Dietz & Kolodenko pleased to see summer fruit begin
Dietz & Kolodenko pleased to see summer fruit begin
CHICAGO — After a record-breaking cold winter, the owner of a Chicago fruit house is especially pleased to see summer’s arrival.
Nick Gaglione, who owns Dietz & Kolodenko Co., a few weeks ago said, “It was a very hard winter for our customers, who had a lack of business. It was a long cold winter, even for Chicago. Now we’re starting to see summer fruit.” Chilean fruit was finishing and Gaglione anticipated the arrival of California summer fruit. “We are a fruit house,” so the summer is a key time for the firm.
Earlier this spring Dietz & Kolodenko was handling Chilean and New Zealand fruit, mostly Gala apples from both countries. Both Pacific countries were also in the market with pears. “People in the upper scale prefer New Zealand. There is not too much of a difference, but there is enough to merit a difference” in pear prices. “The standards are a little higher in New Zealand.”
Gaglione anticipates an increase in New Zealand kiwifruit volume after very low production in the category last season.
Dietz & Kolodenko has expanded its refrigerated warehousing capability on the Chicago International Produce Market by adding a third tier of racks. On one hand Gaglione said, “I don’t like it. Nothing we have here gets better” with time in a warehouse. “But still, we need room to put things. Last year was pretty good.”
Gaglione noted, “We have good suppliers, good vendors, who make things work.”
Dietz & Kolodenko is expanding its organic line to meet growing demand.
The firm is also developing a Primus food-safety program. “We’ve got to adjust. There are so many more people making precautions to be healthy.”
