industry was described by one of its protagonists as “the most multi-dimensional business game I’ve ever played,” at the Re:fresh conference last week.
Former wholesaler, supermarket supplier and grower, and now a director of Argentinean exporter San Miguel, Nick Saphir told delegates that they must communicate their passion for the wholesale business to potential new recruits. “Produce is phenomenal,” said Saphir. “Everything changes all the time. It teaches you things you don’t learn elsewhere and it gives us all a buzz.”
These views were echoed by Gary Marshall, chairman of Covent Garden Market Tenants’ Association, who is also putting together a bid with Saphir on behalf of the tenants to buy their market. “There is nothing like the buzz you get knowing you have bought something right and sold it right. It is about showing them the beauty of this industry - once they are in it, they are in it for life…We are not flat-capped idiots selling class II produce, we are young and dynamic and full of energy and we need to get that across.”
Both men were bullish about the future for wholesaling in the UK. “In the 1990s we saw the demise of retail and realised we’d have to find another customer,” said Marshall. “We supplied good quality, top class products with continuity and traceability. We embraced foodservice before anyone else and now we’ve got the biggest body of independent caterers in the country at New Covent Garden.”
This bodes extremely well given the continuing rise in out-of-home eating. “The wholesale markets are no longer the price-setters they used to be but they still handle 21 per cent of the total fresh foods,” said Saphir.
He believes, for example, that wholesale markets will have an important place in the London Food Strategy due to be published by the Mayor of London’s office at the end of the month. “A large number of small businesses need to have a forum where they can buy and sell in competition to ensure transparency of price,” said Saphir. Markets also have a vital role to play in the efficient management of waste and in keeping congestion by large vehicles to a minimum.
Marshall also alluded to plans that Saphir and the tenants have for their market indicating there is room to expand upwards on the 57-acre prime-location site.
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