Despite the ups and downs of the past year, Philadelphia’s B.R.S. Produce has been able to keep a steady business flowing for customers. “We’ve been able to maintain the same people and the same space,” said Rick Milavsky, B.R.S. president.

“I have a great work crew and we’ve worked hard over the past year to continue to serve our customers with the best products at good volume,” he said.

As a licensed customs brokerage company specializing in providing customs brokerage services to importers of fresh produce, J&K Produce appreciates all the amazing work that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has done during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The past year resulted in a greater push for delivery among customers at Pinto Bros.

“We’ve operated a subsidiary company, A. Penza Inc., for several years now to provide transportation and delivery services,” said Todd Penza, salesman at Pinto Bros. in Philadelphia.

“However, over the past year we’ve really seen a demand from our customers for more delivery resulting in us expanding our capabilities.”

For M. Levin & Co. Inc., a fourth-generation wholesaler and the oldest company on the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, business is off to a strong start in 2021.

With more than a century of history tied to the Philadelphia food scene, John Vena, president of John Vena Inc., feels very strongly that this is where the company belongs.

There is a level of excitement and optimism in the produce world because people are getting vaccinated and we seem to get closer and closer to normalcy with each passing day. And that, according to Tom Kovacevich, has the Philadelphia area’s produce professionals looking forward to a busy and successful spring and summer.