Frosty Fresh - Fresh Cut Fruit New England

'Fresh' is the Word at JARD Marketing

From the March 2003 issue of Fresh Cut Magazine

LAWRENCE, MA -- There's one word and one message you receive loud and clear when talking to anyone from JARD Marketing. That word and that message is "Fresh." JARD Marketing, which processes and packages fresh-cut fruit under the Frosty Fresh label, is passionate about delivering fresh products.

"If you're not buying from Frosty Fresh, you're not buying fresh," claims Joe Gangi, one of the co-owners of JARD Marketing. Just in case you forget JARD's devotion to freshness, a quick look at the company web site will refresh your memory. At www.frostyfresh.com, you'll discover every orange icon turns into the word "fresh" as soon it's touched by the cursor.

The company's passion for freshness is what made the Gangi family enter the fresh-cut business in 1996. "There is simply no substitute for fresh," insists Gangi. Many agreed, as evident by Frosty Fresh's resulting popularity throughout the Northeastern United States. To date, the company distributes to every major New England supermarket chain.

"Our emphasis is on quality and service," Gangi explains. "We are a regional distributor, and we also work with numerous suppliers. We have a network of suppliers who provide us with quality items on a seasonal basis. We also buy from various markets and maintain good relations with all of our suppliers."

Gangi's brother David, also a part owner, echoes Joe's feelings. "It's simply what we do," he says. "We don't mechanize anything. All of our fruit is hand cut. When you start using machines, the fruit bruises and it just doesn't result in the best product. Thus, we do it all by hand, cutting the fruit and placing it in bowls or trays, just like your mother and grandmother used to do - buy the melon fresh and cut it up fresh."

Company History

The Gangi family didn't just wake up one day and decide to go into the fresh-cut fruit business. They've had a long history of providing fresh fruit throughout New England. In 1918, Guiseppe Gangi, an immigrant from Sicily, began wholesaling bananas at his small grocery story in Lawrence, Mass. "Right after World War II, our father, his brother and cousin started into the business, repacking tomatoes and packaging celery hearts, spinach, radishes and other items for neighborhood markets, which were serviced by a fleet of route trucks," Gangi recalls. "They were also members of the Pre-Packed Vegetable Association in the 1950s and continued full food distribution throughout the 60s."

A side business in the 1960s that turned out to be quite fruitful was a fruit bar called the Frosty Melon. Located in Hampton Beach, N. H., this novelty fruit stand offered patrons fresh cut melons, peaches, bananas and the Gangi family's famous Flavor Fresh fruit salad. "This is where we got our start," remembers Gangi. "After working at the stand we (Joe and brothers David and Robert) entered the business - at the ground level," he emphasizes. Today at JARD Marketing, Joe is in charge of buying, David takes care of selling while Robert oversees production.

Over the last 30 years, the Gangis have gained valuable experience in the fruit salad market. They mastered the art of choosing the freshest fruit possible and perfected their method of retaining that freshness all the way to the customer's table.

Through the '80s and '90s, the business continued to grow. In addition to the foodservice distributors that had always been the Gangis' biggest customer, local supermarkets began ordering from them as well. According to Joe Gangi, 90 percent of JARD Marketing's business today is from the retail sector. A good portion of that increased growth can be traced directly to Ted Kozick, the company's retail sales manager. "Since Ted join our sales team in 1996, he's maintained great customer relations with our major accounts," says Joe Gangi.

Business is Booming

Since 1996, when JARD Marketing established its fresh-cut fruit operation, the company has grown by about 25 percent per year. And with more than 300 employees, the company is still on a growth pattern. Needless to say, expansion was inevitable.

A few months ago, JARD Marketing moved into a new facility, still within the city limits of Lawrence, Mass., where everything began 85 years ago. The old facility was 18,000 square feet and located in the inner city. However, the new operation is a 30,000 square foot facility located in an industrial park. According to David Gangi, with everything more centralized, the entire operation runs a lot smoother. "It's an easy flow now that all of our operation is better configured. We also have more refrigeration."

