S. Katzman Produce optimistic about state of the produce industry

With more than five decades of experience calling the Hunts Point Market home, S. Katzman Produce has seen first-hand the importance of the market to New York and the surrounding areas.

“We bring stuff in from all over the world — about 50 different countries,” said Stefanie Katzman, executive vice president at S. Katzman Produce.

A fourth-generation family member in the company, Katzman, is seeing great things ahead for 2022.

“We’re still seeing business continue like we have,” she said. “I’d say the past two years, we’ve seen an increase in retail, and we’re starting to see foodservice come back now. We’re still seeing that same high level of buying at the retail level. It’s a great sign for us and our industry that the population is eating more fruits and vegetables.”

Some of the items that are trending are mushrooms and ginger, and then there are certain items that are normally reserved for restaurants that are finding their ways to the retail shelf.

“For instance, we created a new retail pack for organic turmeric root,” Katzman said. “These new items that used to be so foodservice oriented, we’re now seeing expanded demand and growth on the retail level, so I’m excited to see what new products are going to come out.”

S. Katzman Produce is experiencing the same problems that most companies are — lack of labor and freight challenges.

“These aren’t even produce industry challenges, but every industry, and that’s making it tougher on our industry because all organizations are experiencing this,” Katzman said. “The lack of labor effects supply, which drives things up, and that complicates the problem overall.”

Unlike other industries, the produce industry isn’t able to go remote. It needs workers to pick crops and get the product to customers.

“At Hunts Point, you see that negotiation with customers going back and forth, and read the other person’s face, and you can’t really do that virtually,” Katzman said. “You can’t touch and feel produce through a screen. So, with us, it’s a bigger challenge than some of these other industries.”

At Hunts Point, S. Katzman Produce is mainly located on Row B, though some of its approximate 50 units are on Row D as well. It currently has the largest footprint on the market and employs about 400.

“One of the neat things we’ve been able to do over the years, is as we’ve expanded, we’ve also been able to consolidate our location,” Katzman said. “We used to be spread across three different rows, but now the majority is in one area, with 33 stalls right in a row.”

S. Katzman Produce’s customer base includes everything from small mom and pop shops to independent supermarkets, to a lot of the big chain stores.

“What’s unique about us is that middle group — we are able to give them fresh deliveries every single day because we’re bringing in truckloads of stuff and consolidating and dispersing it out to so many different customers,” Katzman said. “It not only helps them, but also helps out our growers. We need to make sure we protect the brand of our growers and that the quality is on the shelf.”

Looking ahead, Katzman is very optimistic about the produce industry.

“People are eating healthier, trying to cook more things at home and as the world comes back to full openness, we’re still seeing them buying more fruits and vegetables,” Katzman said. “We’re seeing big pushes at the school level. There are about 10 different things changing our industry for the better.”