John Vena, president of John Vena Inc., located on the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, told The Produce News that the company is expanding its space at the market. The company was among the first to move into the market when it opened in June 2011, taking spaces F-1 through F-5.

“The tenant that occupied unit F-6 is moving to the other end of the building and we are taking over that unit,” said Vena. John Vena, president of John Vena Inc., at the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market.“We have a couple of business activities that it will enable us to handle, such as full container loads, making it easier to manage the processes next to our existing operation.”

Vena said that the company is experiencing strong growth numbers in persimmons, fresh coconuts, papayas and mangos.

“We have always handled Hispanic and other ethnic items, and we’ve always been strong in products that appeal to ethnic communities, including Asian and even Indian,” said Vena. “We’re now focusing strongly on more Hispanic items, particularly in the root vegetables and fruit items. In order to be competitive it’s necessary to make a commitment to the category.”

The concept, he noted, is a sound one. The company does an equally strong foodservice and retail business, and while the demand for ethnic items at the foodservice has seen slow, steady growth, the strongest demand and growth is at retail.

“It’s necessary to offer these products at a good price in order to attract interest,” explained Vena. “If you have the product, but you’re not competitively priced, you won’t attract the retailers. We place strong focus on this aspect, as well as on the areas where the ethnic communities are strongest. You can have the best price on an item, but if the retailers don’t have the consumers who want it, I can’t sell it there.

“It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he continued. “We try to match quality and price to the items that our customers are asking for.”

Since moving to the new market, John Vena has added more services for certain customers, such as special packaging or product presentation.

Special packaging has become a strong growth tool for us,” he noted. “We’re seeing good growth in all of our commodities, and double-digit growth on our core items over last year.”

Vena remains bullish on the new high-tech terminal market. Now preparing to enter its third year at the facility, he clearly remembers the problems that merchants faced on the old market.

“Here we can have a dock leveler that adjusts to any height at the push of a button,” he said. “We clean our store in half the time and we have twice as much space. It’s simply much more efficient, cleaner and easier to do business here. The aisles are wide, allowing two-way traffic everywhere in the building, including in the coolers. This has all greatly improved our ability to serve customers way beyond anything possible in the old building.”

Vena announced staff increases during the past year. Erin Gallagher joined the company when she graduated from St. Joe’s University last June. She is in sales and handles administrative tasks. She previously worked with the company as an intern.

“We also hired Jose Flores,” said Vena. “He previously worked for Philly Produce, which recently closed. I’ve known Jose for going on a decade, and when I learned he was free I offered him a position on the sales floor.”

The company hired Robert Hughes as its new food-safety director late last summer.

John Vena is proud to have been one of the first companies in the Philadelphia Market to be certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and then by PrimusLabs in good handling practices.

“We are audited annually, and we just passed our most recent audit in March 2014,” said Vena.