MINNEAPOLIS — Russ Davis started his Minnesota-based company as a one-truck business in 1955, taking orders as he was making deliveries on his route. Today Russ Davis Wholesale is an employee-owned company with a large fleet of vehicles and multiple locations, but it still continues the founder’s legacy of specializing in the distribution of fresh vegetables and fruits.Pat Miller

“So 60 years ago this started off as a family business with Russ Davis, and then his son Gary took it over,” Pat Miller, RDW’s vice president, told The Produce News. “Gary is still alive — he’s 82 now — and he still comes into the building every day just to visit. He’s got a lot of knowledge and experience to share. We are now an ESOP [Employee Stock Ownership Plan] company — 100 percent employee-owned. It provides a benefit for our customers over our competition because we have dedicated employees that know what to deal with. We’ve got truck drivers and loaders who are on the same insurance as myself as vice president, or as Adam Gamble, our president. We are on the same playing field and I feel we get that extra dedication from our people, which is great.”

With 540 employees, five distribution centers in three states, a company-owned delivery fleet and a diesel repair operation to service that fleet, a trucking firm and a freight brokering company, along with a processing facility and an additional one opening next year, RDW manages the entire process of produce distribution.

“Each distribution center is the same, so if you have a store in the upper peninsula of Michigan and you own a store in St. Paul, they’ll be delivered by two different branches but they’ve got the same product,” said Miller. “We try and mimic each warehouse to have the same SKU lines, the same service, and each warehouse ripens their own bananas — they don’t transfer that stuff around. We service eight states — Montana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We’ve got a processing facility in Eagan, MN, and we’re going to be breaking ground next spring for an additional state-of-the-art processing facility attached to the Hammond, WI, facility. We’ve always wanted it connected to a wholesale distribution center. We’ve got quality control in both buildings, we’ve got transfer trucks, and we’ll have a state-of-the-art kitchen there for our chef and product development. It will be a place to bring people in to show them our line.”

In 2010, RDW launched Crazy Fresh Produce, its custom line of fresh-cut fruits, vegetables and specialty items, which enables its retailers and foodservice partners to keep their shelves full, according to the company website.

“As a family business, we really brought ourselves to the next level with our Crazy Fresh line. It’s different than anybody else’s cut program in the industry,” Miller said. “We sell in single units so you don’t have to buy a 60-pound case of watermelon. Order today, it’s cut today and delivered for tomorrow. Everything is cut-to-order; we don’t inventory any cut product. We also have some fun stuff, like a microwaveable line for summer grilling season, a full salsa line and a great guacamole line, and we have USDA on-site so we are able to do protein salads, such as chicken Caesar and others.”

RDW services a diverse customer base, from a single-store operator to 50-store groups and even national chains.

“We’re in Target now with our cut fruit,” said Miller. “All the Super Targets based out of the Iowa division, and we are in Chicago now, too. But everyone means the same to us. If you are a 50-store group or a single store, you get the same service. We have a split program with most all of our product. So if you’re a small store you don’t have to buy a 40-pound case, you can buy a three-count or a 12-count case. How can they be profitable if they have to buy 40 pounds and only sell 20? They can’t do it. And they want to have variety in their store and this allows them to do it.”

RDW’s goal is “to turn the produce aisle into the new snack food aisle by proving that convenient foods can be fresh, wholesome and full of flavor,” said Miller. Its Crazy Fresh packages are “designed for the grab-and-go lifestyle and are easily stored.”

“The two growing categories in the industry are organics and value-added cuts,” Miller said. “And right now our organic SKU count is over 416. We also have a wrapped organic program. We wrap every day and do a three-count for the smaller stores that can’t handle full cases.”

The company also values its local farmer partners. It has organic apple growers in both Minnesota and Wisconsin that contract grow for them.

“All of our vendors are important to us,” said Miller. “But we have to support the locals. We’ve got about 80 local organic SKUs right now. We say ‘Russ Davis is your partner in the produce aisle,’ yet it’s really a full circle, with grower-vendors partnering with us, we partner with the retailer, and the retailer partners with the consumer. We really stress that.”