Tommy Piazza, partner, corporate clerk and executive in charge of potatoes for Community-Suffolk Inc., located at the Boston Market Terminal in Everett, MA, announced to The Produce News that the company has successfully implemented a new computer system referred to as an information technology infrastructure.

“The system enables our sales people to check inventory, profit and loss information and all else pertinent to our operation in real time at their desks,” said Piazza. “It is built around an IBM power system designed to handle today’s computer-intensive combination of business transactions for all paperwork. We chose this system because if offers open technology, computational speed, expedient time intervals of information and the resiliency to provide immediate reliable responses to users when they need it most.”Steve Piazza

He added that the combination of new hardware and software provides the company with an agile system capable of growing and complimenting Community-Suffolk’s business requirements. The system combines the best of both worlds; the advantages of a shared infrastructure for core systems and extending engagement systems securely and reliably through mobile applications.

“We may be using a handheld device at the point of sale, as opposed to keying something in at a station,” he explained. “We can walk to the product with the device as opposed to carrying a sales book on the selling floor.

“The emerging measures of the system’s performance are built around agility and the ability to help our business capitalize on new opportunities,” he added.

Jackie Piazza, one of Tommy’s brothers, is the director of citrus for Community-Suffolk. His division is located in the adjacent New England Produce Center facility. A third brother, Steve Piazza, is the company president. A cousin of the three brothers, David Piazza, is the vice president and oversees iceberg lettuce and onion sales.

The company is a full line hardware vegetable house. Its line includes year-round supplies of celery, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, onions, radishes, garlic, apples, iceberg lettuce, salad savoy, leafy vegetables and much more.The mascot at Community-Suffolk in Everett, MA is a Chocolate Labrador Retriever named ‘Russett.’ Its full citrus line includes oranges, limes and lemons. The company’s citrus division is based on a developed partnership with Sunkist, and it also labels oranges under its “MF” brand. It is known for handling premier labels and maintaining tight relationships with its grower-shippers, as well as its customers.

Piazza also announced that a longtime and valued employee, Dario Serra, has been brought upstairs from the dock to the sales desk to help in the fast and furious early morning deluge of the potato business.

“Dario is a great guy with fire in the belly,” said Piazza. “He has been in the potato business for 20 years and with us for 15 years. We are highly meticulous in how our dock and offices are maintained, and his is fastidious this way. No one wants to walk into a messy warehouse or see product broken up on a pallet. He is a true value to us in that he is highly conscientious. In addition to being strongly experienced and attentive to every detail, he has an inherently honest and genuine countenance.”

He also announced a new salesman, Dana Campo, whose family has been in the produce industry for over five generations. He has experience on both the wholesale and retail ends, or as Piazza said, “he knows both sides of the desk.” Campo has worked with upscale farmstands and is familiar with nearly every item-from herbs to all varieties of squashes.

“Dana has already brought in a couple of new items for us, including asparagus sugar snap peas and sno peas, and he’s knowledgeable about ethnic, seasonal and specialty products,” said Piazza. “He’s also computer-savvy, which facilitates communication with the younger generation now entering the business with more technical talent.”

Campo’s nephew, Andrew Campo, who is in his early 20s, also works for the company on the dock.

“Andrew knows all the things he needs to know,” said Piazza. “From loading a truck to quickly pointing out problems and issues, he’s on top of every detail.”

Business at Community-Suffolk, Piazza pointed out, is definitely picking up, and that despite what might appear to be surface trends, staple and comfort foods like potatoes have helped the company maintain and even grow its volume.

The company also hired an additional driver to help insure that orders are delivered in a timely and efficient manner.

“This driver is also sort of a logistics’ coordinator for some of our larger deliveries,” said Piazza. “We’ve expanded our ability to deliver larger shipments to a wider distribution range and to expand and solidify our partnerships in other regions and states.

“This is just one example of Community-Suffolk’s reputation of service and commitment to high quality,” he added.