D’Arrigo New York is expanding its reach

D’Arrigo New York is one of the most prominent produce players at the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, with a rich history that goes back more than 60 years.

The company is located on Row C, evolving from four stalls in 1948 to 36 stalls today. It also has a piece of property across the street, and another facility at 1303 Randall Avenue, about a half mile away. That added another 35,000 square feet additional to the 112,000 square feet it operates on the market.

Gabriela D’Arrigo, vice president of marketing for the company, noted that in 2023, the company is helping to renovate the facility as best it can with the circumstances it’s been given, and expanding its retail business into the region to further the reach more to the northern part of the state.

“We’ve also added two new salesmen who are basically our on-the-road guys, who will be expanding our reach to different parts of Pennsylvania, Connecticut and the northern part of New York, to fortify ourselves in that region as a major supplier out of the Bronx,” D’Arrigo said. “We’re excited about the opportunity that that will bring the company.”

As a company that has had a lot of employees who have worked at Hunts Point for a really long time, D’Arrigo New York is in a phase now where a lot of long-term employees are reaching the end of their careers and starting to retire, so it’s looking to bring new fresh minds onto the team.

“We’re looking for people both in the industry and outside the industry to give us a different perspective on how things look and what our potentials are, that’s been a major focus internally here,” D’Arrigo said. “In terms of the marketing side of things, we’re looking to do more production this year. We sort of halted production of assets over the last two years with everything being so expensive. We’re being very mindful of that and making sure we’re able to reinvest our money back into our own business to better service the customer and consumer and make sure everything is at an affordable price for everyone.”

The company is aware that many people are tightening their belts a bit this year, and is thinking about how it can be more creative and service more people while still being conscious of the price of the product.

Those two new salesmen are part of the solution. Both come from different segments of the industry and bring some retail background with them.

“We’re getting a closer look and more of an insider’s look at what the world of the retailer looks like,” D’Arrigo said. “We’re focusing on trying to understand that a little bit better, so when we’re selling to our retailers, we will understand their business better and provide more solutions for the challenges they are coming across.”

On the growing side, D’Arrigo New York is leaning into its trusted partners and suppliers it has had for decades and communicating the knowledge it has collected from the new salesmen and the retail side of the world.

“We’re looking at how we can work together to ensure that the products are the highest quality they can be, the integrity is maintained and we can service people in rural areas who don’t always have access or can’t get to Hunts Point or are not within the five boroughs of the city,” D’Arrigo said. “We’re making sure everything is affordable as we can make it.”