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Baldor expanding with new warehouse in Maryland

By
Keith Loria

Baldor Specialty Foods is one of the largest importers and distributors of fresh produce and specialty foods in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, and has seen the market in the Baltimore area become very competitive of late.

lettuce“There used to be a lot of smaller, family-owned, stand-alone food distributors, but in the past couple years, they’ve all been bought up by big conglomerates or VC companies,” said Bill Hodge, director of sales for Baldor’s Philadelphia and Washington, DC regions. “Unlike national distributors, we have the advantage of being a smaller company that prioritizes our personal relationships and radical hospitality, and we really burrow into our markets to get to know our customers and their needs.”

With that in mind, Baldor is opening a new 100,000-square-foot warehouse in Lanham, MD, and is reaching out to more local farms in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia for product.

“The move will allow us to increase our capacity and optimize our network, getting more products to more customers more efficiently while also increasing the number of customers we can serve, including in the Baltimore market,” Hodge said.

The company works with local growers as much as possible and is also making sure its Baltimore customers know that there are already local farms in the existing network that Baldor has been working with for years.

“When you’re a small farm, the administrative food-safety paperwork and insurance requirements to sell to a distributor like us can be a hurdle, so we have created a team to help get those growers on board,” Hodge said. “It’s a win-win because it means more local products for Baltimore customers, but also a bigger audience for the farm itself, since we can also sell their produce in our Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts markets.”

This year, Baldor has seen a growing interest in romaine alternatives and hydroponic growers.

“Customers are starting to explore other crunch lettuces like Little Gem that have the same effect on the plate,” Hodge said. “And there’s a bigger trend toward hydroponic growers — the flavor and quality of greenhouse lettuces have really improved and are more consistently available since they’re not affected by weather issues. Hydroponic can also be grown locally in and around Baltimore, year-round.”

Baldor is also introducing some specialty product items to the market this year since it has relationships with smaller farms, like baby sugar mangoes from Goldenberry Farms or strawberries from Oishii.  

The company will source from where it makes most sense to its customers.

“Our first priority is to make sure high-quality produce is consistently available to our customers, so as seasons change, we start pulling from various regions,” Hodge said. “In the spring and summer, we lean on local East Coast produce as much as possible, then turn to the West Coast in the fall and winter. So, the customer is always getting peak season produce, just from different locations. Seasonality does impact price, however. When corn and tomatoes are local, the prices are lower because they’re not paying for transport/freight costs that are incurred with shipping from the West Coast.”

A key part of Baldor’s mission is to engage with the local community and promote healthy eating and access to fresh produce. In fact, Baldor senior leadership went to D.C. back in June to engage congressional representatives about the Farm Bill.

“As a company, we believe we have a critical advocacy role in supporting regulations that impact both ends of our supply chain,” Hodge said. “The Farm Bill is vital legislation that helps our farmer partners while also increasing access to healthy across all communities, including those facing food insecurity. Additionally, Baldor seeks out local, food-focused nonprofit organizations in the communities we serve so they can benefit from our surpluses.”

Keith Loria

Keith Loria

About Keith Loria  |  email

A graduate of the University of Miami, Keith Loria is a D.C.-based award-winning journalist who has been writing for major publications for close to 20 years on topics as diverse as real estate, food and sports. He started his career with the Associated Press and has held high editorial positions at magazines aimed at healthcare, sports and technology. When not busy writing, he can be found enjoying time with his wife, Patricia, and two daughters, Jordan and Cassidy.

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