Anthony Marano Co. adds new organic department
Anthony Marano Co. adds new organic department
CHICAGO — A new organic department is now part of Anthony Marano Co.
Damon Marano, the family firm’s vice president of sales, said three seasoned veterans of the organic side of the industry were hired to run the department. These staff people are John Roins, Alice Shutway and Louis Alex. “Alice has degrees in horticulture and agriculture, which puts her ahead of the game in the world of organics with 28 years of experience behind her,” he said. “Lou has buying power with 40 years in wholesale, retail and foodservice. John has the operations expertise with over 20 years in produce.
“The entire spectrum is covered, offering our customers a full line of organic items for their operations. Like our other departments, we can custom pack to the customer’s specifications,” Marano added. “Being a certified organic repacker offers a huge opportunity to serve a wide variety of customers. People who previously wouldn’t buy organics are now seeing the advantage to offering both conventional and organic one-stop shopping.”
The organic line was rolled out in March by Marano. These include organic salads and specialty packs of Marano’s own brand. These products are certified and labeled with the USDA organic sticker.
Damon Marano’s brother, Anton J. Marano, noted that the organic department is “a great complement to any grocery store or fruit market.” Anton J. Marano is vice president of operations for the firm, which is headed by family patriarch Anton T. Marano, CEO.
Organics make Marano’s eighth specialty department.
The other departments are fruit, potato and onion, berry, lettuce, pepper, tomato, and the banana, tropical, Asian, specialty department.
Damon Marano said, “Every staff member on the sales floor has a minimum of 10 years of buying and selling in retail, wholesale and the foodservice industry.”
On Jan. 15, Marano became a Fresh Point distribution center. Fresh Point is a sister company of Sysco. Fresh Point handles repacks, splits and redistribution of produce to Sysco warehouses. Marano has a 30-year-old relationship as a Sysco produce purveyor. Now, “We are very happy to be part of their family,” Damon Marano said.
Anton J. Marano said that his firm is SQF, level two, certified, and beyond that, “food safety is a real focus for us this year.”
