“It’s extremely important and it’s a big part of our business,” said Bruce Klein, director of marketing for the Secaucus, NJ-based company. “Our business is broken up into different areas. We sell to the markets, we sell to the chains, we sell to the foodservice purveyors and we sell to other companies.”
Additionally, the Hunts Point Market is a very important part of the company’s business.
“We send a truck there five or six days a week,” Klein said. “They supply a lot of customers throughout the New York-Metro area and further. They’re extremely important to our business.”
The company’s primary items include garlic and shallots, and it also deals in specialty items such as Asian and tropical produce, through the AuerPak brand. Other products the company works in include asparagus, ginger and tofu.
By serving a diverse clientele in both retail and foodservice, Auerbach provides garlic to both people who cook at home and those who prefer to dine out, and Klein said 2025 has been strong for garlic sales.
“The garlic business is up,” he said. “We’re not really sure what’s going to happen with these tariffs and everything else, it’s a wait-and-see-what-happens situation. We source garlic from all over the world, and it gets harder and harder with logistics–getting it off the pier and inspected. It’s not getting easier.”
Tariffs aren’t the only challenge the economy is facing, and that can make for cautious shoppers.
“Individual customers don’t want to spend a lot of money, and they’re looking closely at everything,” Klein said. “Things have changed rapidly because of what’s going on. They look at the stock market and it’s down. People start to get a little nervous and don’t want to spend money.”
With garlic being such a staple of cooking and not being very costly, it’s unlikely that the price will get so high that people stop buying it. Whether people make chicken, beef, fish, salads or vegetarian dishes, it’s likely you will find garlic in their recipes.
“If the consumer needs garlic, there’s really no other option for them,” Klein said. “So, they don’t really have a choice.”
Maurice Auerbach Inc. is also gearing up for the spring season. With Easter just around the corner, Klein said he expects to see big demand for another of the company’s products.
“Asparagus right now is very tight for Easter,” he said. “There is some tightening up with the product and prices will be higher during the holiday.”
The last few years have presented the industry with all sorts of challenges, including a pandemic, supply chain issues and a good amount of economic uncertainty. But Maurice Auerbach Inc.’s dedicated and knowledgeable team always seems to rise to the occasion.
“Our reactions to our customers’ needs are what has made us most successful, aside from having excellent shippers and a good customer base that is spread out over retailers, wholesalers, purveyors and meal kit companies,” Klein said. “All of those things make us successful.”