In the new facility, says Joe Gangi, JARD Marketing could potentially expand its business by up to 40 percent.

JARD Marketing processes more than 500,000 pounds of fruit every week. The recently harvested fruit is refrigerated at temperatures appropriate for the specific type of fruit. Then, when it's ready for cutting, the fruit is moved into a cooled workspace, washed, sanitized, rinsed and hand-peeled. As David emphasizes, no machinery is used in the peeling process. The peeled fruit is then washed free of seeds and finally is hand-sliced. The prepared melons, pineapples, grapes and other fruit are kept refrigerated until packaging, which is also conducted in a cooled environment. "No product is made for inventory," says Gangi. "All fruit is prepared daily to satisfy existing orders. We start off each day with fresh product, and have zero inventory at day's end. We don't have any carryover at all."

One unique fruit item that's becoming popular with the retail and foodservice industries is the Frosty Fresh pomegranate. According to Joe Gangi, the pomegranate is very appealing to customers because Frosty Fresh offers just the succulent seeds. "We've been deseeding pomegranates for nearly two years now, offering them in 4-ounce containers for retail and 24-ounce containers for the foodservice industry." he says. "The only thing the customer has to do is open the container and enjoy them."

Commitment to Company

JARD Marketing managers recognize that their employee base is the backbone of the company. And, they ensure employee needs are met. "We pride ourselves at taking internal employees and promoting within," says Gangi. "We truly value our employees, for without them, we could not produce the quality products we do."

One way of retaining good employees is to train them. JARD Marketing sends its employees to a Servesafe training program that is (Massachusetts) state certified. "When employees finish this training, they are well trained in food handling and sanitation," explains Gangi.

JARD also offers English classes to its non-English speaking employees. "They know exactly what to do while on the job," says Gangi. "We just want to be able to give them the means of communicating with fellow employees."

Safety First

"We are constantly on a mission to maintain our high safety standards," says Irv Lemack, JARD's technical director. Using current Good Manufacturing Practices of the Federal Food and Drug Administration, JARD Marketing's facility operates under the provisions of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) guidelines. "While employing traditional quality control to evaluate 'what we did,'" says Lemack, "Frosty Fresh uses HACCP to control 'what we do.' As a result, we are able to ensure food safety and high product quality."

JARD employees are also well trained. "Workers wear disposable garments that they change several times during the course of each day," says Lemack.

As with any fresh cut fruit product, it is important to maintain a certain temperature, thus ensuring extended freshness. Keeping to those standards, Lemack says that fruit is only in the cutting room for a minimal amount of time. "Once it's cut, we immediately put it back into the refrigerator until packaging."

Lemack, who's been with the company 41 years, feels the secret to their success is sanitization and refrigeration. But ask any consumer and they will tell you JARD Marketing's key to success is its devotion to 'fresh.'

Fresh-cut Fruit Firm Sees Rapid Growth

From the January 1998 issue of Fresh Cut magazine

BOSTON -- It's 5:45 a.m. on the docks at the Boston Market Terminal and New England Produce Center Association. David Gangi maneuvers around pallets of fresh produce, tasting red seedless grapes and cutting into fresh cantaloupe and honeydew melons.

"These are more money, but I don't think they taste as good as the $14 grapes we tasted back there," he says, sampling a box priced at $20. "Just because they're the most expensive doesn't make them the best."

Returning to the $14 grapes, Gangi dickers with the dealer who soundlessly flashes prices with his fingers. The two strike a deal for a pallet and a half of red grapes at $13 a box and David's brother Joe trucks them to the family processing plant in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

"The average person will say, 'If I have the $20, the more expensive grapes are the best,' but those were sour," David reasons. "They looked okay. The fruit had a nice color, but the cheaper grapes had a better flavor."

