Nickey Gregory Co. enjoys historic sales numbers
Nickey Gregory Co. enjoys historic sales numbers
Nickey Gregory Co., operating on the Atlanta State Farmer’s Market, had its best quarter in the history of the company in Q1 2022 in terms of both sales and cases sold.
“Our sales were up 20 percent from 2020 to 2021. Business was very good, both with our foodservice and retail customers,” said Andrew Scott, director of business development and marketing for the company. “Momentum from 2021 has increased into 2022 and we are staying very busy.”
Andrew Scott of Nickey Gregory Co.
Since Nickey Gregory was born and raised in Georgia with most of his life spent in Forest Park, GA, where the company is located, the state is obviously a very important one for the business.
“In fact, Nickey started working on the Atlanta Market when he was 6 years old with his parents who owned a wholesale produce company,” Scott said.
The company has continued to carry on the tradition the Gregory family began.
Georgia is a great produce town, Scott noted, due to its great restaurants, a strong economy with a diverse retail scene, including national chains and independents, close to 20 Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Atlanta, and an array of conventions and sporting events.
“We are very strong at foodservice and work with many large national companies,” Scott said. “The secret starts at the top with Nickey and flows down to all of us. Great service, quality, communication, family and logistics is what makes us who we are.”
Things in the state, as with most of the county, are somewhat challenging right now for those working in the produce industry.
“Hiring and retaining drivers is challenging,” Scott said. “Our warehouse workforce is some of the best around and we take very good care of these essential workers.”
In 2022, Nickey Gregory Co. expects to continue to grow and add to its fleet, overcoming the driver and truck shortages so it can continue to sell across 11 Southeastern states.
Over the past year, the company’s processing division, Family Fresh Foods, has experienced big growth with foodservice and school business across the Southeast. Home meal kits have become a growing sector for FFF the past two years.
Recently, the company hired a retired USDA inspector who has had a more than a 30-year career inspecting from New York to Florida to Georgia.
“With this addition, we are now taking internal USDA inspections on all of our POs when they arrive to give us an accurate description of all lots of product,” Scott said.
