Look at those gorgeous fruit and vegetable trays,” the supermarket shopper thinks without ever wondering where they come from.
“Put out more fruit trays,” the store manager says, knowing that more ready-made convenience food is just a telephone call away.
Supplying cut fruit and vegetable platters and other fresh catering items in western New York and Pennsylvania is the reason behind Fresh Fruit Up Inc, a produce processor in Buffalo, New York. It makes fruit cups and platters to order for supermarkets such as Tops Markets and Wegman's and for foodservice distributors. The distribution area is within a 75-mile radius, which takes in Rochester, New York, and Erie, Pennsylvania. “We go about halfway to Syracuse, New York, and are beginning to think about expanding into eastern Ohio,” says Ron Santora, president and chief executive officer of the 15-year old company. “In addition to our wholesale distribution, we have a small retail business selling directly to the public for things like large parties or business luncheons. Lunch at a law firm downtown is a good example of a retail sale.”
Fruit Fresh Up sources its produce from a number of distributors working from the Niagara Frontier Food Terminal, home to many of Buffalo's produce wholesalers. The company keeps almost nothing in stock. If resupply from vendors were shut off, Fruit Fresh Up would run out of product within a day and a half, Santora says.
Next-day delivery
Customer orders are due by 10 am each day. After orders arrive, Fruit Fresh Up places its orders so that product assembly can begin in the afternoon. All inbound produce is tested before acceptance. Order assembly is finished in time for delivery the next morning. Typically, production works in two shifts. The first shift arrives at 4 am and works until 1 pm; the second shift arrives at 1 pm and stays on the job until 8 or 9 pm — however long it takes to finish the day's work, Santora says. The company has 60 employees, including production personnel and drivers.
Trucks are loaded two at a time and are ready to leave anytime between 6 and 10 am. Equipment is matched to routes. Fruit Fresh Up has three 24-ft straight trucks for delivery to supermarket distribution centers and other large customers. Smaller store orders and catering jobs deliver on a 12-ft straight truck or two full-size delivery vans. Large trucks make 10 to 15 stops per day on routes that average six to eight hours. One of the two vans is assigned to a regular route every day. The van with the regular route makes eight to 12 stops a day and is on the road six to eight hours. In addition to the straight trucks and vans, the company leases a tractor and trailer with driver for daily delivery to a large customer in Rochester.
The other van runs a route about half the time and is used for unscheduled delivery for the remainder. It will run a partial route before noon and then return to base to pick up any special orders that have come in during the morning. Business is seasonal, so the second van gets a heavier workout in the warm months from April to August and during the holiday season in November and December.
Fruit Fresh Up serves 50 to 100 customers in an average week and makes 250 to 300 delivery stops. Many of these customers have standing orders. Delivery frequency is based on retail sales volume. Some customers get delivery two to three times a week, and some have sales heavy enough to require daily delivery.
Insulating cargo vans
Vans make great delivery vehicles for small orders in congested urban areas. However, when delivering a product such as cut fresh fruit, temperature control is critical. At Fruit Fresh Up, all product is maintained between 38° and 40°F during storage and delivery. The problem with vans is finding a way to insulate their steel body shell without spraying the interior with foam. The alternative is installing an insulated body kit inside the van cargo space. Fruit Fresh Up chose to have Kaminski Refrigeration and Truck Equipment install kits from VanLiner Technologies. Kaminski Refrigeration is the Carrier Transicold dealer in Buffalo. VanLiner Technologies is located in Toronto, Ontario.
The VanLiner kit is placed inside the cargo space in pieces and screwed together once in place. Seams are closed with a sealant that allows the 184 cubic feet of cargo space to be pressure-washed. Average insulation thickness is three inches.
The Chevrolet G3500 vans at Fresh Fruit Up are equipped with a Carrier Transicold Integra 30S refrigeration unit with a roof-mounted condenser and an evaporator hung in the center of the front wall at the ceiling. Cab Command controls allows operation and monitoring of the refrigeration unit from the driver's seat. The unit provides capacity of 8,500 Btu/hr at 35°F. The thermostat setting normally is 38° to 40°F.
The VanLiner kit is available with two rear-door configurations. It can be installed with a flat rear wall with its own insulated door inside the standard doors on the Chevrolet van, or special insulated panels can be attached to the van doors. Fruit Fresh Up chose the insulated door panels to preserve as much interior cube as possible and to allow pallet loading when necessary. When the insulated rear door panels are used, small sections of insulation are used to cover the space between the end of the kit panels and the rear door frame.
Fruit Fresh Up asked for an additional modification to its VanLiner insulation kits. Instead of using the same ABS plastic that forms the wall panels for the floor, the company asked for aluminum diamondplate for a more durable surface that makes sliding cargo into place easier. The entire van interior can be washed frequently to ensure constant compliance with food safety programs.