Such discriminating taste for high quality fruit helps explain the success of JARD Marketing Corp., established just 15 months ago by brothers Joe, David and Robert Gangi to process and package fresh-cut fruit under the Frosty Fresh label.

In that relatively short period, nearly every major New England supermarket chain has begun carrying cups and trays of Frosty Fresh fruit while club stores and foodservice operations are joining the throng, too. Supermarkets currently represent 80 percent of company business while 10 percent is club/warehouse stores and a growing 10 percent is foodservice. The company also bottles fruit, but Joe thinks the future belongs to fresh-cut.

"There's no substitute for 'fresh,'" he insists. "It doesn't mean a two-week shelf life. We emphasize quality and service and that means frequent deliveries. It has to be done regionally. The key to fresh-cut is keeping the product fresh. That's what we are, Frosty Fresh, with an emphasis on 'fresh.'"

Expansion Ahead
The emphasis on truly fresh fresh-cut fruit is working. Since opening their facility, Gangi reports the brothers have already enlarged, renovated and remodeled their current 20,000-square-foot plant and already have plans for expansion. The company currently houses fresh product in two off-site warehouses prior to processing.

"Initially we processed and offered a basic line that included fruit salad mix, cantaloupe, honeydew, gold Costa Rican pineapple both cored and chunked," Gangi explains. "Today our line includes various products such as citrus, grapes, nectarines, seedless watermelon and various exotic fruits, along with different platters, bowls and bulk products."

All Frosty Fresh products are packed, labeled and coded in plastic containers with safety seals. Pack sizes include cases of eight 8-ounce, 10-ounce, 14-ounce and 24-ounce containers as well as cases of six 36-ounce containers, four 44-ounce containers, two 60-ounce platters, two 64-ounce and 88-ounce fancy reusable bowls and two 4-pound and 8-pound bulk containers.

"We tailor our items to an account's special needs," Gangi reports. "Handled and merchandised properly, these products will sell themselves."

Gangi's statement was verified during visits to two major New England retailers, who had different experiences with their fresh-cut displays. At the first store, no product had been stocked in the fresh-cut display that particular morning, hence, no sales had been made. At the other store, however, produce personnel put fresh product on ice in the six-foot display and, by 9:30 a.m., the store had already sold a 60-ounce fruit platter, a 36-ounce plastic container and three 14-ounce containers.

Exponential Growth
"We've increased our business exponentially over the last year," Joe Gangi asserts. "We're getting busier all the time and our customers are using more product.

"There are standard products that continually do well, such as fruit salad, cantaloupe, honeydew, golden Costa Rican pineapple and citrus products. We are constantly developing new product mixes and packaging, some of which are requested by buyers. We see great opportunity and growth in new and different products and believe demand will increase as customers become more committed and aggressive with this category."

Just because their operation is relatively new doesn't mean the brothers are new to produce. All three have "been in the business since we were kids," according to Joe, who boasts 35 years' experience, while Robert and David have 30 and 28 years, respectively.

"My grandfather was in the banana business when he came from Italy before World War II," he recalls. "Right after the war, our father started into business repacking tomatoes and packaging celery hearts, radishes and other items for supermarkets. Then we got into food distribution, taking vegetables door-to-door to supermarkets in the '50s."

The brothers eventually went into business for themselves, opening a fruit stand called The Frosty Melon. Then, in August, 1996, seeing great potential for fresh-cut fruit, they adopted the Frosty Fresh label and opened their facility in Lawrence.

Business Up Tenfold
Joe says the city "has been really good to us," but JARD Marketing has been good to Lawrence, too. Business has jumped more than tenfold since the startup and the plant cuts about 5,000 pounds of fruit in two daily shifts of 50 workers each - all from the immediate neighborhood.

"It's been like a partnership with the community and neighborhood groups," Gangi says. "We won a Red Cross award because we donated time and fruit to the firemen and workers during a flood. It's our philosophy to give back to the community so it will flourish."

