Fruit and produce merchants

Press, 18 July 1979, Page 15

Fruit and produce merchants

The task of supplying a major metropolitan area with constant and varied supplies of fresh fruit is not a simple one. These days, with rapid transit and container shipping, New' Zealanders have a wider range of fresh foodstuffs than ever before, but the quantitires and costs involved in marketing them allow no haphazard organisation. The responsibility for putting your fresh fruit and vegetables on the table in peak condition rests largely with firms like Macfarlane and Growers, Ltd, — fruit and produce merchants and auctioneers. They are a part, of the central marketing system by which in every city, at least one large market distributes daily supplies to retailers.

Historically, these markets have always been built in central locations, to give easy access to growers and retailers alike, and to keep transport costs to a minimum. Macfarlane and Growers’ complex keeps to this tradition, situated right in the city centre between Lichfield and Tuam streets.

From 6 o’clock evey morning of the working week the people at Macfarlane and Growers are on the job. Up to 100 workers in the peak summer season help to provide marketing facilities for the grow'ers, importers and freight forwarders who bring us our fresh fruit and vegetables. As the second-biggest produce wholesalers in the country, Macfarlane and Growers open their doors whenever necessary’ to take delivery of perishables. The nature of much of their imported stock means that it must suffer a minimum of handling, and be placed in cold storage as quickly as possible. Once spoilage starts in a shipment of fruit the spread is difficult to contain. and huge losses are possible. Sunday and Wednesday are regular late nights, but Macfarlane and Growers open whenever there is a demand — every night during the stone fruit season.

An operation of this size needs plenty of storage and display space, and Macfarlane • and Growers certainly have that. Their main market complex has an area of over 8000 sq. m. with a covered floor area of almost 5462 sq. m. Outside, parking is provided for 445 vehicles,

with direct access to the market floor for 105 vans and trucks, to make loading and unloading as quick and simple as possible.

Macfarlane and Grow'ers have a large fleet of trucks of their own, including three container vehicles to take port and rail deliveries. Fast service and careful handling are particularly important aspects of the job — they mean a better price for the grower, and a better product for the consumer. The fruit and produce merchants and auctioneers sell on behalf of the growers, acting as middle-men between them and the retailers to maintain prices that are firm and fair. Supply and demand, and the condition of produce offered for sale, determine how high prices will go.

There is always some element of luck involved, though, and a grower may find he has chosen the wrong day for marketing a particular crop. If supply exceeds demand,

prices to the grower will drop. Macfarlane and Growers take a 10 per cent commission on produce auctioned in their premises. They see their major role, however, as an organisational one, providing as wide a range of produce as can possibly be obtained and keeping seasonal shortages to a minimum.

As a wholesale distributor, Macfarlane and Growers deal in bulk orders only, supplying retail fruit and vegetable outlets like supermarkets, dairies and greengrocers, as well as restaurants, canteens, hotels and large institutions.

General Manager Mr A. Cahill is emphatic, though, that the primary aim of the company is to provide the best possible service to the products they sell. Each variety has its own particular characteristics, and needs handling in a specific way, and it is this aspect that gives the work its fascination.