The brothers' growth is due not only to procuring quality fruit but also to employing proper methods of handling, processing and sanitation.

Checking in a load of cantaloupe from a contract grower, Joe records vendor, trucker, truck cleanliness and condition, temperature, presence of pests, if any, fruit color and condition, and other details.

"It looks like this load is going to be rejected," he announces after tasting a sample and measuring brix or sweetness with a refractometer. "It's just not sweet enough. We want our brix level to be at least 11 and no more than 14 percent."

When fruit meets company standards, it is held at 33-36 F, then washed in a sanitizing bath before employees in hairnets and sanitized gloves even begin to peel and cut it by hand. The processing room is 50-55 F for worker comfort, but, once packaged, fruit is immediately returned to low-temperature storage before loading onto refrigerated trucks for delivery. A HACCP program is in place to guarantee food safety, but freshness is really the secret to satisfied customers.

Starting Fresh Daily
"We start the day off with fresh product," the eldest Gangi explains. "We have zero inventory each day which is very important in this business. You can't have any carryover.

"We skin, slice and cut back the seed cavity of all melons before packing. We know this process to be successful. Purchasing fruit daily assures the finest and freshest products and we offer a five-day shelf life."
Orders are placed and filled daily and product is delivered just 16 hours from the time an order is received.

"Computers can't buy this product," says David Gangi. "It's not like making wooden widgets. You've got to be there."

Ted Kozick, retail sales manager, agrees, "You have to watch the brix and have consistent sugar content. If it's too high, it turns to mush. If it's too low, it tastes like cardboard."

Listening to the Trade
Working with retailers has also helped move the product forward and give it the promotional boost it needs to get started. In working with retailers, David Gangi says the sales staff has help retailers select SKUs that fit their customer base, order correct quantities in the right pattern and at the right frequency, and manage shelf space and inventory levels, which should be "little to none."

"By listening and understand our customers' needs and responding accordingly with teamwork, our five-day shelf life has been and continues to be successful," David explains.

While the brothers focused their initial marketing efforts on retail, they are also working with foodservice distributors and finding encouraging success in penetrating that unique market, too.
Illustrating the labor savings available to foodservice operators with the use of fresh-cut fruit, Joe Gangi says, "Sometimes they'll call us up and buy 50 cases of cups, eight to a case. That's 400 cups the operator would have to get somebody to prepare. That would take a few hours, but the next day, he may only need 10 cases. If he hires a person to do that, today he might do 400, the next day, 80. What does the operator do with that employee in the meantime?"

Another advantage of a centralized commissary facility lies in employee turnover and improved product safety and consistency.

"Restaurants always have a lot of worker turnover," Joe reasons. "Whereas if you get 100 people working for you in a commissary, you may lose five or six a month, but the core of your operation still has the experience to carry on. In a restaurant, if you ask a new guy to cut up the lettuce, he may not know what he's doing. The sanitation isn't up. He may not be up on his own hygiene. That's why it's a good idea to centralize cutting and processing foods."

Specialty Items Sell
Retailers, on the other hand, can't always predict fresh-cut fruit needs accurately, especially prior to a holiday, according to David Gangi. During the 1996 holiday season a new retail customer estimated its needs and placed its orders only to double the order later when holiday traffic hit their stores.

"They couldn't keep enough of it on the shelf," he recalls. "It just goes to show you how unpredictable the fresh-cut business is. But that's our job, meeting customer needs and so we are used to filling surprise orders at the last minute. The customer is king.

"We believe fresh-cut fruit will continue to be a regional business. Due to the efficiency of shelf life, freshness and turnaround time, which is critical to the success of the business, fresh supplies can be shipped daily, allowing the accounts to turn product in less than five days. Response time for accounts with rush orders or special requests can also be met and satisfied more effectively when the source of supply is in close proximity."